So what's acropolis about that?

 March 30, 2025

Sunday

Day 2

Amid the marble rubble in front of the Parthenon

I got up this morning and made my way downstairs to my bathroom, only to not be able to get hot water in the shower!!  So I used a washcloth and sponged off, then messaged the owners as I went to the Acropolis.  We messaged a few times, turns out I probably turned the water thing the wrong way-dumb move! (hope that is all it was, because I am gonna need a hot shower tomorrow!  I haven't showered since Friday morning!).

Some of the random marble pieces laying around

The Theater of Dionysos on the South Slope

This is the Choragic Monument of Thrasyllos up above the theater

More of the theater

So anyways, I walked to the Acropolis.  The entrance is the opposite side of where I am staying.  Google Maps attempted to send me through the Agora complex--but their guards were not in on that deal.  I ended up having to walk all the way around to the other side with only my wits to guide me.  Long walk--about 45 minutes.  I was able to skip the line because I already had a ticket!  Took some work to get the audio guide loaded and working, but it was okay.  I think if I was to do it over, I would opt for a real person guide.  But I slowly made my way up what they call the slopes, stopping to hear about various sites along the way.  Got to the top and wow!!  PIllars and trmples everywhere!  

More marble

It's everywhere!

Odeon of Herodes Atticus

This seats up to 6,000 spectators, still used for summer theater festivals in Athens

the Asklepieion of Athens--these temples often served as rudimentary hospitals

Scaffolding covered one end of the Parthenon, but they are in a constant phase of recovering, renewing, etc and to expect scaffolding.  You could see some places that they have patched with marble, others that they have rebuilt (and moved the remains to the museum), and other things that simply aren't there as they attempt to figure out how it looked.  Then, of course, mention was made that some of them are at the British Museum--things that were removed by Lord Elgin in 1801.  He insists that he had permission of the Ottoman Empire (who controlled Athens at the time), but they can't find the paperwork and the wording is disputed.  The Greeks want them back, the British Museum (who acquired them from Elgin in 1816 for £35,000--over £3 million now) says that they were legally acquired and their policy is to not return antiquities unless legally required to do so because they feel that they can be better cared for and accessible to more people if they are in London.  Greece says that they are part of their cultural heritage.  And it turns out that the British Museum damanged some of them while attempting to clean them.  So, it's a whole thing now.  But the Acropolis definitely lives up to the hype and is way cool to see.  Frist, some history:   The acropolis is where the city of Athens was first set up by the Mycenaens around 800 BCE,  It was well protected because it was on the top of a tall hill with 100 ft. drops.  But in 480 BCE the Persians invaded again.  the Athenians evacuated the city and the Persian army burned the entire thing to the ground.  When they came back, they still had a lot of money, so their leader with a visionary architect/sculptor planned to transform the Acropolis into a complex of super-sized ornate temples to honor their city's protector, the goddess Athena.  Now as a feminist, I love that this huge thing was for a goddess.  Never mind the weirdness that she was born out of her father's head.  And that she remained celibate her whole life.  

the Acropolis entrance gates

The first temple for Athena Niki, Nike, Victory--seen from the entrance gates

entering

the gates

You can see the first temple for Athena from inside the gates 

The Parthenon

more marble laying around

West End

South side

East End

This used to have a frieze about the conception and birth of Athena

Another temple in front of the Parthenon

This tower was a gift from Athens' first queen.  Later, at the end of World
War II, some Athenians went up there and replaced the Nazi flag with the Greek flag.

More Parthenon, 'cause it's just there!

The Erechtheion with the Southern Porch of the Caryatids, built to memorialize
the Tomb of Cecrops, a mythological half-serpent king of Attica

This was a 13 meter high statue of Athena that was once in the Acropolis.  It was made of ivory and gold and was taken to Constantinople.  They have no idea what happened to it next.

 

This is the front porch of the temple of Erechtheion

An olive tree that was supposedly planted by the goddess Athena.  Olive trees
represent peace.  This was surrounded by a sanctuary.

