Athens, Greece: Day Thirteen

Posted by Kanga.

We finally got to the National Archaeological Museum during open hours. It is always interesting to see ancient artworks and how finely detailed they sometimes are. This lion and bull are from royal graves in Mycenae ca. 16th century B.C. (approximately 3500 years ago)

DaddyBird got to hang out with Poseidon.

I found this fellow below compelling. This is part of a full size sculpture of a philosopher. He was found in a shipwreck. Only the bronze bits survived. Just imagine the artist spending numerous hours/days/weeks/months creating this, but before it can be installed in its intended display place, it goes down with the ship. If only the artist could know that over 2000 years later it would be one of the most photographed items in a museum. I sat and watched as others came through the doorway, saw him and immediately pulled out their cameras.

How many tries did it take to get a picture of this horse and rider without someone walking through the picture? At least four. It is a rather amazing piece.

They don’t seem to be able to make up their mind whether this is Zeus throwing a lightning bolt or Poseidon throwing his trident. Since the weapon is missing, there is no clue.

The woman standing to the left was interesting to watch. She was almost floating around the room with a beatific look on her face.

To see the rest of the pictures, click here.

Athens, Greece: Day Three

Posted by Kanga.

Our outing began at the Victoria metro train station.

We were headed to the Temple of Hephaestus, but this turned out to be our real destination – the Acropolis and Parthenon.

On our way up the hill, we passed the Sanctuary of Zeus, thought to be the oldest site of Zeus worship. One of those buildings is the Chapel of St. Marina.

We were getting closer. It is quite a climb and we were going up the easy way (we came down the hard way). Any devout ancient Greek that made it up this hill to worship has my respect for their athleticism.

We came to the Odeum of Herodes Atticus, an amphitheater.

One bad aspect of being an off-season tourist is that some things are locked up tight.

This is the view looking back down at the other side of the Odeum.

This sign makes you want to reach out and touch the marble, doesn’t it?

Victory! We made it with only a little groaning, grunting and cussing from me. It was raining lightly which makes marble steps slick and dangerous. Not the best day to do this hike.

Proof that I was there. The building in the background is the Erechtheion – a temple to Athena and Poseidon/Erechtheus.

Proof that DaddyBird was there, too. The Erechtheion is to the right and the Parthenon in the background.

The Acropolis closed at 2:30 pm and it went from raining lightly to raining in earnest and we took a different route down off the hill. It was less than fun – steep, wet, slick – but we managed. Soaking wet, we stopped at a coffee shop for a snack and coffee. DaddyBird had Greek coffee (pictured above)

For the rest of the pictures of Day 3, click here.