Athens, Greece - Home of the Acropolis

We flew into Athens, Greece from the island of Rhodes and arrived at dinner time. We took the Metro from the airport and got off at the Acropolis stop which is close to our rental. We rented a two bedroom two bathroom this time and the Hubers were joining us. They arrived shortly after. I chose a very nice property off Booking.com called Acropolis Penthouse View.  You know when the photos always make everything look better? This time the pictures were accurate. The view of the Acropolis was stunning. It wowed us at first sight and when it got dark the Acropolis was lit up and the view was even better. 

View of the Parthenon on Acropolis hill, taken from our balcony.

Our balcony in Athens.

One of the numerous Greek Orthodox Churches

We were hungry so we left our fifth floor apartment which is a 5 minute walk from the base of the Acropolis and found a really good restaurant with a very jolly Greek owner who was very proud of his restaurant and his food. I had a great Greek salad and an awful Rose Greek wine. We were well fed and we walked around a bit and then walked home. Our son Daxtin was supposed to arrive a similar time to us but he missed his connection in Frankfurt which delayed him over 7 hours. Darren stayed up, he is a night owl and waited for Dax to arrive at 2:30 a.m. Dax made it to the apartment without any help from us. He has great directional skills. I woke up when he arrived and hugged it out with him because I had not seen him since October 3rd. 

The next morning we woke up and we were groggy but we had decided what to do in Athens for the next 4 days. We booked the National Archaeological Museum of Athens. 

Acropolis can be seen all over Athens especially in the Plaka neighborhood where we were staying.

Darren walking through the restaurant laden streets of Plaka.

Most European countries that we have been to have graffiti issue.

Cool corner curved building.

Pretty architecture of Athens.

Adorable little church.

Garth and Sandra ordering some Roasted Chestnuts.

Ruins of over 600 burial spots.  Most of the paraphernalia that has been dug up with this site now resides in the Museum.

We walked 20 minutes and entered the Museum.

The Archaeological Museum of Athens.

In the Museum were some impressive clay vases.

I was enamored of these clay frying pans which I have never seen before in any Museum.

This was a bathtub for a child
or small adult.

More cool frying pans.

Metal posts.

Beautiful marble engraved wall emblem.

Stunning marble vase.

This was a metal scroll with information for the Olympics which was impressive.

This marble statue of a woman was very nice.

Some of these vases are huge.

I can't imagine the skill involved in making this huge vase.

Black, engraved vases were different looking to any other museum.

Glass that is thousands of years old is always impressive to me with the skill involved in making this and that it is intact.

More glass ware.

Painted wall murals that have survived millennia.

Moving upstairs to the second floor.

This marble sarcophagus was in the cafe that is in its own outdoor courtyard in the lower level of the Museum.

We spent about 2 and 1/2 hours in there and once I hit that threshold, I'm kind of done. It was a very overwhelming Museum. It was room after room of countless Greek artifacts from various sites around Greece and it also had an Egyptian room which was kind of surprising. We've already been to the National Museum of Cairo, Egypt so it didn't interest me as much but still worthwhile looking at. There were a few things I'd never seen before that startled me. 

Hanging in this exhibit case is a beaded shroud that was laid over this Egyptian woman in her burial case

I did not know that there was another burial case inside the outer case.  We could actually see the mummified feet of this woman.

One of my favorite exhibits was the amount of gold, ancient Greeks had pounded into thin sheets, which were formed into many different things and it was still as vibrant as the day it was made. 

Pounded Gold made into sheets for shields, jewelry etc.

These solid gold mugs were decadent.

The jewelry was amazingly intricate.

This Olympian Gold Olive Leaf crown was over the top.

After that workout of walking in the Museum we needed some sustenance and found another Greek restaurant and had a lovely meal and we walked around the streets of Plaka, which is the neighborhood that holds the City Center, Acropolis, Parthenon and our rental unit.

Ever present Acropolis in the background.

Numerous churches.

Acropolis in the background.

Dax and Darren with the Acropolis
in the background.

This was a site to see, a temple ruin and more scattered ruins.

The Acropolis is at a much higher
elevation than the rest of Athens

Sunset was near and the Acropolis gained a beautiful golden glow.

Cats gather everywhere near people and food.

We were all exhausted from a short sleep and we made our way back to our apartment and sat out on the balcony and took in the views.

We had booked our online tickets for the Acropolis Museum which is at the base of the Acropolis and it is touted as the World's best museum. We knew it was going to be raining this particular morning.

It was quite evident that there was rain coming this morning.  The Acropolis was dwarfed by this menacing cloud.

