Greece - Day 2

We woke up the next morning prepared for adventure. We ate a surprisingly filling breakfast at the hotel and headed towards the Acropolis. After riding the metro down to the next stop, we emerged at the base of the site. What looked amazing from a distance was absolutely breathtaking up close! With our Rick Steves Audio Tours playing on our iPods, we set off to explore the site.

As we climbed the hill towards the entrance, our first stop was at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, an ancient theater that has been restored and is used for live performances every summer. From there, we climbed to the Propylaea, the official entrance to the acropolis. This was a bottleneck for all the school groups and cruise tours, so we found a somewhat quite spot to listen to Rick explain the history of the ruins.

Passing through the column-strewn entrance, we emerged at the top of the plateau and focused our attention on the Parthenon. Although the ruins themselves were striking, I was more impressed with the views of greater Athens from the top of the Acropolis. The ruins were in worse condition than I expected, with large cranes and scaffolding installed everywhere as part of a large restoration effort. The Greek temples in Paestum (Southern Italy) are more intact than the Parthenon. However, the monumental importance of theses buildings far outweighs their current condition.

After circling the Parthenon, we spent time observing the Erechtheum, along with the fantastic views from all sides of the plateau. At the end of the audio tour, we learned the reason that the buildings were in such poor shape. Back in 1687 when the Venetians laid siege to Athens, the Turkish forces that controlled the city were using the Parthenon to store gunpowder and ammunition (in hindsight, probably not the best idea). When a well-placed mortar shell exploded in the middle of the site, the Parthenon and surrounding buildings were severely damaged. If nothing else, it highlights the incredible history of wars and battles in the area.

From the Parthenon, we descended the slope of the Acropolis and stopped at the Theatre of Dionysus Eleuthereus, another ancient theater where Socrates and other scholars were known to speak. This one hadn’t been restored for modern-day performances, so the site was in poorer shape.

From there, we headed further downhill, crossing through the Arch of Hadrian before arriving at the Temple of Olympian Zeus. When fully constructed, this building was far larger than the Parthenon, consisting of 144 large columns. We circled the site and visualized what it must have looked like back at the peak of Greek civilization.

Our next stop was the historic Panathinaiko Stadium, site of some of the original Olympic Games. The stadium is quite a site, seating nearly 60,000 spectators and made completely of marble. We couldn’t figure out if tickets were required for entry, so we stayed outside and took pictures.

From the stadium we walked through the National Garden, stopping along the way to look at the ducks, chickens, and goats that were in a makeshift zoo in the middle. Our winding journey next found us on the steps of the Parliament building, at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The tomb is guarded by two Evzones, and every hour they perform a traditional changing of the guards. We arrived just in time to see the spectacle and were amazed by the military precision of the show.

For lunch we had traditional meat pies that were melt-in-your mouth tasty. Christina had a chicken pie while I had one with mushroom and bacon. After lunch we were both ready for an afternoon siesta and retreated to the hotel for a break from the tours.

We spent the afternoon at the Acropolis Museum, a newly built museum that houses many of the artifacts that were removed from the site. The highlight was a room that was perfectly to scale and at the same orientation as the Parthenon. The room was built so that the sculptures and carvings were hung in the precise location where they once stood on the Acropolis.

After spending the afternoon at the museum, we headed into the historic Plaka district in search of traditional Greek food. We followed the guidebook up the “Restaurant Steps” to a restaurant at the base of the Acropolis. We enjoyed a feast of garlic bread, fried eggplant, fresh tzatziki, and herb-stuffed leg of lamb. In the spirit of trying the local flavor, I had my first (and hopefully last) experience with ouzo. The drink was about 30% alcohol and tasted like fermented black licorice. I think I’ll stick with limoncello!

After dinner, we wandered the Plaka and got lost at many points along the way. We eventually escaped and discovered we had wandered quite a way from the hotel. After the long walk back after a day of sightseeing, we had absolutely no trouble falling asleep.