last whirl around the Acropolis

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today was our last chance to see something new or revisit something we really liked . . so we did both. after a leisurely breakfast on the patio we set off for the Ancient Agora but not before climbing to the top of Filopappou Hill and what a magnificent view of the Acropolis and the city of Athens. it's a leisurely hike up through a pine forest that is well stepped and maintained . . . kinda like hiking up to Bishop Peak. it's from here that in the late 17th century the Venetians bombed the Parthenon which was then holding all of the gunpowder and a direct hit blew the interior chamber of the Parthenon which has not been restored yet! from there we found our way to the Grand Promenade . . . a wonderful cobblestone/marble (did I mention that practically everything here is made out of marble, I think the entire Acropolis is marbe and if you don't watch your step you'll slip and fall on your behind very easily) which goes from Hadrians Arch to the Agora. once we arrived at the gate we turned on our iPods and began listening to Rick Steves direct us - if you haven't listened to a Rick Steves podcast when traveling somewhere you're really missing something (we'd probably never be caught dead on a Rick Steves tour but his podcasts are a treasure) - did I mention they are from from his website. we toured the Agora seeing so many wonderful ancient Greek places especially the Stoa of Attalos, Odeon of Agrippa, Temple of Ares and statue of Hadrian. it took us an hour. from the Agora we headed up the Panathein Way to the Acropolis, where anyone who was anyone back in the day traveled up to pay hommage to the gods on the Acropolis

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