Friday 1st October
We’re heading into our 2nd month of travel and we
still have many countries to visit. We
were hoping to have some rest days in Athens but after exploring yesterday we
think we’re going to run out of time here and are really keen to see more of
this vibrant city. Our hotel may also be
influencing our perspective of the city, which by the way is one of the best
fashion hotel fit-outs we have seen.
There’s a hive of activity on the streets and major landmarks can be
seen all around on the mountains.
Panathanaic Stadium
We had a lot of fun imagining ourselves as patrons sitting
on the marble seats and were victorious winners proudly walking down the tunnel
to the grand entrance of the Panathanaic Stadium (or Panathinaiko Παναθηναϊκό
στάδιο, also known as the Kallimarmaro
(Καλλιμάρμαρο, meaning the "beautifully marbled").
The portable audio tours walked us around the stadium from
the track to the highest seats which would have been made of wood back in 1896.
In neighbouring streets statues have been erected to honour
past athletes.
Arch of Hadrian and
Temple of Zeus
We admired the structural gate of the Arch of Hadrian.
With great anticipation our next sight was the magnificent Temple
of Zeus. Construction began in
515 BC but the leaders were overthrown and construction resumed in marble in the
4th Century BC but was devastatingly destroyed after invasion in the
3rd century AD. It was eventually
completed 131-132 BC. Of the original
104 columns deterioration set in the 5th c. AD and was further
ruined by earthquake and only 16 columns survived until 1852 when one of them
toppled over in a storm and has been lying there ever since. Elements of the structure were later used
throughout the city as building materials, so what still remains today truly is
magnificent and remarkable. We could sense
the history in the air as we slowly walked around the remaining structure.
We have truly been amazed by human capability throughout our
trip. How were these huge pillar cells
perfectly aligned without the technology or mathematics we use and know today?
Inspired we finished the city tour past the Library and
Omonia Square to the train terminal then walked the mall streets to find a
bustling eatery only a couple of short blocks from our hotel. The tour bus today impressed us with not only
its rich historical stories and architecture, but it has a very young and
modern culture through its mall streets and market places. Life is great today.
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