We were awake shortly before the alarm, and we lay in bed listening to the sound of the traffic outside our window. Despite the early hour there was the constant cacophony of engine sounds and blaring horns as the many vehicles sped through Greece’s capital.
We got up and got washed and dressed and ready for our day ahead. In anticipation of a scorching day, I wore a white cap-sleeved t-shirt with some white, loosely-fitting cropped linen trousers. We expected to clock up a fair few steps today, so I put a pair of shandals on which, as well as being very comfortable, had a good tread on the sole.
Once we were ready, we prepared a rucksack with essentials in such as sun protection, insect repellent, hand sanitiser, cagoules (in case it rained!) and other things. Then we headed up to the roof-top restaurant for our breakfast.
Now the hotel may not have had a pool or a bar, but it made up for it by the amazing, glass-sided restaurant which afforded us a fantastic view of the Parthenon on its hill, bathed in the gentle glow of the pre-sunrise morning light. I opened some sliding glass doors and went out onto the narrow gallery that ran all the way around the restaurant outside, and took a photo.
Now many people get confused between the Acropolis and the Parthenon. Just as ‘metropolis’ is the word to describe a a large, major city that serves as an important economic, political, and cultural hub (which literally translates from the Greek to mean ‘mother city’) so an ‘acropolis’ is a large city built upon a steep hill, from the word ‘acro’ which means ‘high’.
So the Acropolis of Athens shows us the remains of major monuments that were built between 447 and 407 BC. The most distinctive of these is, of course, the Parthenon, which served as a temple dedicated to Athena Parthenos, the patron goddess of the city and after whom it is named.
Designed by the architects Iktinos and Kallikrates under the supervision of the legendary sculptor Pheidias, the temple is universally regarded as the pinnacle of the Doric architectural order and is recognisable the world over.
We enjoyed a good breakfast of eggs, Greek yoghurt and fruit, all washed down with orange juice and good, strong Greek coffee. Then we returned to our room and collected the rucksack and my bumbag before making our way down to the hotel foyer to await our coach. Our guide, who would be with us for the whole of the land-based trip, was called Aris and our driver was called Yannis.
Once the coach arrived, we set off through the streets for a city tour, Aris pointing things out to us through the window. We passed an amazing amphitheatre (there are lots of amphitheatres in Greece!) which Aris told us was called the Panathenaic Stadium built entirely from white Pentelic marble (the only one in the world that is). It is apparently the world’s oldest operating stadium, and it hosted the world’s first modern Olympic Games in 1896. 🙂
What we found fascinating was the way ancient Athens and modern day Athens melded together in a perfect harmony; the way you could walk down a bustling city street and suddenly be transported back thousands of years by a partially-excavated archaeological site or a piece of tile mosaic or a statue. It was incredible.
Soon the coach wended its way through the traffic until it came to the foot of the hill upon which was the Acropolis. Aris informed us that it was a fairly steep climb up to the Parthenon, but it would be the most strenuous part of the whole trip, and we would take our time. She particularly advised is to be very careful and watch our footing; the large slabs of rock that made up most of the climb and, indeed, most of the ground underfoot had been worn perfectly smooth by the billions of feet that had walked along them over the millenia, and it would be too easy to slip.
The coach parked up and we all alighted, the heat hitting us after the air-conditioned comfort of the vehicle. It was only 9.30am but the temperature was already in the mid-20s. Aris explained that we had come to the Acropolis early for two reasons; firstly to get here before it got uncomfortably hot, and secondly to beat the crowds all heading for Athens most famous landmark.
We set off up the dusty hillside track, trying our best to avoid the shiny areas of stone which were indeed slippery under foot. We then arrived at the entrance to the Acropolis and had to wait while Aris handed over 37 entry tickets and the lady on the gate scanned each bar code. Then we went through the gate and continued.
Our first pause was at another archaeological site and amphitheatre, the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, named after its creator and built in 161 AD. Herodes Atticus was a famous teacher and politician, and built this magnificent theatre in memory of his Roman wife, Aspasia Annia Regilla, after she died.
