Athens! (part 1)

 OK, I'm going to try and get through this since I'm caught up on homework. 

Well friends, we last left off with us arriving in Piraeus port in Athens late at night. Our ride into town to the hotel was informative. From far off we could see the lit-up Acropolis high on the hill. The streets were mostly empty and we could see that nearly every free surface was covered with graffiti. 

And that's as far as I got during my first week of class. It's now been almost three months since we disembarked in Athens so my memory is fading on some of the details of these pictures. I'll be doing more digging this time around. On a positive note, I scored a 94% in my Theory of International Relations course. OK, here we go.

Rick Steves opens up the pocket Athens guide with this passage:

    "Most of Athens is a noisy, polluted modern sprawl: characterless, 

     poorly planned, and hastily erected concrete suburbs that house 

    the area's rapidly expanding population."

This passage echoed in my head as we walked around the city over the next few days. It certainly rang true on that graffiti-filled drive from port to hotel. We stayed in the Athens Comfort hotel, located not too far from most of the attractions, at least according to them. What we didn't know was that we'd still be taking public transportation to them. So, it's not THAT close. The hotel is located in a Muslim neighborhood with shops and balconies proudly flying flags from several Middle Eastern and Northern African nations. During the day, it felt like a perfectly safe middle class neighborhood (except for the two old ladies yelling at each other and nearly fist fighting in the park) but there was a different feel at night. Maybe it was the fact that almost no one was out in the street and, again, every surface was covered in graffiti that I couldn't understand. 

The hotel was fine, with the world's tiniest elevator, and our room had a little balcony overlooking the street.  Breakfast wasn't included, but there was a little café across the street. On the first, chilly morning, I found that there was only one employee so she wasn't making food. I paid the $8 for my hotel's mostly subpar breakfast.

Like we did in our second portion of Istanbul and matched up the book with what I had seen on visit a city and maps. Rick Steve's detailed a walk that takes tourists through different eras of the city's history and most of the highlights.

We started in the modern city in Syntagma Square. Reading about Syntagma reminded me a bit of Istasnbul's Taksim Square (our visit is recorded here) where every major event in the nation's modern history left its mark on Syntagma. Riots, protests, celebrations all took place in this small area. Syntagma means constitution in Greek and it sits right in front of the Parliament House. We stopped to watch the changing of the guard for a little bit.

These guys would do these crazy slow-motion high steps that required a lot of coordination, practice and balance. We later saw that these were not the only ceremonial Evzone guards in the area, as we saw another pair around the side of the Parliament grounds a few days later. Their uniforms are modernized versions of the uniforms worn by the revolutionaries that fought against the Ottoman Empire some 200 years ago. In fact, the skirts have a pleat for each year under Ottoman rule, 400 exactly. Afterward, they stand still and tourists can get pictures with them, similar to the Buckingham Palace guards. I didn't want to be that annoying guy though.

From there, we walked through the bustling pedestrian Ermou Street, marking the Starbucks for later. We stepped back in time to 1000 AD at the Church of Kapnikarea. The church is in the middle of the street, almost in the way of pedestrians and shoppers. It was built slightly before the Great Schism and so was part of the Catholic sphere.

This is the only picture we got since they don't allow pictures inside. We watched an older lady go around and kiss the icons and there was a group of middle schoolers on a field trip. Next we took the short walk to the national cathedral of today, Mitropolis.

there was a little museum but we didn't want to take the time out of our tour

while not quite as impressive as some of the stained glass windows we saw in the mosques, these windows were pretty cool and you can see what they look like from the outside in the next shot

Just to the right of today's national cathedral stands the much smaller old national cathedral from the 12th century. We popped our heads inside but there isn't really much to see.

We moved on to the Plaka neighborhood, the main tourist area in town.

