Day 14 - Thursday, June 27 - Athens and the Acropolis
We had to be out of our room by 8am so we were up early to catch breakfast, finish packing and leave the ship. We took a taxi to the Acropolis View Hotel which is just a little distance from the Acropolis. We dropped off our luggage as we can't check in until 2pm. The hotel clerk was very helpful and managed to get us a walking tour of Athens and the Acropolis just an hour later. She said the meeting point was about 10 minutes away but it was about a mile, a brisk 20 minute walk - I was soaked by the time we got there.
We were fortunate that there were only 6 people in the group, 2 Australians, 2 Italians (they asked if she could do the talk in ancient Greek!) and us.
We went across the street to the parliament building and the tomb of the unknown soldier to watch the changing of the guard. The changing of the guard is an amazingly choreographed process as the two new soldiers relieve the current soldiers. They have metal cleats and heels on their boots that make noise as they scrape or stomp on the marble surface. It is even more elaborate than the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace or the Palace in Budapest.
From there we walked through the gardens established by Queen Amalia in the 1930s. Apparently she much preferred working in the gardens than doing royal duties. At one end of the gardens is the temple of Zeus and Hadrian's Arch. Emperor Hadrian certainly had a wide influence from monuments in England to Jordan.
We then went to the entrance of the Acropolis where there was a long line to get in but it moved along relatively quickly - the entrance is "metered" to reduce crowding on the Acropolis. Even so it was quite crowded in places. The largest structure is the Parthenon, a temple to the goddess Athena after whom Athens is named. It has had quite a history of building, destruction and rebuilding since the 6th century BC. It was destroyed by the Persians in 480BC and rebuilt around 440BC when Greece came back into power. It was burned down by the early Christians and turned into a Christian church. When the Ottomans invaded, it was turned into a mosque. Unfortunately, they also used it to store gunpowder and when the Venetians shelled the Parthenon, it exploded, destroying the interior and knocking down many of the pillars. In the 1830s, Lord Elgin was "helping" with restoration and removed many of the sculptures which ended up in the British Museum - the highly contested "Elgin Marbles".
From the Acropolis we could see the Areopagus which is referenced in the Apostle Paul's sermon in Acts about the "the unknown god" being being the god of Judaism and Christianity.
We stopped at a small restaurant and had a delicious lunch of Greek Salad and Souvlaki, washed down with Greek beer.
After an hour nap, we went to the Parthenon Museum which is just a few blocks from our hotel and just down from the Acropolis. It is very new and just celebrated its 10th anniversary. Inside are many artifacts and exhibits based on excavations of the Acropolis. There is beautiful pottery dating back to 400BC and some going back to the neolithic era, 1500BC. There are also many beautiful marble sculptures that are being kept inside in order to preserve them. It was really a worthwhile visit. We also went to an exhibit under the museum that just opened a couple months ago. The museum is built on heavy columns over the excavated buildings that had existed there from 600BC to 600AD, quite amazing to see. I expect this also underlies the hotel where we are staying.
We are sitting on the roof of our hotel where we can hear a classical music concert in the Roman amphitheater on the wall of the Acropolis - quite spectacular.
We were fortunate that there were only 6 people in the group, 2 Australians, 2 Italians (they asked if she could do the talk in ancient Greek!) and us.
We went across the street to the parliament building and the tomb of the unknown soldier to watch the changing of the guard. The changing of the guard is an amazingly choreographed process as the two new soldiers relieve the current soldiers. They have metal cleats and heels on their boots that make noise as they scrape or stomp on the marble surface. It is even more elaborate than the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace or the Palace in Budapest.
From there we walked through the gardens established by Queen Amalia in the 1930s. Apparently she much preferred working in the gardens than doing royal duties. At one end of the gardens is the temple of Zeus and Hadrian's Arch. Emperor Hadrian certainly had a wide influence from monuments in England to Jordan.
We then went to the entrance of the Acropolis where there was a long line to get in but it moved along relatively quickly - the entrance is "metered" to reduce crowding on the Acropolis. Even so it was quite crowded in places. The largest structure is the Parthenon, a temple to the goddess Athena after whom Athens is named. It has had quite a history of building, destruction and rebuilding since the 6th century BC. It was destroyed by the Persians in 480BC and rebuilt around 440BC when Greece came back into power. It was burned down by the early Christians and turned into a Christian church. When the Ottomans invaded, it was turned into a mosque. Unfortunately, they also used it to store gunpowder and when the Venetians shelled the Parthenon, it exploded, destroying the interior and knocking down many of the pillars. In the 1830s, Lord Elgin was "helping" with restoration and removed many of the sculptures which ended up in the British Museum - the highly contested "Elgin Marbles".
From the Acropolis we could see the Areopagus which is referenced in the Apostle Paul's sermon in Acts about the "the unknown god" being being the god of Judaism and Christianity.
We stopped at a small restaurant and had a delicious lunch of Greek Salad and Souvlaki, washed down with Greek beer.
After an hour nap, we went to the Parthenon Museum which is just a few blocks from our hotel and just down from the Acropolis. It is very new and just celebrated its 10th anniversary. Inside are many artifacts and exhibits based on excavations of the Acropolis. There is beautiful pottery dating back to 400BC and some going back to the neolithic era, 1500BC. There are also many beautiful marble sculptures that are being kept inside in order to preserve them. It was really a worthwhile visit. We also went to an exhibit under the museum that just opened a couple months ago. The museum is built on heavy columns over the excavated buildings that had existed there from 600BC to 600AD, quite amazing to see. I expect this also underlies the hotel where we are staying.
We are sitting on the roof of our hotel where we can hear a classical music concert in the Roman amphitheater on the wall of the Acropolis - quite spectacular.
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| Changing of the guard |
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| The Acropolis from our hotel |
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| Excavation under Parthenon Museum |
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| The Parthenon (and me) |
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