Greece Trip - Day 2

June 27, 2009 – Athens

I woke up bright and early this morning as I wanted to make it to the Acropolis before the crowds, and the heat. When I was at breakfast in the hotel, I heard a group of people talking about a 6pm meeting tonight – they must be fellow Intrepid travellers. I have a mission today, and I assume they do too, so I didn’t make contact with them.

After breakfast I headed straight to the Acropolis – I bought the ticket that also includes other sites around the city that I aimed to visit today also. As I walked up the stairs of the Propylaea of the Acropolis (main entrance building) I was in absolute awe at the sheer beauty of the architecture and the marble that this bygone era used. Exiting the Propylaea I got my first up-close view of the Parthenon. Even though there was a fair amount of scaffolding around the front and side of the Parthenon, it was still a magnificent. I slowly walked around the back of the Parthenon to get an unobstructed view of this brilliant building and absorb the surroundings. The ground you walk upon is worn down pieces of marble, and there are pieces of marble that were once walls, columns or stairs that lead to the tremendous building that are still visible today. When I entered the Acropolis, a lady sold me a book on this awesome piece of history, and it was fascinating to look at the surrounding ruins and then at the drawings of what it was like in its full glory and just imagine the daily events that took place. I climbed up to a look-out point and was able to look over the city and out to sea - there are so many ruins spread across the city. After that, I walked around the Erechtheion, with the Porch Caryatides and then back down through the Propylaea, past the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, past some land turtles slowing walking along the path and then towards the Theatre of Dionysus. The view from there was magnificent – I had the high walls up to the top of the Acropolis behind me, I was surrounded by ruins and then below me was the remains of the Theatre of Dionysus, with marble statues and marble seats still in wonderful condition.

I then made my way to the Temple of Zeus, this time for a closer look. It is amazing that these remaining pillars are still standing – they are so tall and look so vulnerable. Beyond the standing pillars is a pillar that has fallen, each evenly sized section of the pillar is lying on the ground, resting gently against the other – the fall looked so graceful and perfect.

There are so many dogs and cats on the streets here; they can be seen laying around on the cold marble the steps of shops or train entrances or just wandering around aimlessly. It was starting to heat up now, so I took refuge in the nearby National Gardens and enjoyed a stroll around the shady park for about the next hour. When I had cooled down, I headed out of the park to the Parliament Building and was just in time to watch the hourly tradition of the changing of the guards. The guards wear tights; a kilted skirt; a red hat with a tassel and shoes with pom-poms on them! They are standing in front of the tomb of the Unknown Soldier and perform the changing of the guard on the hour, every hour, 24 hours a day. The performance is truly unique – they have one are up in the air and swing behind them then up in the air also in a variety of different way, and both guards are in synch with each other and perform the task to perfection. Once they have changed guard and the new guards are at their posts, a guy in army khakis stands in front of the guard, adjusts their hat, collar, coat and kilt, and then wipes the sweat off the face and neck of the guard, and then stands nearby while the crowds of tourists want to take their photo with the guards.

I was hot and tired and didn’t feel like walking, but I had so much more I wanted to see of Athens, so I jumped on board the City Sightseeing Bus tour. The bus took me past some of the sites I had already seen, past some food markets, university buildings and other areas of the city and it continued in a big loop. Once I had cooled down I got off at the hill of the Acropolis to explore the other side – the Hill of Philopappus. While walking through the parkland on the hill, I stumbled across Socrates’ Prison – what a marvellous and unexpected find! I continued on towards the Dora’s Statou Theatre to find the gates closed, which was very annoying. They do performances there of traditional music and dance, so they must have it closed outside of those times. I then climbed the hill to get a closer look at the Philopappus Monument, a tomb. The view from this hill was outstanding. You had a perfect view across to the Acropolis, which I took advantage of and set up my camera to take a few photos of myself with the Acropolis in the background.
After my hill climb, I went back down the hill to the grounds of Thissio and visited the Temple of Hephaestus and the Ancient Agora. I sat in the long covered hall of the Agora enjoying the cool breeze that was flowing through until I had to head back to the hotel to freshen up before my trip meeting. While I was walking along a road that headed back to the hotel, the City Sightseeing Bus was coming up the street towards me, I thought – why not have another trip around the city before the days end?; so I flagged it down and jumped onboard. This time though, I stayed on the lower level and enjoyed the air conditioning. It was fun to cruise around the city again, past ruins, markets, shopping district and to climb the hill to the Acropolis once again. I was shocked when we stopped and Duffy (the UK Singer) climbed down the stairs of the bus and got off at the Acropolis – wow, a famous person!!

I made it back to the hotel in plenty of time for the meeting, as the meeting was pushed back half an hour. It was a full group – 12 plus the leader, mainly Australians and only one male. The Tour Leader is Theresa, from England.