Ancient Athens

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Today’s port was Pireus, the port of Athens. Of course, when you come to Athens, the main tourist attraction is the Parthenon. Sitting atop the Acropolis, a stone mesa rising above the city of Athens, it is a majestic sight from afar. Up close, the tourist hordes appear, and it takes on more of an anthill appearance. One of the most amazing things we see all over Europe is the school groups at these places. Coming from Australia, it just seems like the most amazing thing to be able to go on a school tour to the Parthenon or the Colliseum, not just read about it or see pictures but to walk on the ancient cobblestones and see the chisel marks from 2500 years ago.

But back to the Parthenon… It is still under reconstruction with several large cranes (and yes, scaffolding) as they slowly restore and rebuild the inner walls. All the enormous columns have been restored and there are piles all over the place of categorised and catalogued fragments of carved marble – the world’s largest jigsaw puzzle!

At the beginning of the 5^th century BC, Athens was taken by the Persians who completely sacked the city and burned all the temples and structures on the Acropolis to the ground. When they were finally driven out, Athens emerged even more prosperous, so the city leaders ordered the rebuilding of the temples on the Acropolis. All the buildings on the Acropolis were constructed during this time, between 480 and 440 BC. Apart from the Parthenon itself, there is the Propylaea or gateway to the site, the temple of Athena, patron of Athens, the Odeion of Herodes Atticus and the Erechtheion, another temple for ancient worship. The gateway is magnificent in its own right, with towering columns, marble steps and the Temple of Athena at the top overlooking all who visit.

The only negative is the army of self-important little men and women with whistles who make sure everyone stays on the track, following the flock like good little sheeple. It is a shame that access is so limited, unlike the other sites such as the Roman Forum in Italy. Nonetheless, it is an amazing monument that has stood for millennia and is well worth the climb to the top.

Afterwards, we walked through the old part of the city of Athens, the Plaka with its many small shops and alleyways, then on through the national gardens where we stopped for a quick snack. The gardens are full of mandarin trees although the fruits within reach have all been picked clean. We finally came out near the Parliament building where the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier lies. This is guarded by ceremonial guards, changing every hour. The changing of the guard is quite a spectacle and involves the usual goose stepping and odd uniforms. Even Em was impressed by the ceremony of it all.

Back to the metro, which was very easy to navigate, the Syntagma station was a great surprise. While excavating for its construction, this section of the underground metro intersected several layers of ancient construction. From the Christian graves of the 4^th and 5^th centuries AD right down through cisterns and roads to the original water pipes that were laid to deliver water to the ancient city of Athens almost a thousand years earlier. One entire wall of the metro station has been encased in glass and is a permanent exhibit of these layers of history together with several glass cabinets at one end of the station containing artefacts excavated from the site.

Back on the metro, we headed for Pireus and our ship. After a full day of walking we once again needed the swim in the pool as it had been quite warm. As we were about to leave the port, the thunderclouds rolled in, cooling the city and us down for the afternoon.

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