Athens, Greece

Athens

 Athens is still a big noisy, dirty city, although it has improved since I was here over thirty years ago. I assume the Olympics in 2004 probably helped. Still, with the temperatures right around 100 degrees, everything required an effort.  We checked into our hotel, the Athens Gate, which was a large modern hotel with excellent air conditioning, thank goodness. It also turned out to be in a good location, near the Acropolis and The Plaka, both of which are major tourist centers. 

 The hotel is located across a very busy road from two monuments - the Temple of Olympian Zeus and Hadrian's Gate (or Athens Gate) from which the hotel takes it's name. This is the same Emperor Hadrian who built the famous "Hadrian's Wall" between Roman England and Scotland. The temple was started in the 6th century BC and finished by Hadrian in 132 AD - some seven hundred years later.

That evening we explored the very busy and touristy "Plaka" area, where we were accosted every few feet by touts for the many restaurants which line the streets. Eventually,  we succumbed and had the first of many Greek Salads.

The next day, we took a walking tour of the city, which finished with a climb to the top of the Acropolis, where the Parthenon is located.

 Our first stop was the Greek Parliament Building to see the "Changing of the Guard". This is a pure show for the tourists and has no significance at all, but the costumes are traditional and it's a great honor to be part of the guard.

 Then on to the National Gardens, adjacent to the Parliament Building (which was the Palace of the King until Greece abolished the monarchy.)

The top of the Acropolis is a mish-mash of small temples, bits of the Parthenon lying around in heaps and hundreds of hot, sweaty tourists (including us) who have struggled up the side of the hill in 100 degree heat to wonder at this pile of stones. No question, though, even in it's partly destroyed condition, the Parthenon does have majesty and style. When you think Roman Emperors like Caesar came to see it over 500 years after it was built (and it was in better condition then) you realize this has been a tourist attraction for a VERY long time.

 All of the artifacts collected from the site are in the brand new Acropolis Museum which is immediately below the Acropolis. We visited the museum later in our stay, but photographs aren't allowed (unlike every other museum we visited) so we can only show you the exterior. It's been built to hold not just the remains that the Greeks already own, but all the pieces removed (stolen, they would say) by the Germans, Americans and especially the British (Lord Elgin) in the nineteenth century. They may have to wait a long time.

 The next day we visited the National Archaelogical Museum, which houses all the "good stuff" from finds all around Greece. After a delayed entry due to a bomb scare, we finally had our chance to see the wonders inside. We were expecting an old fashioned, dry and dusty museum, but it was superbly laid out and diplayed. There was, as always, too much to take in, but the highlights were spectacular. Here are just a few of them. Although the pieces shown here come from different time periods, remember they were all made hundreds and in some cases, many hundreds of years BC - they are all at least 2,500 years old.

 The museum was fascinating if a little overwhelming and was our last major stop before our next adventure, a four day bus tour of the major archaeological sites of Southern Greece.