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Published: January 7th 2011
You may have heard of this little place called Athens (where a little event called the “Olympics” started). Athens is named after Athena (Goddess of wisdom, knowledge and battle) and she became the city's namesake when she gave the Greeks the gift of an Olive tree (not a bad gift)... and that very olive tree (or a suitable replacement) still stands at the top of the Acropolis next to Erechtheion (the most sacred spot at the Acropolis).
The vast majority of Athens is a modern city, and is home to over 5 million people... but the Acropolis, Zeus' Temple, the Ancient Agora and a number of other legendary sites can still transport you back to the mystical place that existed thousands of years ago! The Acropolis itself stands atop a large jutting rock formation in the middle of the city and can be seen from almost everywhere. It is spectacular to see up close and from far below, it brings to mind visions of Olympus, Hercules, Newt, Toot, Helena and Deadlus...
Louise and Bill (our friends from our Rome tour), were able to get us a spot in their group tour of Athens. We spent another great day with
them, and were lucky enough to have an amazing guide by the Name of Dimitrius who was a passionate, knowledgeable and well spoken Greek. We started at the Acropolis where we hired a local guide to give us a walking tour of the Propylaia, Parthenon, and the Temple Athena Nike. The walk around the top of the Acropolis was spectacular. We then drove to Zeus' temple, which originally had over 100 columns holding up the temple, only 16 columns remain at the sight; made a quick stop at the marble stadium that hosted the first modern Olympics in the 1800s. We then walked around the Ancient Agora (ruins of the market/meeting area below the Acropolis), as well as the modern Agora where we stopped and had a Gyro lunch and some local beer. Our last few stops were the changing of the guard at the Parliament buildings, a visit to the Ancient Athens Museum (which contained 1000s of ancient artifacts), and then to the harbour to see some historical warships (including a recreation of the Ancient Greek wooden war ships).
One of the most interesting things we learned was about the building process in Athens. Anytime a builder wants
to start a new project, they first have to hire archeologists to excavate the site and to ensure there are no historical artifacts that will be built over... as you can imagine in this region 9 times out of 10 they do find something, and build projects are often cancelled or postponed for extended periods of time.
Athens was a sight to behold and is on our potential return list.
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Stefan Scott
non-member comment
Huh?
Where's the Swoosh?