Athens: City of slippery marble steps, columns and stray dogs

Monday May 25, 2009

Today we saw a lot of the major sites here in Athens. We went to bed last night at about 8:30 and we didn't wake up until about 8:30 this morning – we were so tired. This hotel is great! Breakfast is included with our room at this hotel and it was really good. It was buffet style with eggs, toast, bacon, etc. and also Greek food such as cucumbers and tomato with feta and stuffed grape leaves.

We filled up and headed out to the Acropolis, which is about a 2 minute walk from our hotel. The Acropolis is the site of many sites – most famous being the Parthenon.

Unfortunately for us, it was also cruise tour group time and it seemed as though everyone in the entire world was visiting the Acropolis at the same time as us, with the Princess Cruise tour group consisting of the pushiest people ever. Once we made it through the crowd though, it was an amazing sight to see.

I really can't imagine how people in ancient times were able to construct such huge buildings without the technology we have today. In addition to the Parthenon, we also saw the Theatre of Dionysos, Herodes Atticus Theater, the Old Temple of Athena, Ancient Agora and the Hephaisteion Temple. All were very interesting! We also went to a small museum inside of the reconstructed Stoa of Attalos. The museum had some really interesting things – such as a “water clock” 2 jugs, one filled with water that poured into another that was used to time speeches (a little over 6 minutes) and an ancient potty chair for children! There was also a jury choosing machine they invented which was basically a big slab of rock or marble with lots of little slits cut into it and they would drop in colored balls and if the color ball you chose came out at the end determined if you were called to jury duty – amazing! I never would have thought of that.

Theater of Dionysos

Jason at the Old Temple of Athena














Hephaisteion: better known as Thisseion (449-447 BC) is one of the world's best preserved Greek temples due to its protection from the Greek Orthodox Church which used it from the 7th Century to 1834.







View from Hephaisteion with the Acropolis in the background






After spending much of the day at Acropolis, we wandered through the “Plaka” area – which is a neighborhood with mostly pedestrian streets full of shops and restaurants. Then we came back to the hotel to freshen up a bit and then we went to the Temple of Olympian Zeus which literally across the street from our hotel. What is left of this temple is really awesome – especially the column that fell down. It was huge! We also went to some nearby ruins that are still being excavated. After visiting the Temple of Olympian Zeus, we went back to the Plaka area and had some really good food.

Jason beside one section of the Temple of Olympian Zeus



Athens is a big, sprawling city. The area outside of the airport looked kind of like Phoenix. It is very dry and dusty here. The area where we are is old and somewhat dirty – but there are some very charming neighborhoods and buildings around. There are lots and lots of stray dogs. There are also a lot of dogs running around that seem like they must belong to somebody because they are wearing a collar. They all seem very lazy and dirty. There were lots of stray dogs when we went to Bangkok but they were scary – the strays here in Athens are not scary but definitely don't seem cuddly. So far, we're having a really good time. We are getting ready to go back out to see the Parthenon and some of the other sites around the area lit up at night.

Tomorrow we are going to the National Archaeological Museum. I'll post more soon!