Athens, Greece

You can't hear Athens without thinking Acropolis. Here's a teaser picture. Much more to come further down.

On May 22nd, we visited Athens, the capital of Greece with a population of 3.1 million people. Greece actually consists of 6,000 islands, with 227 inhabited for a total population of 10 million. 

Athens is a city crowded with many people, and crazy driving with scooters zooming between cars from every direction. Parking is a nightmare!

Our first stop was Syntagma Square where the Greek Parliament building is, which has been housing Parliament since 1934. It was built in the 19th century as the Royal Palace. 

We were just in time to see the changing of the guard in front of the tomb of the unknown soldier. 

On the Square, there is a large memorial for 57 people, mostly students, who were killed in a tragic train crash two years ago. 

Next to Parliament are the National Gardens. A beautiful, peaceful retreat in a very crowded city.

Satyr, mythological nature spirit 

Ancient sundial

Across the street was this fancy hotel with trees growing on top.

We passed a number of ancient ruins on our tour.

Hadrian' Gate is the entrance to the Temple of Zeus.

Temple of Zeus 

The Tower of the Winds built in 50 BC has eight large reliefs of the wind gods. It is one of the best preserved buildings. It was formerly topped with a wind vane and had sundials on the exterior faces. A TV weather forecaster used to do his forecasts from here.

What we saw

Picture from web

We saw one church with a blue dome,  the church of St Nicholas.

We visited the Acropolis Museum. We were given one hour there. Our tickets were time stamped, and we still had to wait 30 minutes to get in.

The museum was huge. You could easily spend hours here.

We watched the movie about the history of the Parthenon, and learned that the hill it is built on is called the Acropolis and the main building is the Parthenon. There are a few other buildings on the hill, as well.

Here are some photos from the movie.

What it looked like when completed in 432BC

What the relief sculptures at the top of the west end looked like. Amazing craftsmanship!!

A model of the Parthenon. It was 228 feet long, 101 feet wide, and the columns were 34 feet tall.

We saw a few artifacts on the way out, and it was time to go.

View of Parthenon from museum 

Our next stop was the Olympic stadium originally built in 144 AD. The only stadium in the world built entirely of marble, it can hold 80,000 spectators. Over one million cubic feet of marble was used in the construction. 

It was refurbished in 1896 to hold the first modern Olympics, and again hosted the Olympic games in 2004. Incredible!!

Our time stamped tickets for the Acropolis and Parthenon were for 1 pm. We headed over there to find a sea of people. And, apparently, the mornings are more crowded. Wow! We waited in line again, but were let in fairly soon. 

On the way up, we passed the Odeion of Herodes Atticus, a stadium built in 160 AD. It has been used since that time as an entertainment venue.

As we climbed higher, we came to the entrance building for the Parthenon called the Propylaia.

Lots of slick marble stairs!

And then, there it was!!! Words once again, can't describe the wonder of what these people accomplished centuries ago. I can only imagine how magnificent it must have looked when it was completed!!

Amazing these relief sculptures have survived!

The back side is still not completely restored. You can see many of the pieces lying on the ground in front. 

A little history: the Parthenon was built as a temple to honor the goddess Athena between 447 to 438 BC. The decorative relief sculptures were completed in 432BC. 

In 1687 it was bombarded with great damage inflicted. In the 19th century, Lord Elgin controvercially removed many of the remaining sculptures, which are now housed in the British Museum. Greece is working to repatriate many of their lost treasures from museums and collections worldwide. Good luck with that!

Reconstruction happened from 1900 to 1930, but mistakes were made. Since 1984, restoration has been slowly taking place using original materials and methods as much as possible, correcting previous mistakes along the way. There are still many large pieces of slabs and pillars on the site. There was a huge crane inside.

The Erechtheion is another temple dedicated to Athena, and is located a little downhill from the Parthenon.

Front

Side

The Porch of the Maidens has sculptures of six young women holding up the roof, used instead of columns.

Back

The big round base in the foreground of the above picture is where a 30 foot statue of Athena, built in 450BC, used to stand. It was made of ivory and gold.

In the 5th century AD, it was taken to Constantinople. It was destroyed by the Franks in 1204 because they thought her outstretched hand beckoned the enemy. Here's a picture of what it may have looked like. 

Views of the city from the top of the Acropolis. 

Just below the entrance to the Acropolis hill on a side street is the Church of the Metamorphosis built in the 11th century.

And just down another hill from there is the Temple of Hephaestus, the most well preserved Greek temple. It was dedicated to the god of fire, artisans, craftsmen and volcanoes. History around every corner. 

Here's a view from the ship of the Parthenon. It's right in the middle to the right of the big hill. You can just barely see the columns.

Seeing the history in Athens was worth battling crowds. It's a day I'll treasure always!