City on Top

 

Our first day on the scene was started  with  a wonderful buffet style breakfast and many gave the authentic Greek yogurt a try. The first stop was the Olympic Stadium, built for the games held in Athens in 2004; seeing the Greek flag at half mass in honor of Anna Pollatou, Greek Olympic medalist in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sidney, Australia was respectable, saddening and interesting, all at the same time.  One has to wonder what kind of events are held to utilize such an amazing venue.

Then we continued to the Parliament, where they had an honor guard of soldiers in traditional uniforms standing watch at the tomb of the unknown soldier. Our tour guide, Roberto, told us how they are picked from the Greek military for their height, good looks, and "sexy legs." All Greek men are required to serve one year compulsory military service. After a brief picture-taking period, we arrived at the Acropolis. The march up the winding way was the first of many such approaches to attractions. 

We climbed up the hillside, decorated with olive trees, past old ruins and outcroppings of the hill's natural limestone base. At a rest stop half-way up the hill, while sitting on some steps, there was philosophic conversation about the question: “What is justice.”  After the hike, the view overlooking the mountainous countryside, a hundred feet or so from the Parthenon, one can imagine being a politician or city leader in antiquity and marching up to that building on a daily basis to execute life’s work and how easy to love that kind of life would be. The Acropolis itself ("highest city," from "acro" for high and "polis" for city, in Greek) was breathtaking; the tour passed through the monumental gateway, effectively designed to impress all those who entered.  The Acropolis is much less ornate than in the past, but still remarkable.  The Parthenon has served as a pagan temple to Athena, a Christian church, and an Islamic mosque. During Islamic Ottoman possession, it was severely damaged when a Venetian cannon bombardment exploded an Ottoman gunpowder store kept inside, effectively destroying the ceiling and interior, leaving it in its current state. 

Unfortunately, while we were there, much of the Parthenon was surrounded in scaffolding and machinery to aid in restoring the Parthenon from pollution.  Some new pieces of marble have been put in, but they are all a different color from the ancient marble so people know what is ancient and what is product of restoration.  We also saw the Porch of the Maidens and other ruins during our exploration of the Acropolis, all of which were fascinating.  Afterwards, we stopped at a shop owned by a friend of Roberto’s. Every shop he took us to had a tourist enticing specialty; this shop’s was the necklaces with your name in Greek along with other Greek goods including pottery and jewelry, where it was explained to us that the Ancient Greeks believed that gold absorbed negative energy from people.  After the shopping, we had a chance to explore and ate lunch at a lovely little cafe.  We had pizzas, pastas, and meats, all of which were good; one thing we split was a Greek pizza, which had olives and feta cheese on it, but we also saw Hawaiian pizza with pineapples and ham. 

Later, ironically enough, we had a chance to explore Deree College, an American college in Athens.  We saw a presentation by a Dr. Elizabeth Langridge, who spoke about how people often enter area that had once been walked upon by incredibly influential thinkers of mankind.  One could appreciate the way Langridge "put the human behind the artifact." Later, we walked from the hotel to a local square with a Greek Orthodox Church, around which were many restaurants, and we ate a variety of foods while there then passed back by the church on our way out.  They were celebrating the upcoming Day of Saints Constantine and Helen, parading their icons with a military guard and brass band round the square, the crowd following in throngs.  In the tent canopies, there were shines of these saints, and the people were approaching, observing, and kissing them. We returned to the hotel and were soon asleep, with a 5:45 wakeup call the next morning.