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Published: February 5th 2008
Well last night was quite an adventure, but I will start with the day before... In the morning we went to the processional of the archbishop's funeral (he just died last sunday) so that was interesting... It was more like a parade. There was a band and the military and then a bunch of monks/priests and then the dead archbishop, which was in an open casket, so that was a little gross, but it was kinda neat that we got to see it. Then in the afternoon we went to the Choragic Monument and the Tower of the Winds. Those were both really interesting, and really old... Both over 2,000 years old. The Tower of the Winds was especially cool because it used to be a clock, a sundial, a wind direction thing, and a waterclock... And this was all over 2,000 years ago that they did that! So I thought that was pretty amazing (there are pictures of all of these on my facebook).
Then yesterday during the day we went to some scholarly conference about religion and art, but that was over my head, so I didn't think it was that great... but then in the afternoon we went
The Choragic Monument
This monument was built around 300 BC and it was used to hold a tripod that someone won... the tripod was stolen, so now all the remains is the stand (which is this huge monument).to the Agora, which was amazing. It was were the ancient city of Athens was centered... Most of it build around the same time as the Parthenon, 450BC. So a lot of it is in rubble, but there is plenty (like the Temple of hephaistos) still in almost perfect condition. But the really cool thing about this park was that it was where Socrates gave lectures and Plato and Aristotle were there too. And I know Paul, one of Jesus' disciples was there, but I don't know who else of His disciples were there. Also in the Agora there was a church from the 10th century (so very new compared to all the other stuff) that was built for the 12 disciples, so I'm guess that more than just Paul was there.
Then last night around 11pm we decided to climb up Mount Philippapos so we could see the Acropolis and the city at night... Climbing up wasn't too bad, climbing down was the challenge. Climbing up we were able to stay on the main path, it was very dark, but we had been up it before, so it wasn't too bad. When we got to the top, we were
The Tower of the Winds
This was built in around 50BC and was used as a calendar, wind direction pointer, sundial (clock), and then inside was a waterclock. just in awe. The Parthenon on the Acropolis lit up at night was absolutely amazing!! The pictures I have aren't even close to as cool as it was. I have a video that I will try and post that might look a little better. But yea, it was just absolutely gorgeous! We sat up there for about 2 hours and talked and walked around a little to see all the different views of the city. That was so much fun! But then going down wasn't... First of all, we got off the main path almost immediately and ended up on a pretty steep one with no light... Then we kept on hearing all of the stray dogs (I don't think I've mentioned this, but there are tons of dogs everywhere in Athens just walking around) barking at each other, and the barking was getting closer and closer...And then we got to a flatter place and we could tell that there were dogs all around us, but we couldn't see them because it was dark. They weren't barking at us (as far as we could tell), just each other, but it was still kinda scary. Then we finally got to the
The Agora
This is where Socrates and Plato taught bottom of the hill, but it was in a different part than where we went up.. It was kind of on the other side, but we've been walking around enough here that we knew how to get back to the hotel, so that was good. But yea, so that was our adventure last night!
Then today we went to an old church and a monestary... they were both interesting because they were very old (about 1000 years old), but the tour guide spent like 2 hours at each place, so that was really boring.
Then we walked around the shopping district, but that was so busy, so I didn't stay there for very long because there were just so many people it was even hard walk. So then we just came back to the hotel to try get some homework done!
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