The  temple of Erechtheion

From the entrance on the way out

Next I walked to the Acropolis Museum.  In here are some things that have been removed from the Acropolis because they are very fragile and others were found in excavations.  Lots to see.  My audio guide didn't work very well because I had trouble sometimes finding the objects that they were talking about.  Using the museum's audio guide probably would have been better.  I didn't really take any pictures because everything was cool and some were very large, and then some things you weren't supposed to take pictures of, so . . .  I had read good things about the cafe at the museum--good prices and good food with a good view, so I took advantage of that for a late lunch.  I had a:  Lettuce salad with grilled chicken, Cretan apaki smoked ham, graviera cheese, green olives, herb sauce and carob bread croutons (that's from the menu).  Very yummy and filling!  €14 which is how much most meals in Athens are.  Not sure what the dressing was, but is was creamy, pale yellow, and very good.

Included in my museum ticket is an excavation of an area that was found directly below the museum and which I think is ongoing.  There are homes that were built on top of previous homes.  And they had items and shards found in labeled cases as well as the foundations of the homes.  So that was cool.  At one point, I had a question about the letters that they found stamped on loom weights.  I asked someone that I thought was a docent--turns out that he's only a guard and had no idea.  Ooops!  I just laughed and said it was fine.  At that time (around 400 CE), women's lives were to get married young, have many children, and to weave.  That was it.  So there were many sets of loom weights.  I'm guessing that it may have been their (or their husband's) name or some way to identify whose they were.  I had just barely gotten in at the last entrance, so I only had half an hour and then they were kicking everyone out.   

These are all excavated from under the museum

Well, it was now after 5:00 with a whole host of places to eat to choose from, but I was still full from my lunch three hours earlier and it was getting quite chilly, so I opted to go back to my room and decide what to do from there.  Well, I stopped at a cute little park for awhile and checked email, etc and met a cute cat that came over to sit right against me.  Well, I didn't want to be rude, so I pettted her and checked out things on my phone--even did a DuoLingo lesson because I don't want to lose my streak.  It was getting chillier as the sun slipped lower in the sky so I headed back.  When I got to my room I rested a bit--not sleeping, but sitting back resting my tired body.  Going up all those steps to the Acropolis and walking to get there and back was  a lot for this old body!  Then I reviewed my plans for the next few days (tour) and where I have to meet the tour.  As well as where my other accommodations are and figure out how I'm going to get to my last one and get from there to the airport (it's near the airport, but not near enough nor near the subway line so it looks like I might have to take a bus and walk to the metro line.  Hmmmm.  

My kitty friend at the park

Walking back

The statue is in the balcony

And now I'm writing this as I charge my phone and my power bank.  Had a little chex mix as a dinner/ snack, so I'm good for the night!  I'll load the photos and put this online tomorrow.  Hopefully the hotel will have good wifi!

The Root of every word is from the Greek

March 29, 2025 Athens, Greece Day 1, Saturday

Hey everyone! After way too much time in airplanes, I'm finally in Greece on Spring Break! Yay!! Many people asked me--Why Greece? (and why in March? is the unvoiced additional question). The answer is, I looked at a map, saw Greece, and thought, I haven't been there yet. So, here I am! Friday was an end-of quarter, paperwork day for my job, so I did my paperwork (grades, progress reports on 21 students, and lesson planning for after break) on the previous weekend and used Friday as a self-directed comp time to cover the previous weekend and a couple of days that I stayed longer that week doing my planning. 

 I left my house at 5:45 Friday morning, planning to take the bus (BRT) to the light rail. Well, the bus station said that the buses were not currently running (!!!). Okay, so I started walking at a quick clip--only a little more than a mile to the light rail station. Just over halfway there, my bus passed me. I half-heartedly held up my hand--and it stopped--even though it wasn't a bus stop! So I jogged there with my bags and got on. Super nice of the driver! Got to the airport in plenty of time--security only took about 5 minutes. The plane left an hour late because of grounding in Chicago due to a storm nearby. We arrived a little earlier than we had thought (we were also rerouted North due to the storm). I had been assigned to the exit row so I had extra legroom. My layover there was supposed to be an hour and a half--because of our hour delay, I stopped at the bathroom and arrived at the next gate at the beginning of boarding. We flew to Newark, again a short layover of an hour and a half (aisle seat this time). In Chicago I was in a later boarding group and they ran out of overhead bins, so I was forced to check my carry on which would be sent on to Athens. Getting on the big plane from Newark to Athens, I had luckily been given an aisle seat. A guy was sitting in my seat talking to his friend across the aisle from my seat. I said that it was my seat, so he got up to move over and asked if I would switch seats. I said, sorry, but no. I wanted an aisle seat so that I wouldn't have to climb over him to get out every time I needed to use the bathroom. And it turned out that the couple on his other side had a very small child that ended up crying much of the "night time" when they dim the lights to encourage you so sleep and reset your body clock. As usual, I didn't sleep much--just a little dozing, despite having only had 3 1/2 hours of sleep the night before (up late packing, finishing things, etc). 

