Athens: Day Four

Day four was our day to scale the Acropolis and check out the ruins of the Parthenon and other buildings on top and along the way. Because this is the most touristy portion of our trip and can see thousands of people in a fairly small place, we purchased tickets ahead of time for the earliest entry so we could skip the ticket lines. We ended up being the first four people let into the fenced in area and were the 2-5 people up on top. An athletic Chinese guy with a huge camera sprinted past us at one point and beat us to the top.

We opted to hike to the top first and then enjoy the sights along the way back at a more leisurely place but I still couldn't help taking a picture from the top of the amphitheater that I peaked at through one of the doorways behind the stage on a previous day.

After a long climb, you come in through an ancient gate that kept the riff raff out of ancient days. It was quite imposing as you walked under the arches and onto the Acropolis proper.

The Parthenon has been undergoing repair and stabilization for nearly two decades now and according to the signs, will continue to be that way for some time to come. As a result, nearly all the views of the Parthenon while we were there had scaffolding and/or construction equipment in the frame. This was the view upon entering through the previous pictured gates.

The other side had less obstructions and was reflecting in the early morning sunlight. It is easy to see how beautiful it must have been shortly after it was finished being built and before the destruction began. 

The statues on this building off to the side of the Acropolis were breathtakingly beautiful until my daughter informed me they were all replicas. Five of them were in the museum down at the base of the Acropolis and the sixth one had been pilfered by the British among a lot of other artifacts and are in museums in England.

One of the views of Athens that surrounds the Acropolis, this view showing a large hill, the tallest in central Athens, which we would climb on a later day in our trip.

We were one of the first up on top but after a couple hours, there were hundreds of people up there with us and long lines of people making the climb up. We decided to leisurely hike down, stopping to read the signage and just enjoy the beautiful day. (During our entire trip, morning lows were about 50 degrees F and afternoon highs were in the upper 60's degrees F.) Above is a picture of a portion of the Acropolis wall shored up by stone work with Athens in the background.

We ate lunch, took a rest back at our suite and then continued on with the journey by going to the Acropolis museum that holds many of the ancient artifact that hadn't been looted over the previous 2000 years, including the original statues shown above, minus the one in a British museum.

At one time, over a hundred of these panels lined the upper walls of the Parthenon around the entire perimeter of the building. Over several invasions, an explosion a ammo storage within and lots of looting over the years, this one above was the only one remaining and so they took it down and it is now in the Acropolis museum to preserve it for future generations.

On the way down from the top of the Acropolis, I found this rather important looking ID laying in the dirt and picked it up. I tried turning it in to a ticket booth lady but she flat out ignored me. So I approached an older Greek gentleman who was stationed in a booth on the grounds and charged with blowing a whistle if visitors strayed off the paths which apparently happen quite often from the sound of his whistle. He was very grateful for me finding and returning this badge which from his broken English, belonged to his colleague manning another part of the path up to the Parthenon.

This is a picture I took several days later showing the crowds of people on their way up to the top of the Acropolis. 

Above is a picture showing part of the outside of the Acropolis Museum. When they were preparing to build it in the 1970's, they held several design competitions before settling on the final design. They started digging some holes on the lot of land selected and quickly uncovered the remains of a half dozen ancient houses. So they held a fourth design contest to best build the museum while not disturbing the ruins. The winning design built the museum on large concrete columns that held it above the ruins and allows them to be sheltered and preserved. The floors above the ruins are made with thick glass panels allowing people in the museum to look down for an aerial view of the ruins. It was quite well done. 

Between all the walking up to, on top of, and below the Acropolis, I set the highest amount of footsteps in a single day for the entire trip. I walked 21,000 steps! I was certainly feeling it the next day.

As before, my blogging friend Toirdhealbheach Beucail has written up a more detailed historical version of visiting the Acropolis and what lies below the Acropolis Museum that you can read about HERE and HERE.