Thursday Athens

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Today was our first day here in Athens. Ah, how I love the smell of Europe in the morning! We awoke not too early after a good night’s rest, and finished posting some pictures and some blog posts. There, the admin is done. Immediately thereafter, we headed down for breakfast, which consisted of cereal, coffee, and what was supposed to be toast. I say supposed to be, because when Dad threw his bread into the mass toasting machine, it wouldn’t give it back, then set it on fire. That’s right, it didn’t burn it, it literally lit it on fire. Dad had burnt toast, I opted for bread with jam.

After our breakfast fun, we headed for the post office, to send some postcards to all of you. However, the post office was totally full, so we resolved to return later, when it had emptied out a bit. From there, we headed down to the Acropolis, which in case you didn’t know, is a big rocky hill where the ancient Greeks built several temples. On the way, we meandered through some extremely charming, narrow streets packed with shops and cafes, which are apparently very European. We headed for the Acropolis, but before we climbed it, we got side tracked by the new museum. It is extremely modern, all metal and glass. We went in, and spent the next hour exploring and looking at old statues and reliefs and busts and facades. A well done museum, indeed.

We also saw a short video on the Parthenon. The Greeks began construction in honor of Athena, the goddess of war, after a large military victory at Marathon. However, before they could complete their work, the Persians came through and razed the Acropolis. About 100 years later, they built the current Parthenon, in only 9 years. When the Greek civilization declined, the Christians came in and destroyed a bunch of the carvings on the Parthenon, and converted it to a church. Then the Ottomans captured Greece, and changed the church to a mosque. In the Ottoman-Venetian war, it was hit by artillery fire, which destroyed a good portion of it. Then, after Greece became independent, Lord Elgin of Britain looted the place and carried off much of the remaining sculptures and carvings, to Britain, where they remain. Man, that temple sure has been beaten up!

Before we checked out the Acropolis, though, we had to attend to our stomachs. We ate lunch at a small Greek restaurant, where we had a Greek salad, bread and tzaziki, with gyros for Dad and something eggplant for me. I don’t like eggplant. However, the meal was tasty enough, and we had some coffee afterwards.

After the museum and lunch, we climbed up to the Acropolis, which is basically some beautiful white rock with grasses and olive trees growing around it. We entered through a temple being restored, and marched up to see the Parthenon. The building is mostly Doric, with a few Ionic influences. Personally, I like the Corinthian style the best. We explored around the temple a little, taking in the majesty of the place, before moving on. Also on the Acropolis is a temple dedicated to Nike, Athena, Poseidon, and “Chthonic deities of Africa”. I looked up “chthonic” just now, and it means: “Concerning, belonging to, or inhabiting the underworld”. This begs the question: what??? Were the Greeks like, ‘Oh, we’ll dedicate it to the regular gods, then throw in a few African death gods for good measure’? I mean, seriously, African underworld deities?

Dad and I also observed a cool looking temple in a small park while on high, so we resolved to go down there and investigate. We walked down on a gorgeous path, through olive trees and swaying grasses to the park below. I have resolved to go backpacking in Greece at some point. Unfortunately, the park was closed, so we ended up wandering the streets of Athens, seeing what there was to see. Dad also, ever so kindly, introduced me to gelato, which we ate while listening to a brass band in a local square. I have to say, gelato is officially WAY better than regular ice cream. Thanks, Dad!

The day, at this point, was getting rather late, so we ended up wandering around a little bit, then heading to the post office. We mailed our postcards, and hit the streets to try to find our hotel. After a little wandering around, we found the place, and here we are. Tomorrow, we will explore some more of the surrounding temples. I love Greece.

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