There were so many souvenirs playing on 300, particularly Spartan heritage. Uhhhh... guys? You know Athens isn't Sparta, right?  Y'all literally fought a major war against each other

We stopped in quite a few shops, mostly just looking around since our bags were probably overweight as it was. Mila did get a little bracelet with her name in Greek letters and I grabbed an Olympiacos hat.

Afterward, we made our way towards the temple of Olympian Zeus. 

Mila and an ancestor?

The entrance to the temple complex is actually the old entrance to the city under Roman rule, Hadrian's Arch.

In the year 146 BC, Rome came to town. However, things were a little different as they, and Emperor Hadrian in particular, were fanboys of Greek culture. This explains why those Greek myths I read as a child had double names for the gods and goddesses. Instead of smashing everything and forcing everyone to be Romans, the Greeks "conquered" the Romans. (I actually saw this referenced in my class as an academic was making the argument that the Greeks won the "war" by diffusing their culture throughout the ancient world via the Romans.) Hadrian was at the forefront of this and constructed an entire neighborhood. This gate stood at the entrance and had inscribed on the western side "This is Athens, ancient city of Theseus" and on the eastern side "This is the city of Hadrian, not of Theseus." Thanks for clearing that up, dude.

We traipsed across the street, definitely not smacking our head on a tree branch like the lady that was by us.

As with all temple complexes, and this was certainly one of the most important, there was a whole area built up around them. Now, three months later, I'm going to take an educated guess that this was the bath system. (see the pipes there?) 

If the previous picture was public baths, then these are houses

The Temple itself took 700 years to build (they paused a few times) and was the largest temple in Ancient Greece. It was roughly the size of a soccer field and had 104 columns. Of which, only 15 remain standing (and one on its side).

As you can see, scaffolding surrounds most of the columns. I guess they need a bit of help. You aren't allowed to enter what used to be the actual temple nor close enough to touch the columns. That's for the best though. I can only imagine the state of them if the public was allowed to touch them. This temple was also finished by Hadrian. It had been left after the Golden Age of Ancient Greece until Hadrian had it finished in 131 AD. Hence, the 7-century construction timeline. Inside were giant statues of Zeus and Hadrian. That column has been laying there since a storm knocked it over in 1852. We were to learn later that this "stacked bottle cap" style of columns was a marker of Greek architecture vice the large singular column favored by the Romans.

random pieces of masonry excavated from around the complex

After leaving the open air of the Temple, we walked into the tight, winding streets of Hadrian's Plaka. There we came across this statue, one of the remaining Lysicrates monuments. These were annual awards for theater performers. This particular monument was for "best choral team" 334 BC. These were from the annual competition held at the nearby Theater of Dionysus. I guess it's kind of like the Tonys. There are several other monument bases in the nearby area but they are kept buried for preservation.  From there we started making our way towards the Parthenon. We stopped for a meal at a roadside café, listening to the "Ugly American" telling an Australian all about Australia, and started to take the long way up the hill.

I'm glad we followed the book's path here and went through the Anafiotika neighborhood instead of taking the straight, wide route up to the gate. It's a warren of small houses and yards with gardens and fruit trees built by the islanders that came to Athens in the mid-19th century to build the modern city. The "street" in certain spots was a path only a couple of feet wide. You had to keep an eye out for the signs that pointed the way to the Acropolis and, like us, make sure to not pass the way up. 

not sus at all

After figuring it out, we got to the gate. Again, the Acropolis is not just the shiny temple on the hill that is shown in most famous pictures. There was a whole area built up around it. Smaller temples, theaters, municipal buildings, and shops lined the street up the hill.

Here we go

Odeon of Herodotus Atticus which was actually built after the main buildings on top of the hill, during Roman times. Odeon means it was built for musical performances instead of plays. A wealthy Roman, not an emperor had it built during the 130s in honor of his wife. It was restored in the 1950s from its previous ruined state.

We continued walking up, thankful that it was cool out and that it's likely easier to walk the distance today than in the past.

