Day 20 – May 5 Thursday

An easy day today, 6.30am breakfast & depart at 8am for the Acropolis.  The Athens traffic was busy, but not too bad.  It only took us about 15 minutes from the Hotel to the Acropolis, then another 15 minutes to walk to the top & see the Parthenon up close & personal.  What a magnificent sight, it is so big, the photos prepare you for it, but the reality is something else again.  To think the Parthenon is 1,400 years old & parts of it still standing, amazing.  Our local guide explained all of the different parts on the acropolis, the Parthenon being the most significant, but others, such as the first theatre ever, Dionysis, seating 5,000 people are also very good.  On the Acroplis the views over the city of Athens is fantastic.  We finished on the Acropolis & as we headed down, hordes of tourists were coming up, I’m so glad we got there early.

The bus took us on a guided tour of the city, in & out & around about, seeing different parts & points of interest.  At the end of the tour we were dropped off in the city to spend time at leisure.  Well, it was no leisure, off we went, firstly to the Ancient Agora, with the Stoa of Attalus, recently re-constructed in the 1950s with a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation.  Also on the same site was the Thesseion, the oldest surviving building from ancient Greece, dating back from around 500BC (2.500 years ago).  It was built on the foundations of an even older building.  In the Agora there are lots of building remains, the ruins are everywhere.  Maps & explanations help to decipher the piles of rocks & columns.

Next we headed back over the base of the Acropolis to have a better look at the Theatre of Dionysis.  As we arrived a huge storm came over, complete with thunder & torrents of rain & we took shelter under one of the arches of the theatre.  How many people have stood in the same spot over the centuries?  We shared our umbrella with a couple of French tourists & had a chat with one of them during the rain (once we said we were Australian).  After the rain it was off to Hadrian’s Arch, then the Temple of Olympian Zeus.  The Temple of Zeus is an imposing structure & must have been overwhelming 2,500 years ago when it commenced construction.  Only a few pillars remain, one having fallen in the late 1800s during a severe storm.  On the way back to the city we passed an excavation & display of Roman baths that had been discovered when excavating a ventilation shaft for the underground railway.  The site is under cover & the footpath is built around it.  Simply fascinating.

We walked back to the city & the Greek Parliament, we only had to wait around 10 minutes to see the changing of the guard, fascinating marching & guard changing ceremony, they lift their legs so slow & high, it’s amazing they stay on their feet, it’s a great display.  Back into the city & a bit of window shopping where we found the cathedral (under renovation) then stumble across Hadrian’s Library, another ancient ruin in the middle of the city, right next to the Roman Agora, another ancient ruin.   We wandered back into the Parliament square & caught the Metropolitan Hotel shuttle bus back.

Dinner at 7pm in the Plaka at a Greek restaraunt.  Great food , great Greek music & great Greek dancing.  We had an excellent day & a really good evening before catching the bus back to the hotel.

Tomorrow we are starting our 3 day boat cruise,  our tour leader warned us that the use of the internet is terribly expensive on the ship, it most probably will be awhile before our next blog.  On arrival  of the ship back to Athens we will get a transfer to the Airport & fly to Rome where we will spend 4 days on our own before joining another Insight Tour for 10 days to see the “best of Italy”