This tour continues to amaze me; I think I'm going to have to start a new "Bucket List" of places I gotta see because I'm hitting almost my entire list in this one tour!
Remember, to please click on any of the photos to see in full size.
We docked in Piraeus, Greece; sort of a surburbs of Athens proper. It was a short trip by motorcoach thru the very congested Athenian traffic to the mountain where the Acropolis is situated.
It's such an odd feeling to visit these world renowned venues; we see them all our lives in films or on TV and to be there in person and get a feeling of the surroundings is a strange sensation.
We climbed a series of stairs through a lovely grove of olive trees to the entrance of the Parthenon. From there, it was another 10 min walk up all sorts of terrain until we reached the ancient entrance of the site. The Greek government has been working on a preserving these ruins for decades; they made it clear that the plan is only to preserve, not restore the ruins.
Here you can see the columned entrance thru which you walk to approach the more famous Parthenon itself.
In both of these photos you can see the whiter marble where the workers have replaced unstable original stonework with new marble, quarried from the same site as the original thousands of years ago.
The whiter marble will eventually age to match the yellow-ish hue of the original. We saw one sample of an earlier repair done only 8 years ago that was already aging nicely. This is the "restored" Temple to Athena:
There's really not much to say but, Wow! Our tour guide had a very detailed talk about how the previous Parthenon was destroyed by the Persians. It was rebuilt and then taken over by the Ottomans who used it as a storehouse for gunpowder. In 1687 the gunpowder (and a lot of the building!) was blown up during a battle with the Venetians.
If you'd really like to know more about it, here's a link that might be of interest:
After descending the hill of the Acropolis, we took a short walk to the fantastic and brand new Acropolis Museum. This is an astonishing, world class museum that beautifully and artistically showcases historical items from the area of the Acropolis.
I encourage you to check out their website:
Apparently when construction began, new ruins were discovered on the site of the future museum. The designers made huge sections of the floors completely out of glass so that as you enter the museum and lobby you can look down over the wonderful historical site.
Inside, the displays are gorgeous, with descriptions of each item in both Greek and English. Even those with little interest in archeology will find this a fascinating and beautiful attraction.
The building is modern and very formidable in size to hold the very extensive collection. Here you can see some of the glass flooring I mentioned:
Unfortunately, it's prohibited to take photos inside the museum, except at the very top level. You work your way slowly up 3-4 stories of exhibits, original statuary and vases, etc. until you arrive at the top level of the facility which is dedicated to the presentation of the frieze which originally surrounded the entire Parthenon, just above the tops of the columns. This frieze is almost a movie-like story book for citizens of the day, describing battles and the glories of their gods and civilization.
Over years the frieze has been destroyed, stolen and generally misplaced until pieces can be found in many places; esp. the British Museum. In creating this museum, the remaining original pieces have been matched with casts from other original pieces from around the world or created wholly from drawings of artists over the centuries.
The result is a huge, 4 walled display within the room and the frieze recreated in its entirety. You walk around the carved reliefs, the museum walls completely glass from floor to ceiling at this point. Rounding a corner, you're presented with an awesome view of the Acropolis and the Parthenon itself and you realize that you've walked the distance of the parameter of the actual building on the hill.
We were allowed to photograph to the outside, thru the glass, just not inward, toward the frieze or sculptures.
Then, back to the motorcoach for a brief tour of downtown Athens, including a quick stop at the Panathenaic stadium which was the site of the first modern Olympic games in 1896:
We were all getting peckish after all this effort, and fortunately our tour included lunch at a lovely little garden restaurant, tucked behind some buildings in the crowded city center.
The rest of my tour will consist of visiting a variety of Greek islands, both large and small. I'm sure there will be some surprises in store for me, but I think I've been so fortunate to hit dozens of World Wonders in such a short tour.
Please keep in touch and safe travels!
John: When you were climbing up the stairs to the Parthenon; did you happen to get any photos of that grove of olive trees? I'd like to see that!
ReplyDeleteLiving vicariously through you!
To be blessed enough to be able to walk through areas that just breathe world history is an amazing thing! Safe travels, my friend.