Day 9, Athen Ruins

 I'm going to bombard you with photos today.

According to Nick's fitness watch, we walked 5.5 miles today, which surprised me. It seems we've walked more on other days. Maybe I'm wrong. 

We started off by finishing up the walking tour we started late last evening. From the modern, to the medieval to ancient times, we got a good lesson on Athens's history. 

The modern Athens is represented by this shopping mall with great architecture. 

A close up of a part of the mall's architecture. 

The medieval period was represented by a Greek Orthodox church built in the 11th century. I forgot to take a photo of it.

This below is their Greek Orthodox Mitopolis (think cathedral) built in 1842. I thought this was beautiful.  It had been damaged in the 1989 earthquake and its repairs were just recently completed. 

A fun interlude was watching these non Greeks try to learn a traditioal dance.

Lots of beautiful tile work. Here are two examples. The first is from outside a church built in the 12th century, though the tile is certainly more recent than that. It's beautiful. 

This is from the entrance to a stoa (covered arcade) where artisans do their work to support the Greek Orthodoxy. 

Hadrian was a Roman who came to rule Greece about 2000 years ago. He loved all things Greek so he decided to build a planned community here. This arch marks the entrance to Hadrianopolis, as he so unmodestly named the community. It's located right in the busy center of Athens, as you can see.

These are some of what is left of the Temple of Zeus that Hadrian had built in Hadrianopolis. They are HUGE, 56 ft tall. The columns at the Parthenon are only 34 ft tall.

Walking away from Hadrianopolis, we turned back and saw this view of Hadrian's Arch. It looks more serene from this view, which is misleading. Photos can lie, people! It is not in a serene space. There. I've set the record straight. Phew!

The Romans conquered Greece about 150 BC, and this is the Roman Forum, also sometimes called the Roman Agora. It was their marketplace and their scene to be seen. 

Now the Acropolis. I was today years old when I learned that the Acropolis is the name for the whole area on top of the hill. Part of me knew that acropolis meant, city on a hill, but I honestly didn't know what that all entailed in Athens. Color me ignorant. But now I know that there were buildings up there, the biggest being the Parthenon.

The Parthenon. 

Another building was The Eretchtheion, below. It is noteworthy to me because of the Porch of the Caryatids. It's that part on the left that has statues of six maidens supporting or holding up the roof.

A close up of the women holding up the world, I mean, the roof. Note that these six statues are reproductions. The originals were moved into a museum because air pollution was deteriorating their features.

A bit of detail on a column. The lighter colored portions of the column are restored sections.

Sunset at the Parthenon was fantastic. (Our backs are to the Parthenon.)

Lots of places to eat and be merry.

We went back to our little neighborhood for a drink and then back to our apartment about 9 pm to rest our weary feet, who might argue that we walked 50, not 5, miles today. 

Carol

Be sure to read Day 8 by Carol

Just to make sure you don't think I'm the only one drinking on this trip...

--Nick 

Day 8, Good bye Corfu, Hello Athens

Leaving lovely Corfu today, and seeing it from the air, made me realize how much more there is to the enchanted island than the small part we saw. I wish we had at least 3 more days to explore it. While there were a lot of tourists, many of them were cruise day-trippers who left to go back to their ship by 4 or 5 pm. Very few were Americans but a lot were English, like 2/3 of the tourists and the remaining 1/3 were mostly Italians Norwegians, Australians (!), Germans, and Central Europeans. Almost everyone spoke English.

Here's a shot of the northern part of the island, with Corfu Town in the lower right.

This is mostly Old Town. Our apartment was at the elbow on the lower left. It was a great location. We loved it.

And now Athens!

We've been here less than 8 hours, and we are delighted with it. Our apartment is right near Syntagma Square, in the Plaka District, near the Acropolis (which we haven't seen yet). Our apartment is on a cute little side street or maybe alley is a better term, and it's very nice. 

After unloading our stuff at the apartment, we walked to a spa and treated ourselves to a massage. Then, being it was nearing 9 pm, it was time for supper, at Feedel. Creative food and super good.

After eating, it was time to begin exploring Athens. We began at Syntagma Square, seen below. It's the heart of Athens.

Turning around 180 degrees, you see the Parliament Building, neoclassical in design. In the center, at the base of the building, is their Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. 

We looked a little closer and noticed some movement. It was the changing of the guard! We scurried to watch.

The tomb is guarded by the elite Evzone Guards, and much like those at Arlington National Cemetery, the guards change every hour, and it is quite a performance!

Take a gander at the short clip below. While it was fascinating to watch, it is also sobering to think that soldiers throughout the world have lost their lives fighting in wars.

Tomorrow we hope to see the ancient ruins. But now it's nearing 1 am and time for me to catch some Zs.

Carol