Athens is full of history, and it was just a phenomenal experience to see the birth place of Western civilization.
Views on our long flight there.
Saying goodbye to Michigan.
And over the fields of Paris.
First night in Athens, we head straight to the Acropolis and watched the sunset from Mars Hill
Just below the Acropolis
We just meandered around the city, and took in the sights.
Athens is not the most beautiful city, but is amazing in how immersed in ruins and history it is.
The sunset on the Ancient Agora- you can see the Temple of Hephaestus.
It looked like some Romantic era painting.
La Plaka neighborhood.
Restaurants lining the streets, all with very smooth talking young Greek men to invite you to eat.
I do just love old European streets- narrow and curvy and sometimes leading nowhere.
Rick outside an old house next to an olive tree.
Olive and fig trees are literally everywhere.
And the doors on the old churches were just beautiful.
In the National Gardens.
I loved seeing this old men just talking. You don't see that much in America.
I imagine this is what ancient Greek philosophers were like.
View from our dinner table.
Live music...
…and dancing! All with plate breaking! Opa!
Another day of seeing all the Acropolis in detail.
Here's the Odeon of Herodes Atticus.
Built over 2000 years ago. This is where we went and saw a play (below), and it was incredible to be there.
Theatre of Dionysus has had performances in it since 6th Century BC, and can seat up to 17,000
Amazing.
Gate to the Acropolis!
Can you see me? :D
View from the gate
The entrance was huge- it must have been very intimidating to enter in it's day
The Parthenon!!
It's so huge, it's amazing to think of people building it all the way up on this huge hill.
The original details were so intricate. Each piece was exactly cut to fit perfectly together.
You can still see some of the detail on the reliefs, but most were destroyed by early Christians
The other interesting thing is it's not perfectly straight.
It was built on a slight angle to give the optical illusion of straight parallel lines.
So the Acropolis was a huge area with the Parthenon in the middle, and several other temples surrounding it.
This is the Erechtheion, and this side is the Porch of the Caryatids.
Six beautiful maidens as the columns- I love this.
This temple is supposed to be the site of Poseidon and Athena battling for the naming rights to the city. Poseidon struck a rock with his trident and created a spring of water, and Athena struck a rock with her spear and won by giving Athens the olive tree- which is still there in the middle of the picture.
Down the hill from the Parthenon is the Ancient Agora- the original town square of Athens.
Where democracy was first practiced. Where Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle walked and taught. And where St. Paul taught.
The Church of the Apostles circa 1000 A.D.
With amazing frescos in it
The Temple of Hephaistos
One of the best preserved temples because it was repurposed as a church by early christians.
Remnants of the Odeon of Agrippa- a huge ancient theater.
Just looking at the heights of these statues, it must have been impressive.
View of the Parthenon from Filopappos Hill.
Ruins at the top of the hill.
Arch of Hadrian- ancient Roman gate
Temple of the Olympian Zeus
This temple was the size of a football field, and contained a gigantic statue of Zeus which was one of the original wonders of the world.
It was actually sad at times to see all these ruins of these amazing places.
It made us both just lament the war and bigotry used to justify the destruction of people and history.
The Panathenaic Stadium
Sight of the ancient Greek/Roman Olympic games.
Refurbished for the first modern Olympics in 1896.
And then re-refurbished for the 2004 Olympics.
We of course looked like idiots and had to run around the track.
The original athletes tunnel into the stadium- carved right out of marble.
Standing in the original Greek/Roman entrance
Yes - we're dorks.
But it's the site of the first modern marathon, and I had to do it!
One of the coolest things we did was go and see a performance at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus. It was a classic Crete narration- with live music and acrobats. The main narrator was this really old guy (kind of looked like Gandolf) with this deep, craggily, haunting voice. It made me think what the ancient performance over 2000 years ago here must have been like.
So cool to see a performance in the birth place of modern theater.
On to the Acropolis Museum.
It is built on ruins, and the architecture makes them a part of the museum.
This is the main entrance that was open to view, and the whole main floor was glass so you could see what you're walking on.
And anyone who's taken any type of art history/appreciation should know these two!
First modern representations the human form.
Rick and the Kouros!
The whole city is just amazing for how immersed it is in history- literally just walking on/through/in it.
