Greece Is The Word - Day 5

Day 5 - Monday, October 17

Athens

Monday morning we woke up early and had breakfast at the buffet before disembarking. We got off the ship around 7am, and were met by someone from Atlantis Tours who drove us from the port to the Key Tours office where we started our tour. We got on the bus and our first stop was the Athens Trilogy, which consists of the National Library of Greece, the Athens University, and the Academy of Athens. From there we went to the Olympic stadium, where the olympic games were held in 1896, 1906, and most recently in 2004. It was really cool to see the place that has been the center of the Olympic games and from where the flame comes for each set of games. Our next stop was the Temple of Olympian Zeus, which was dedicated to Zeus, the king of the Olympian gods, during the 6th century BCE. The construction wasn't finished until over 600 years later, under the rule of Emperor Hadrian. Of the original 104 columns, only 15 remain. It was really neat to see the columns that are still standing, and you could really imagine what the temple must have looked like in its glory. At the same site there is also Hadrian's arch, which was originally the entrance to the temple. It was interesting to see the arch against the backdrop of the modern city with its bustling traffic. From there, we went up to the Acropolis hill, which can be seen from almost all points in Athens. We started our tour at the Herodian Theater, which is still used today for performances. It used to be inclosed with a wood roof, but now is an open air theater. After a walk up the hill, we came to the Temple of Athena Nike, where Athena was worshiped as a goddess of victory in war and wisdom. From there we walked up to the top of the hill to visit the Erechtheum and the Parthenon. The Erechtheum was built between 421 and 406 BCE, and is a temple dedicated to the Greek hero Erichthonius. The Parthenon was constructed between 447 and 432 BCE and was dedicated to the goddess Athena. It originally housed a giant ivory and gold sculpture of Athena, which was later stolen. The Parthenon was constructed to be absolutely perfect. Its dimensions follow the golden rule, with 8 columns along the front and back and 17 columns along the sides. The columns taper in at the top and the center in higher than the sides in order to form an optical illusion that the temple is absolutely perfect. Each of the structures atop the Acropolis hill are being restored. The Temple of Athena Nike was finished a few months ago, and the Erechtheum and Parthenon are currently under renovation. They are using marble from the quarry originally used for construction of the temples, so its interesting to see what the marble would have looked like before it had been discolored over time. After spending some time on the Acrolopis hill, we left the tour group and walked down the backside of the hill to visit the ancient Agora. The agora was the center of life in ancient Athens, and includes the Temple of Hephaestus. We walked along the streets of Athens and came to Hadrian's library, where the statue of Nike still stands. From the library we walked along the streets until we found a nice little place to have lunch, then made our way back to the Key Tours office for our transfer to the airport (after only having to ask for directions twice). It took about an hour to get to the airport, and we were off to Larnaca for our connection back to Tel Aviv.

Overall Thoughts

Our trip was absolutely great. It was a perfect combination of sight seeing, relaxation, historic sites, and beautiful scenery. We had time to explore, time to relax, and didn't have to worry about how we were going to get from place to place. Here are a few last thoughts about Greece:

• Athens is a pretty dirty and rundown city. The archaeological sites are beautiful, but the city itself is sort of a dump. 
• The Greek Islands are beautiful. Santorini in particular.
• In Greece, lane markers and stop lights are merely suggestions. Be careful when crossing streets, as cars and motorcycles don't always stop, even when pedestrians have a green light.
• Don't step in donkey poop. It smells.