 We were scheduled to arrive in Athens at 9:10, we arrived around 8:50. I couldn't check into my accommodation until 2:00, so I had purchased a locker rental to base my bags until I could check in. I figured out the metro and took the subway to where I was staying. I stashed my bags--€10 plus supplying my own lock. I possibly could have paid less finding one of the commercial bag drops instead, but, whatever. Then, in my exhausted state, just wanting to sleep, I wandered the old city area that I am staying in. I love wandering the streets of cities--you find the most interesting things. I just wander and then when I am done, I enter the address of where I'm staying or where I'm heading to next into Google Maps. So I did that today. One street that looked interesting was blocked to cars with guards near. They said something so I smiled and waved and kept moving. One of them approached and asked where I was going, and was I looking for something. I answered that I was just wandering around, and thought I'd go down this street (looked like an archeological site at the end of the street). He said, oh, you're just using the street so I said yes and he let me go. As I was walking, I noticed a group of people who entered a building and several of the buildings seemed to have Hebrew written on them and stars of David, so I realized that it was a street of Jewish buildings and wonder if they were worried about terrorists or anti-semitic protestors. So I made my way to the end of the cordoned off area and nodded to the security guys there as I left. There was an archeological site, but the ticket office said that I needed to buy the tickets online, so I left. I just wandered, looking at the many flea market stalls set up around the area. There don't seem to be any parks in this area of Athens, but there are many plazas. I stopped at several, resting and wasting a little time until I could check into my stay and take a nap. 

Kerameikos district of ancient Athens

Kerameikos

Look up on that hill!

Lunch

Temple of Hephaistos

Ancient Agora--part of it is preserved under the train tracks

carved detail on a building

One of many plazas

 Finally I could go. I stopped and retrieved my bags, following the directions for self-check in--following the green line and using the entry codes they sent me on Friday. Well, my room is very tiny--I sent my husband a pic and he described it as a Japanese capsule hotel but with more head room. Pretty apt. The room is about 5 feet wide as you enter, tapering to about 4 feet at the window. There is a twin bed on one side, the other has wall-mounted heater, fold out table, and TV. At then end of the bed, there is about two feet between it and a kitchenette which is under the window. Mini-fridge, microwave, small sink and dish drainer with a small selection of dishes and a few appliances.  The door is glass with a shade to pull down for privacy.  My private bathroom is accessed by going outside, downstairs, and in another tiny room--around 5 feet by 3 feet with a toilet, sink, and shower head mounted on the wall above the sink. You just gotta laugh! It's a good price, clean, and I'm only here for two nights. (I booked a Peloppenese tour for Monday through Thursday). So I unpacked--they recommend opening your suitcase on the floor (that was tough already because there is not really enough floor space for that), and storing it under the bed. So it is open, under the bed. I looked around in my bags finding things that I needed, then stripped down to my underwear because the room is hot and I was sweating from all of the walking in nearly 70 degree heat, as well as carrying my bags up the three flights of stairs. Napped a few hours, then changed from hiking boots with my capris to sandals and went out to find dinner around 6:00. They served a breakfast sandwich on the plane and I stopped for some falafels as I was wandering earlier. I stopped at a cafe. A wait staff came over as I looked at a posted menu and asked what kind of food I like. Most of the food looked pretty American, so I said that I was looking for some actual Greek food. She suggested the veggie scrambled eggs, saying that a lot of Greeks like them. I opted for a sausage/vegie scrambled eggs so that I would get have protein. Very good eggs with bell peppers, bits of sausage, and big chunks of feta cheese on top served with two triangles of toasted flatbread. I stopped at at convenience store hoping to get some muesli and milk for my breakfast, but they only had corn flakes type cereal, so I passed. Back in my tiny room, to order tickets online for the acropolis and museum for tomorrow (had to schedule a time) and reviewing my itinerary for the week. Whew--time to go downstairs to brush my teeth and catch some more sleep. I scheduled the Acropolis for 11:00 so that I can sleep in and hopefully find something for breakfast. Or I'll just have some trail mix and water. Good night!

My "studio apartment" which they also call a sleepbox

Street scene as I went out in search of dinner