Our first view, looking up from the Beule Gate at the Propylaea

On the right is the temple of Nike. Weirdly enough, there were no shoes to be found in it

The full name is the temple of Athena Nike, consecrated to the goddess Athena to celebrate the victory over the Persians in Platea of 479 BC and built between sometime in the mid-420s BC

It was pretty busy. I can only imagine how packed it would be during the tourist season. This gate must have been something special when it was built in the early 420s BC. That was the point, to let visitors know that they were about to enter an important, holy site.

So, we were at the top of the Acropolis. The Acropolis is the name of the hill and complex. The Parthenon is the most famous temple. This hill, one of the highest points in the area, has been important to Athenians for thousands of years, since people were writing things down. In 480 BC, the Persians rolled through and burned down everything. Most Athenians fled but a group of them holed up on top of the Acropolis. It didn't exactly work out well for them. However, the Greek city-states banded together to force the Persians out of the peninsula a few years later. Now that Athens was rich but the city center still a shambles, Pericles started a great construction project that saw the construction of the Parthenon finished in just a few decades. 

About to walk through the Propylaea gate

The Parthenon. There was no way to get a "clean" picture without dozens of tourists in front

I'm standing on what was probably a portion of Panathenaic way, with remnants of the ancient road on my left. There are only a few structures standing in modern day but there were many smaller building covering the top of the hill in its heyday.

The ruins we see today were once the most impressive temple of the ancient world. This thing was built 1000 years before Ayasofya. Like any temples that old, it served multiple religions during various regime changes before becoming a museum. Much of the damage was actually done in the 17th century when the Venetians were battling the Ottomans.

A constant theme that we saw the Greek annoyance with Lord Elgin. In the early 19th century, a certain British lord petitioned the Ottomans for permission to remove statues and friezes from the Acropolis. Certainly not racially motivated, he claimed that the Greeks did not have the ability to preserve or appreciate their own history and England was better served to take care of it for them. Many (if not all, memory is failing me) of these pieces that were taken out are still in England with the same defense as to why. The reasoning behind the Acropolis museum (Spoiler alert, that's what's coming next) is to prove that the Greeks actually can honor and preserve their own history. We'll see if the English give back the heritage pieces.

A view from the other side of the hilltop. That's the Erechtheion on the right. Oh, we'll get there

A city view from atop the hill. the Temple of Olympian Zeus is dead center there. Not pictured is the flagpole at the end of the rock. There's also a plaque telling the story of young men that took down the Nazi flag during the occupation to raise the Greek flag

The famous Caryatids of the Erechtheion, at least copies of them. Instead of normal columns, these women support the roof with their heads. They got their name from a town near Sparta where the women were known for their beauty and posture.

The olive tree planted by Athena after Athens chose her as their patron goddess over Apollo. OK, so no one believes that's the actual tree but an olive tree has been perpetually in that spot for thousands of years.

The theater of Dionysus which could be called the birthplace of theater. Sophocles' plays were shown here. It has been expanded throughout the centuries but it is in the original spot.

After coming back down from the Acropolis, we went to the aforementioned Acropolis museum. We did a surprisingly terrible job (OK, so photography wasn't allowed in much of the museum) of documenting it though. There were ruins under the building where one could see the layout of a middle class neighborhood.  The museum was built over top of them, but they are still accessible to the public and archaeologists for further excavation and examination. The top floor of the museum is built to the scale of the Parthenon with friezes, copies, and recreations to try and let the visitor see the missing pieces. Additionally, five of the original Caryatids are on display. 

Helllloooo ladies

We were pretty tired from all the walking and ended up getting back to the hotel after dark. The next day we had an excursion planned so it was time to get to bed. I wasn't sure how many entries Greece was going to take but now I see it'll be at least 4, including my last one about Santorini. Santorini has actually been my most read entry of this series, but nowhere near the San Angelo running community back in the day. My next entry will probably wholly be dedicated to our excursion to Delphi.