Acropolis Metropolis
Our hotel here in Athens has a great buffet breakfast with all manner of sweet and savoury delights to pick from. Maisy took advantage of the variety this morning pairing sausages with Danishes. Main and dessert in one.
As instructed, we met Marianna at 8:15 in the foyer, walking shoes firmly laced and ready to tackle the quintessential Greek tourist attraction: the Acropolis. This iconic Athens landmark can be seen from most of the sprawling metropolis below it and, a fun fact for you: Acropolis gets its name from the Greek akron, meaning ‘highest point’ and polis, meaning ‘city’. (You could probably find that info on Wikipedia but I’ve saved you the trouble.)
We started our upward climb towards Mars Hill, otherwise known as the Areopagus, with a killer view of the city below, right across from the Acropolis. The huge rock of natural marble, polished to a shine from thousands of years of footsteps, was a slippery little sucker and the hang-onto-your-hat gale force winds made it a tad precarious at times, with absolutely no guard rails whatsoever. This glistening rock was the site of the apostle Paul’s famous Mars Hill sermon, enthusiastically sprouted forth in 50AD or thereabouts (mind-blowingly old!) the words of which -from Acts 17 in the Bible - are printed on a plaque at the foot of the hill.
Our next port of call was the new kid on the block, the magnificently designed Acropolis Museum, built in just 2003. The glass walkway into the imposing building hovers over an expansive ancient neighbourhood that was uncovered when digging the foundations for the museum. We have to dial-before-we-dig lest we accidentally unearth an old water or gas pipe. Imagine shovelling down into your backyard and discovering a 2500 year-old neighbourhood!
We were so lucky to have Marianna guiding us through, giving fascinating facts on rooms jam-packed with a plethora of artefacts. The little models of the Acropolis in all its various iterations over the years were fantastic. Immense rooms full of Greek statues - much more colourful than their Roman counterparts- mythical gods and goddesses, half-men-half horses and Grecian urns aplenty filled the museum. The beige, time-worn pieces were the originals while the white pieces were replicas filling in the gaps from what the British stole…er…rescued… to display proudly in their own museum.
The pièce de résistance was Australia’s gift to the Acropolis Museum - a Lego representation of the Greek icon. Brickman would be proud.
Each of our family members had been given recommendations for great restaurants in Athens (thanks Claire, Pav, Mal & Jen) so in our free time today we thought we might venture out to check them out. Sam led us confidently through the Athenian subway but I showed my rookie status when struggling to scan my ticket and ‘tap off’, I realised I hadn’t ever tapped on.
We emerged from the underground to the stark realisation that excluding a few spots in heavily touristed areas, ALL shops and yes, restaurants, are firmly shut on Sundays. Bummer. We duly tapped on and off for a return trip on the train and found a bustling Taverna where we could dine on authentic Greek salad - the number of giant slabs of feta on top, related directly to how many were eating it. Our food came at the 11th hour and we narrowly avoided the need for a doggy bag, getting bag to our meeting point in the nick of time.
We had more free time to grab a gelato whilst perusing the crowded flea market. Molly salivated over antique cameras, Tobes bought a novelty shirt and others in our group bagged some bargains & souvenirs. Ross, who was on a relentless search for a battery for his selfie stick, walked further afield and, suddenly noticing he was the only bloke on the street not wearing a dress, realised he’d inadvertently found himself in the red light district. Oops.
Gathering together once more, our ‘brief’ pee-pee/poo-poo stop (as Marianna calls it) was extended due to the teeny-weeny toilet block. Before long though, we were once again ascending the hill, dodging young girls bedecked in flowing white and gold dresses, complete with gold wreaths, getting the perfect shots of themselves for the Gram. Jim even took off his shoes so he could really soak up the atmosphere.
Gary gave us a quick talk before we embarked on a cracking tour of the vast, columned buildings, Marianna spouting forth fact after fact about the Parthenon, the Temple of Athena, Nike, the Propylaea, Erechtheum (which sounds medical to me) aka Temple of Athena Polias and the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, pointing out all kinds of historical and interesting facts about what was before us.
Just the fact that we were walking around buildings built SO long ago, totally blew our minds. Here are the ages of some of the buildings we saw: Parthenon: 2468 years-old; Temple of Athena Nike: 2448 years-old; Odeon of Herodes Atticus: 1861 years-old (just a spring chicken). WOW! They sure were built to last. (A far cry from today’s appliances with their built-in “obsolescence”). The Athenian Government is undertaking a massive and painstaking restoration project - like a giant jigsaw puzzle- matching up and inserting as many found fragments as possible.
Our wandering atop the hill culminated just as the sun was low in the sky, making the marble glow and providing great photo ops.
Apparently. Athens experienced small earthquakes today! A few of us had reported feeling a bit off balance at times. It wasn’t the jet lag after all.
Tonight we congregated at our hotel’s rooftop bar, with a lit-up Acropolis glaring proudly across at us from its perch. Cocktails and Pass the Pigs were on the menu, bringing waves of frivolity to our last night in the capital.
