Tag: acropolis

The family made it in last night by 10, very tired, staggering, but happy to be here. 

We had a wonderful breakfast to start our day. They have a great buffet here, looking at the Acropolis and Parthenon and then we met our driver for the tour at 8:30. The morning was perfect weather wise. We met our guide at the Acropolis. Turns out there were 7 ocean liners in today, rarely happens, plus it’s international museum weekend all across Europe, so it was free entry, and this negated the tickets that had already been arranged. Babis – our guide – got in line at 7 this morning with 40 people already ahead of him and it still took him 1.5 hours. He was so nice about it. 

So there were a lot of people and it didn’t even matter. Babis was a great guide, so easy, knowledgeable, it was a treat exploring with him. Eli W was able to ask all the questions he had related to his prior knowledge, very fun to see and hear. I’m not going to write about the history – biggest impact was the astonishing fact that there’s anything standing at all given the ways in which the building has been damaged, but it is completely impressive despite Lord Elgin stealing an enormous amount and putting it in the British Museum. 

We went to the Acropolis Museum next which is truly a feat of design, mimicking to the exact footage of the Parthenon on the top floor. They have put the original pieces in the same place on the pedestals on top that they were on the actual building. They put in white all the pieces the Elgin stole and left blank wherever a piece was completely destroyed or missing and can’t even be approximated. 

Babis had another group, had to run another gauntlet of tickets and people so we offered to let him go after the museum instead of doing the rest of the city – we’d already run over time. He recommended a restaurant in the Plakas area and we got dropped off there for lunch. It was so cool to be sitting outside in Athens with the family. 

We ended the day with a meal that sent Eli C into ecstasy – it was incredible, the same restaurant here in the hotel that had so surprised me on my first night. They made a table for 5 on the balcony so he and Kaziah were able to watch the sunset behind the acropolis and have incredible food – the rest of us saw it too, by turning to look. Beautiful!

I know I’ll probably repeat some of today with the family, but needed to do some walking so took my earbuds and phone and walked a couple of Rick Steves tours. They’re so good!

When we were here 8 years ago for my sister’s and stepmother’s birthdays, I didn’t do either of the walks I did today and they were great. Ended up walking about 9 miles which was more than I expected, but I saw a lot!

One fact that stood out today was that there was a big schism in Christianity. A note from AI: The Schism between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches occurred in 1054 with the event known as the East-West Schism. This formal break in communion was the result of centuries of growing tensions, political and cultural differences, and theological disagreements between the Western and Eastern branches of Christianity. The formal split was marked by the mutual excommunication of the Pope of Rome and the Patriarch of Constantinople. 

I never thought about it and why the Orthodoxy practices are so different. The churches are so elaborate and gorgeous. Evidently, practitioners are supposed to stand, thus the many things to look at, but very few chairs for only older practitioners. 

Anyway, I looked at the first walk, Athens City and it started 350 feet from the front door of the hotel. Clearly meant to be. Between 2500 years of history (he does know how to pack it in), the cool perfect morning weather and the interesting sights, I had a wonderful morning. 

At the end of the biggest pedestrian shopping mall is this gem. The Church of Kapnikarea, built in the 11th and 12th centuries. I love these kinds of juxtapositions. 

The next stop was the big cathedral, built in 1842. The only reason I’m including this is because the archbishop here in WWII was incredible. He was a rare Christian leader who spoke out against the Nazi’s and protected the Jews as much as he could. They threatened to put in front of a firing squad and he joked they should hang him instead. After the war, he was the caretaker prime minister. Pretty amazing. The statue of him was erected by Athens’ Jewish community as a show of thanks. 

I then continued with the tour around Athens, winding up through a wonderfully tiny neighborhood in the back of the Acropolis that I wondered if I’d find again. Can’t wait to be there with the family. 

I came back to the hotel, to cool off, and get a hat and drop the over shirt – it was getting hot. My plan was to do the tour of the Agora, the ancient home of democracy. I was telling one of the bellmen my plan and he told me to go to this neighborhood in the back (different back) of the Acropolis for lunch. Off the beaten track. Cool, I’ll do that. 

We’ll, the Agora was great, though the entry was not marked and was all the way on the other side from the Rick Steves directions. But I did find it, following a French couple who were also wondering if they’d ever find their way in. 

Ach, just looked at my photos, really impossible to convey the enormity of this open-air plaza where people actually voted and help their senators accountable. So many cool places, here’s a view of the Acropolis from the Agora. They used to march in a parade from here all the way up once a year, a great spectacle taking a newly woven robe to Athena in the Parthenon. 

After I finished the tour, I decided to try to find this neighborhood to the right and back of this view of the Acropolis where Georgia told me to go. I was watching my phone’s battery and using GPS as sparingly as I could. And I walked. And walked. 

I then finally gave up on finding these small plate restaurants that he said were great and started trying to find my way back. At one point, I was in the midst of land with no people in sight and I had no idea where I was. This was wide open in the midst of Athens! On my map it said I would pass Socrates’ prison – I wanted to see that. I didn’t see that. 

I did see this burial spot of Thucydides – amazing to know this name and his history and here he was!

Whew, ok I recognize something (the Acropolis)and think I can find my way back if my phone runs out. 

Yay, so happy to eventually make my way back to the hotel. I realized I did an entire circumnavigation of the Acropolis adding in many different areas. Loved getting a real sense of the space and how the neighborhoods work.