Athens
The Acropolis & Parthenon
The first time I saw the Acropolis, in 2013, I found it amazing. It was definitely awe inspiring on my second visit. As I climbed up, the Parthenon and Athena’s temple with the Caryatids beautiful women statues came into view. It is truly breathtaking.
The original Acropolis was inhabited and fortified as early as 1600-1100 BCE. The temples were built in the 6th Century BCE but were destroyed in 480 by the invading Persians. The current monuments were constructed around 447 to 406 BCE, after the Persians were defeated.
The Parthenon, dedicated to Athena Parthenos (the Virgin) is made entirely of marble. It is the largest structure at 228 feet in length, 101 feet wide and 45 feet tall. It has 46 outer columns. (It is about ½ the size of a football field). The inside was destroyed during a Venetian/Ottoman battle because the Ottomans used it for munitions. Luckily the outside survived, but not all the beautiful sculptures in the outside frieze remained. Those that survived are in the Acropolis Museum and in museums around the world.
The Erechtheion, also dedicated to Athena, has a porch of the Caryatids, beautiful sculpted maidens that act as columns. The originals are in the museum (except for the one in the British museum), and what we saw in the Acropolis were replicas. Unfortunately, these magnificent statues, did not weather well, being outside for 2500 years.
Acropolis Museum
The Acropolis Museum is fantastic. The experience begins on the walkway to the entrance to the museum. Because excavations were necessary to build the museum, the unearthed remains are now glassed over and visible to the visitors.
My favorite was the hall of statues. These beautiful marble statues are amazing because the marble looks like fabric, with its flowing lines. (No pictures were allowed in this hall).
The exhibit showed samples of some of the colors that these statues would have had.
Another favorite exhibit is the original Caryatids from the Acropolis. They are weathered, but still beautiful.
The pottery was outstanding, with many pieces in pristine shape. To the right is one of my favorites.
Then on the third floor is a replica (in size) of the Parthenon, with reliefs from the actual structure and replicas of those sculptures that are in other museums.
The Greek Agora
In 5th century BCE Athens, the Agora was the main part of town. The city council and the law courts all met there. It was also a religious center.
Our main focus in the Agora was the Stoa of Attalus and the Temple of Hephaestus. The Stoa was the old market place, which is now the Agora Museum.
This museum has fabulous clay vessels with beautiful birds, horses, geometric lines with lovely shapes.
It also had a baby potty chair and a voting machine, as well as ancient grills.
But the best were the incredible marble statues with flowing marble robes.
The Temple, up the hill from the Stoa, is an incredibly well-preserved Greek temple thanks to its solid construction, and its location up the hill. Also, it was used as a church, which helped with preservation. It was built in the mid 5th century BCE. It is dedicated to Hephaestus, the god of fire and blacksmiths and to Athena Ergane, the patroness of craftsmen. We could not go in the temple, but could walk around and enjoy the columns and the carvings at the top. From the temple grounds, we had a great view of the Acropolis and the Parthenon.
Archaeology Museum
This excellent museum has lots of beautiful statues, pottery and jewelry.
But it was the exhibit of a Mycenae dig, with remains of Linear B writing tablets that we loved. The writing detailed food purchases and work completed.
The museum also had an awesome statue of a horse and rider made out of bronze. Both boy and horse are unbelievably expressive.
Parliament House and Park
The Parliament House was originally the palace of king Otto I, who reigned from 1832 to 1862. He was chosen by Britain, France and Russia when Greece won its independence from the Ottoman Empire. In front of the Parliament, we watched the Changing of the Guards. These guards have a very elaborate way of marching, lifting their legs. Next to the Parliament are the gardens that Otto’s wife created. It was a delightful place to walk and enjoy the flowering trees.
Ermou Pedestrian Street
Also, near our hotel was the Ermou pedestrian street. It is a fun street with lots of shops and restaurants.
Right in the middle of the street is the Church of Kapnikarea, one of the oldest churches continuously in use in Athens. It was built around 1050 C.E. It is a darling little church. It was almost demolished in 1834 by King Otto I’s remodeling plan. But the king of Bavaria, Ludwig I, Otto I’s father recognized its artistic and historical importance.
Delphi and Meteora Monasteries
On the road to Delphi:
We had signed up for a 2-day land tour to go to Delphi and the monasteries in Meteora. 0ur group of 8 (4 couples) plus guide and driver drove north to Delphi past Marathon valley, where the Athenians fought the Persians in 490 BCE. The Athenians won in spite of the fact the Persians had many more soldiers. After the victory, a runner ran to Athens report the victory. He ran so fast that after he said the word for victory, he died. In his honor, each year, a 42-kilometer marathon is run using his route.
Unfortunately, shortly after Marathon valley, we heard a loud sound, the driver pulled over. The tire was in shreds. The good news is that within half hour we had a new van and were back on our way.
The mountains on the way to Delphi were beautiful. Nestled in the mountain was the beautiful mountain town, Arachova, where Athenians go to for skiing and fresh air.
Delphi: Museum and Archaeological remains.
Delphi, center for Apollo, son of Zeus, has been a center of worship from about 8th Century BCE. There are a number of myths related to Delphi.