The most striking feature left today is the massive, three-story stone front wall. Originally, it was lined with expensive marble and colorful statues.
We continued walking along slowly in the dust and the heat, pleased that we had brought our steel water bottles with us. Although we had kept them in the fridge overnight, the water within them was already warm.
Aris would often stop and point something out to us and tell us all about it. She was obviously very well educated and really knew her stuff, but as she told us about a monument she would recite dates and centuries and architects and Greek mythological characters and a lot of the time it was information overload as we stood there with the sun beating down and our brains frying inside our heads. Without taking notes on everything she was telling us, it was impossible to take it all in. I would look it all up on Google when we got home; in fact, I went onto Amazon and purchased The Ancient Greeks for Dummies, one of those excellent books that explains everything in a simple (and often humorous) way and isn’t too academic. 🙂
After puffing our way a bit further up the hill, we came to the main star of the show, the Parthenon itself. Even though it was surrounded with scaffolding and had cranes where restorative work was being carried out, it was absolutely magnificent. To think it had been standing on its hill for nearly two and a half thousand years. Yes, it was undergoing repairs, but the fact was that it was still standing and still recognisable was amazing, considering there are lots of buildings in Britain that are only about 60 years old and are already dropping to bits! 🙂
As it was so big, it was difficult to get a good photo up close; the best pictures were those you could take from further away. But up close, you could see all the little details; the Doric columns, the tiny sculptures at the tops of the outer columns and the decorative triangles at the gable ends. Amazing stuff.
Everywhere we looked, we saw wonderful sculptures and statues and amphitheatres. One of them was the remains of the Erechthelon temple and its Porch of the Maidens, with the caryatids, which were female figures which acted as columns to hold up the roof. The Erechthelon was built from 421 to 406 BC and was dedicated to Athena and Poseidon.
By now, the crowds were out in force and Aris told us that a couple of cruise ships had docked in Piraeus this morning. Several times we passed groups of tourists clustered around their guide as he/she explained something to them in their native languages, among which I recognised French, German and Italian as well as English. People from around the world come to visit the Acropolis. 🙂
We had started to make our way back down now, after sitting on some handy stone blocks and finishing our water. Aris told us that our next stop would be to the famous Acropolis Museum which had restrooms. We headed back to the entrance, zig-zagging around other groups of tourists, until we reached the gate and Aris counted us all up. “You will soon learn how to count up to 37 in Greek” she told us laughingly. 🙂
Soon we were back in the air-conditioned comfort of the coach, greeted by a smiling Yannis at the wheel. We didn’t have far to go; the museum is very handily situated at the bottom of the Acropolis hill. As we parked up again and alighted from the coach, we walked a short way until our attention was drawn to a horse and carriage, the horse patiently standing in partial shade awaiting his duties. What we found amusing was that he had been fitted with his own sun-hat, with holes cut in it from which his ears protruded. 🙂
Soon we arrived at the entrance to the Acropolis museum. What was so interesting about this building was that when they started to dig to lay the foundations for the museum in the late 1980s, they discovered the remains on an ancient neighbourhood. This find caused major delays and redesigns. Construction stopped until 2000, when a new ingenious architectural plan by Bernard Tschumi and Mihalis Fotiadis was chosen. They changed the building design to use tall concrete pillars. This “floated” the museum above the ruins so the archaeological site could be saved and later opened to the public, and viewed through a reinforced glass floor and walkway. What an amzing idea!
We looked with fascination through the glass at the ancient remains. I would liked to have spent longer but Aris was beckoning us all into the museum so she could present our tickets and go through all the bar-code scanning again. While she was doing this, I hotfooted it to the nearest restroom where a queue was inevitably starting to form outside the ladies.
It took ages for me to be at the front of the queue; if I hadn’t been bursting I would have just kept my legs crossed until later, but for the moment going to the loo was my only priority. Finally I was done, and I hurried back to the group where Aris was ready to start showing us around.
