Thursday March 16 started sunny but it got cloudy and cooler later in the afternoon. The high was 16C and it was a great day to visit the Acropolis and Acropolis Museum. On our way, we passed the Temple of Olympian Zeus and Hadrian's Arch. Both are right in the middle of Athens near a busy road. The Temple is the largest in Greece. Building began in the 6th century BC and it was finally completed by Hadrian in 131 AD. It was pillaged in the 3rd century AD and fell into disuse. In its heyday it had 104 Corinthian columns. Today only about 15 remain.
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| Temple of Olympian Zeus |
Hadrian's Arch was erected by Roman Emperor Hadrian in 132 AD. The inscription shows that it was intended as a dividing point between the ancient and Roman cities. The northwest frieze reads, "This is Athens, the Ancient city of Theseus," while the southeast frieze states,"This is the city of Hadrian, and not of Theseus.
It was about a 40 minute walk to the Acropolis. We sopped at Fresko Yogurt bar-- another good place for sheep yogurt topped with "spoon" fruit. Alain had his yogurt with mandarin rind and I had black cherry. Almost as good as Stani, the oldest yogurt shop in Athens, where we had our yogurt on the food tour. We chatted with our server, George, who has relatives in Toronto and plans to visit this summer. He even gave us a discount on our yogurt.
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| George preparing Alain's yogurt |
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| Having our sheep yogurt |
The Acropolis is said to be the most important ancient site in the Western world. Pericles (c.495-429 BC) spared no expense in the construction of the temples and buildings of the Acropolis. Just after we entered into the Acropolis area, there was a small grouping of statues, mainly of actors from the Theatre of Dionysos.
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Colossal statue of a naked Papposilenos from the Roman stage of the Theatre of Dionysos
1st or 2nd century AD |
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| Walk a mile in my shoes |
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| Papposilenos again |
We walked to the site of the Theatre of Dionysos. The annual festival of the Great Dionysia was introduced during the 6th century BC, and held in the world's first theatre on the south slope of the Acropolis. The original timber theatre was reconstructed in stone and marble between 342-326 BC.
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| Theatre of Dionysos |
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| In the stands |
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| The better seats near the front |
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View of the stage-- perfect theatre in the round
We then walked by the Odeon of Herodes Atticus built in 161 AD. It was excavated in 1857-58 and the marble seats and staircases were reconstructed between 1960-64. Performances of drama, music and dance are held here during the Athens festival every summer.
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| Odeon of Herodes Atticus with view of the city |
We continued to climb.
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| Alain climbing to the top of the Acropolis |
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| Temple of Athena Nike built between 427-424 BC |
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| Erechtheion-- with six maiden columns, the Caryatids- completed in 406 BC |
We walked over to the Parthenon, the crown jewel of the Acropolis. The Parthenon is said to epitomize the glory of ancient Greece. It means "virgin's apartment" and is dedicated to Athena Parthenos, the goddess embodying the power and prestige of the City. It is the largest Doric temple ever completed in Greece. It was completed in 438 BC after 15 years of construction. It is presently undergoing further restoration as a number of earlier attempts during the past century have not been sucessful.
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| Parthenon |
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| View of the Acropolis Museum from the Acropolis |
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| Cats of the Acropolis |
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| A lone poppy at the Acropolis |
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| Animals of the Acropolis |
After our visit to the Acropolis, we headed to the Underdog, a cafe recommended by Carolina, our foodie guide, as well as an article about new coffee shops in the Aegean Airlines magazine. The head barista has won international competitions. It was quite a large place and very cool. We had a light bite and some excellent coffee.
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| Bar area at Underdog |
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| The Caryatids 7-5th century BC |
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Sphinx- monster with head of woman, body of lion and wings
The top floor of the museum is the Parthenon Gallery, a glass atrium built in alignment with the temple which showcases the temple's sculptures and friezes. Interspersed between the golden-hued originals are white plaster replicas of the missing pieces- the Parthenon Marbles taken by Lord Elgin in 1801 and later sold to the British Museum.
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On the first floor there were many statutes and artifacts from the Acropolis
After visiting the Museum, we walked up to the Kolonaki area and checked out some more stores. Some interesting jewellery and clothes designers are found in this area. We headed back to the apartment and passed an excavation of a Roman bath on one of the main streets in the city. It had been found during work on a Metro station.
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| Roman bath- 3rd and 5th century AD |
As we passed the Parliament Buildings, we noticed a crowd watching the changing of the guard. A very cool ceremony-- the outfits are amazing.
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| Changing of the guard |
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Changing direction- very cool shoes
We headed home after a long day--- Alain made a chicken dinner and I worked on the blog.
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Cool
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