One myth says that Apollo left Mt. Olympus to find a place for his oracle. He liked Delphi, but it belonged to the Earth God Gaia. Gaia was away and Apollo killed her guard the python. That is why the Oracle is called Pythia.
Another legend says that a goat-herd lost a goat. He found her, in a crevice and she was acting funny. When he went down into crevice, he started to feel funny as well and started seeing into the future. He built a temple to Apollo. The fumes were probably hallucinogenic.
Important people, especially government big shots, would come to Delphi to hear their fortunes or to ask advice. Oracle Pythia was believed to have direct line to Apollo. But hearing your fortune was not free. You had to bring tribute, something expensive; a statue or some gold. In case you did not bring the tribute, there was a shop where you could buy it. Much of what was excavated was brought as tribute.
Once the oracle was satisfied with your tribute, she would go into a trance and give you an answer. Since she was unclear, the priests would interpret what she said. Her answers could be interpreted to fit the result. For instance, if a soldier asked “Would I be killed if I went into battle?” The oracle might say: “Go you return no die during war”. She would be right if he died or not because it could mean, “Go, you return no, die during war” or “Go, you return, no die during war”. When one Pythia died, another was chosen.
The Museum:
The museum is small but fabulous. The most impressive was a magnificent bronze statue of a chariot driver who had just won a race. His face was exquisite. It survived because it was covered by an earthquake. Another fabulous artifact was the dancing ladies on a very tall column. The ladies look like they are floating. Finally, I love the sphinx (right hand pic).
The Excavations:
Walking through the ruins required a lot of climbing.
At the top was a theater and above it a stadium. (I did not climb as far the stadium). The theater and stadium were used for the Olympic events every 4 years.
Along the way we saw the belly button stone that was touched before giving a prophecy, the beautiful marble treasury building, which held the tributes, and a “wall of files”.
These were notations regarding legal events, including amounts a slave paid for his freedom. And of-course we saw the slit that the goat herd found that had the gases.
Monasteries:
We spent the night in Kalambaka, a short drive to Meteora and the Monasteries.
These monasteries are at the top of amazing rock mountains, similar to the rock faces of Zion National Park or Yosemite. The first monastery started in 9th Century CE, in a small cave. Then in the 12th century, the monks started building chapels on top of the mountains. Most of the monasteries were built between the 15th and 17th centuries during the Ottoman Empire. They picked the mountain top to be closer to God, for solitude and as sanctuaries from the Ottomans. Originally to get to the monastery they climbed a rope ladder or were lifted up in a basket. Supplies are still taken up this way. Today some monasteries have a road to their entrance. Others are reached by steps.
We visited two monasteries. St. Stephan (a nunnery) can be accessed by car. Because of its easy access, there were many tour groups there and it was crowded. Inside the monastery, women have to wear skirts below the knee and men long pants. Shoulders need to be covered. There is no photography or sun glasses allowed.
At the entrance, there was a wooden board and a metal one. Both were used to call the nuns to prayer or to meals. The wood one, called Talanton signifies Noah’s calling of the animals to the Ark. The metal one, called Semantron, represents call to spiritual wakefulness
We visited two rooms of the monastery. The outer room was available to all visitors, while the inner room was only for those who had been baptized. Both rooms, open for all today, are painted with icons all around. The icons are from the 18th century, and are brightly colored. In both rooms, the domed ceiling pictures Jesus at the top with the martyrs below. Also pictured, in the outer room, are St. Peter with a key to open the gates of heaven and a monster on the bottom to swallow sinners. In the inner room, there is a beautiful circular metal around a candelabra. The apostles and saints are depicted with a dark halo, but Jesus has a gold halo. Although we could not take pictures, I bought the postcard above.
Today St. Stephan monastery/nunnery has only 30 women living there.
To see the Holy Trinity monastery, we climbed up 300 steps. It was a tough but not impossible climb. The icons here are from the 15th century. They are more muted and I think more beautiful than St. Stephan’s. Again, there were two rooms; the first, for the non-baptized. The icons had gold halos on all the apostles and martyrs. The inner room had icons painted all around and a beautiful chandelier. Turkish lamps, similar to the ones I saw in Morocco, were hanging in the room.
There was a small museum on the grounds with ancient books and priest robes.
The view from this Monastery was wonderful. We could see many of the mountain rocks with the other Monasteries on top.
We made a short stop at Thermopiles to see the two monuments to commemorate the Greek soldiers that died there. The battle was fought between the Greeks and the Persians in 480 BCE. The 300 Spartans and 700 Athenians held off the thousands of Persians for 2 days. On the 3rd day, a traitor told the Persians where the Greeks were. The Greeks were all killed including Leonidas I, king of Sparta. The monument has Leonides in the middle and battle scenes below. The second monument for the Thebans is much smaller. It shows a headless person with 2 wings, one whole and one broken to show that they fought to the death. It is headless to show that it is for all the soldiers.
Our last snaffu, was again van related. We were stopped by police for an hour, while they checked the driver’s papers to determine if he is not driving more hours than allowed. They took their time and checked the last 58 days.
Nili's Adventure 