Athens, the Parthenon and Acropolis

Days 97 & 98; April 12-13, 2011

We are docked in Piraeus, Greece, near Athens.  Ron and I had a tour today to Athens and the Parthenon and Acropolis.  Acropolis means high place and getting there meant hiking up the often slippery hillside (as in a few hundred stairs).  The first residents moved up to the mountain in about 3500 BC .  It is colossal and one wonders at the brilliance of the architects in that time.  The stairs pass through the Proylea or colossal entry to the upper terrace. Here we saw the Pinacotheca and the small Temple of Athena Nike, which is anything but small.  The structures are breathtaking.  Pictures don’t do it justice.  Standing there amidst the ruins and the rebuilding efforts –the columns and the statues takes your breath away as you consider the civilization that lived here thousands of years before.  Below the Parthenon we saw the stage and amphitheater where the great orators such as Plato and Socrates shared their knowledge and philosophies.

So many ruins and so much rebuilding.  And the marble.  You can see where the old tan marble meets the new white, but because the marble contains some iron, the white will turn color and eventually you will not be able to tell old from new.  

We also stopped at the site of the 2006 Olympic Games. We saw dozens of important places, palaces, gardens and statues and such, but none as amazing as the Acropolis.