We only had about an hour and a half in the museum; we really would have liked more time because the exhibits, most of which were brought down from the Acropolis and were the original pieces (rather than some of the restored pieces we had seen). We were not allowed to take photos in many of the rooms, and we noticed that anyone who did try and take photos (not in our group) was swiftly reprimanded by the museum staff with a terse “No photo!”
It was just after one o’clock when we left the museum and walked back to where the coach was parked up. It was only a short distance to the charming little town of Plaka, where Aris said our time was now our own and we were to meet back at the coach at 3.00pm.
Plaka was a gorgeous little hillside village with narrow, cobblestoned streets and tiny little shops selling local handicrafts, clothing, jewellery and ceramics. In addition, there were several little tavernas and pavement restaurants and bars. As we hadn’t eaten since breakfast, Trevor and I decided we’d find somewhere to eat and enjoy a massive, freezing cold beer. 🙂
Soon we came across an open-fronted restaurant and we spent a few moments perusing the menu on the board outside before entering and being shown to a table for two. Another couple in our tour party had also come into the restaurant just after us, and asked if we wanted to join them on a table for four. We agreed, and each ordered a large Mythos while we decided what to have for lunch.
I chose a delicious Caesar salad which was really quite large. I picked all of the croutons out of it (who on earth invented croutons? They are just a waste of space and calories). Trevor just chose a bowl of chips but asked for some fresh bread as well. The other couple, who introduced themselves as Mike and Debbie, each ordered a Greek salad which looked delicious, with its red ripe tomatoes, olives and scrumptious feta cheese.
We enjoyed our lunch a lot, as well as the company of Mike and Debbie. We had a little bit of time afterwards to browse some of the shops, but everything was incredibly expensive for what it was, obviously aimed at the tourist.
Soon we had all reconvened back at the coach for our return journey to the Athaenium Smart Hotel. We were hot and bothered and tired, and just wanted to have a power nap in our air conditioned room, seeing as the hotel didn’t have a pool!
This we did, and we awoke refreshed and ready to go out and explore our immediate vicinity, and look for a Geocache. There was one about 800 metres away, so we set off through the streets until we came to a park, following the directions to the Geocache. When we arrived and the app said we were only a metre away, we search carefully but didn’t find anything. Never mind, we’d enjoyed the walk, and we were ready to go and find a bar and have a drink now. It was about 6.30pm.
We pondered whether or not to have something to eat, but we weren’t really hungry after our large lunch. We therefore just decided to go back to the little bar that we’d visited last night, the one with the cheap local wine. 🙂
When we found the place again, we saw the proprietor sitting outside with some locals. When he spotted us, he came straight over, smiling widely. We each ordered a large beer and, when it came, it was accompanied by a bowl of mixed salted nuts.
We really enjoyed our beers a lot, and decided to stay for another drink, as it was just so pleasant sitting outside in the growing dusk. The air was much cooler now after the relentless heat of the day. Trevor ordered another beer while I asked for a 250ml carafe of the village wine. 🙂
As we sat there passing the time and talking over what we’d seen and done today, we enjoyed one more drink each. It was just as well we hadn’t had any dinner because this came with another bowl of nuts. We then decided to go back to the hotel around 9.15pm, as we were leaving Athens in the morning and we still needed to pack, so we asked for the bill which came to a total of 19 euros for four beers and two wines! You can’t go wrong for that! 🙂
We set off back to the hotel, arriving just before 9.30pm. Then we took the tiny lift up to room 204 and packed up our cases, leaving out only those things that we would need tonight and tomorrow morning. It didn’t take long because we hadn’t really unpacked. Then we just got washed and undressed and into our jammies and pottered around for a bit. Trevor read his Tractor and Machinery magazine on my tablet, and I read some of my Ancient Greece for Dummies book.
We had to be up at 6.30am, ready to leave at eight o’clock, so it was about 11.00pm when we switched off the light and settled down for the evening. We had enjoyed a fascinating and interesting day today.