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Published: January 12th 2008
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Ah Europe! We finally reached our last continent to explore on Dec. 7th when we arrived in Athens, Greece. After running around the airport to find the shipping company that was holding our box of winter clothes ransom and paying them off we headed into the city to find our great little hostel in the heart of the Plaka. The Plaka region of the city sits in the shadow of the Acropolis and is filled with narrow streets lined with cafes and shops and was the perfect place to base ourselves. On top of all that we got a great little room with a balcony above a cafe filled square; what more could we want. That evening we started what would become a nightly ritual when we walked around the restaurants on the square outside our hostel to see who was to offer us the best deal or the most free food.
We spent our first few days wandering around the streets of the Plaka checking out the shops and enjoying a good Gyro or two. It was nice to see Christmas lights and decorations and it felt a little more like the holiday season with the slightly cooler weather.
We were once again roped in by the salesmen at the local cafes for more great meals, free wine, and free dessert.
On our third day we headed out to start seeing the sights of the city. We walked past the Temple of Olympian Zeus on our way to the southern side of the Acropolis and entered into the park there. We started at the Theater of Dionysus, the home of the Greek tragedy. The theater was dedicated to the god Dionysus, the god of plays and wine, and could seat 17,000 people. The theater was built into the hillside on the back of the Acropolis and had some amazing stone carvings in it. Like everything in the Acropolis it must have really been amazing to see in its day.
We walked further up the hill towards the Parthenon passing some of the other ruins of the complex until we came to the Herodes Atticus Theater. This was built in 161AD and was rebuilt in the 1950's. From there we continued on up to the Temple of Athena Nike which was being worked on and, like most everything there had a lot of scaffolding on it. Finally we
Theatre of Dionysus
So...crates performed here.... reached the Parthenon which also had a good bit of scaffolding on it. Even with all the scaffolding the two buildings were amazing to see and the whole complex is incredible. We were not able to see the Acropolis Museum because all the exhibits were being moved by a series of 3 cranes from the old museum on the top of the rock to the new museum building at the south entrance. After checking out the buildings and the great site of the city we continued on to some of the other sites.
Our next stop was the Areopagus which is no more than a hill top under the Parthenon overlooking the city now, but was once the center for law proceedings in the city. We then continued on down the hill towards Monastiraki Square, stopping to see the Agii Apostoli church, the Stoa which was a market place in ancient times, the ruins of Ancient Agora, and the Héphaïstéion. The Héphaïstéion was in amazing shape compared to the other buildings around it and also had a great view back towards the Acropolis.
After lunching on more gyros at a great cafe in Monastiraki we finished up our
day by checking out the site of the Tower of the Winds and the Bernaki Museum. The museum had a great collection with items ranging from 2500BC to the 1800's. The collection contained some great samples of ancient pottery and sculptures and was a great end to the day.
The next day we walked to the Filopappou Hill which sits across from the Acropolis. There we checked out the Prison of Socrates and the Monument of Philopappos. By the Monument of Philopappos we had a great view across to the Acropolis and over all the city. We finished up the day by walking past the Ayios Dhimitrios Loumbardiaris church.
We were hit by a city wide strike which closed all transport and government run sites like all the museums the next day. We had planned on going out to Delphi but instead ended up doing a bit of shopping and hanging out in the cafes because that was about all that was open.
The next day we headed out to the Kerameikos site. This part of the ancient city held the Dipylon Gate in the wall that surrounded the city as well as a large cemetery. The
The Parthenon
Its getting a little work done.... road into the city was a main route and the cemetery contained 1000's of graves spanning several centuries. There were some amazing statues in the museum here that had been unearthed in the area as well as some amazing grave shrines and elaborate grave stones.
We finished off our trip with a visit to the extensive National Archaeological Museum. The collection here covers many archaeological sites from around Greece and covers several centuries. There was an amazing amount of statues, pottery, and classical art. Walking around the museum seeing all of the works really brought to life the sites that we had seen over the week. This was a great way to finish up our visit to Athens and Greece.
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