That's why we booked the Museum for this particular time and we started out with raincoats and it was pouring. We stopped at a bakery just outside the Acropolis.  We had heard that this bakery at the base of the Acropolis had the best Baklava and I ordered that and it was excellent. It was the best Baklava that I had in Greece, not super sweet with lots of nuts. 

The Museum is very modern, beautiful and is quite unique. We started out on the bottom floor which has uncovered and excavated the ancient city at the base of the Acropolis.  You can walk around the dig sites, which is at a much higher level and you look down because layers and layers of centuries and millennia have added depth to these sites.  One of the things that stood out to all of us was the advance drainage and advanced plumbing that the ancient Greeks had.  It really put Saskatchewan to shame.  In many houses and farm houses they didn't have plumbing until the 1950s - 1970s.  It was very humbling. 

Outside the Museum but underneath with shelter is the ruins of the ancient city of Athens that once thrived.

I believe I liked the ruins of the 
village best.  It was such an advanced
society.

Underneath the Museum.

Impressive drainage and sewage system in ancient Athens.

We then moved our way into the Museum and it was apparent that even though we were in Athens in lower season, there were too many people there.  High season would be a frightening situation. Regardless, it was a wonderful Museum, the Museum specializes in pieces from the Acropolis in order to preserve them from the elements.  Many of the items from around the globe that were pilfered from the site are beginning to return. Although, the British government still has not returned much. Also many pieces from the homes and the Villas excavation sites were in this Museum as well.

These articles were in the side section of the Museum close to the excavated village.  These were glass prices.

These glass vials were impressive and meant for expensive oils and perfumes.

Another cooking pan.

Whoever he was, he had a nice face.

These were interesting marble statues.

Carved marble wall hanging.

This was under the floor
covered with plexi-glass.

These rose marble ladies were special.

This was very interesting!  I had no idea how they achieved the colors in murals and glazes on pottery etc.  These exhibits explained what type of rock was ground and soaked in a substance to make the colors to paint with.  I thought it was from fruits like pomegranates etc.

More of the examples of rocks and minerals to make the dies and paints with.

She was very important and was on all the Museum posters.  I believe it was Athena or Aphrodite?

A to scale building of one of the Temples at the Acropolis.  We could also see this temple from our balcony.

The Museum was super busy and we were there in low season which was November.

We walked around the Museum for over 2 hours.  There are some great photo opportunities of the Acropolis there as well.

There were incredible views of the Parthenon at the Museum.

Dax posing in front of the Parthenon while out in the Museum Cafe.

I posed inside the museum for a photo.

There are so many ruins that have been uncovered and yet to be uncovered in Athens that it's mind-boggling. There is so much to see close to the Acropolis everything from Zeus's Temple to Hadrian's Wall to the Agora and the list goes on and on and on. There is a lot of walking involved and a lot of sightseeing and as you tour around the sites the Acropolis is omnipresent, always there up on the rock. At this point we had not been up to the Acropolis yet.

This is a to scale version of Athens.  We walked and explored this whole area and enjoyed doing it.

This is the Theater Building that we would later see from up on top.  In its glory this would have been a beautiful outdoor theater that many famous singers from around the world have entertained in.

Dax walking up to the Theater.  It is on Acropolis grounds so you must wait to see it on the day you see the Acropolis.

The city of Athens is surrounded by hills and built on hills.  This Metropolitan city of Athens is growing and is now at 3.6 million but under 700,000 in and around the Acropolis.

You can climb on this rock and get good views of the Acropolis, you and everyone else.

We had to wait our turn to take this photo of Dax.

Here is Garth posing with all of the people on the rock with us.

I loved the Plaka area and I loved Athens, I would even love to return.  We felt very safe walking around in the dark and there is undoubtedly so much to see on every little road.

We walked down from the road around the Acropolis and saw this temple that is quite intact.  Temple of Hephaestus which we never made it to.  I now have something to go and see when I return.  It has an intact roof and is the best preserved Grecian Temple in the world.  It is a classic example of Doric architecture.

We explored a lot that day.

We like cats and she was sitting in front of the Temple down below.  Dax captured an amazing photo.

The temple would have been considered Pagan while being surrounded by church domes.

We stopped for lunch on a restaurant situated on stairs down from the Acropolis.  The cats came to visit shortly before our food arrived.

While eating we had stupendous views of the Temple of Hephaestus.

More ruins that we ran into while making our way home to our rental.

This was gorgeous and almost impossible to get a human free photo of it.

The smaller temple at the Acropolis is easily seen from down below.

Dax posing for a photo.

And more ruins.

This was one of the buildings of the Agora.  This was a photo of the end of it.  This was the place of the first commerce or place set up for trade in the world.

When we got down to Hephaestus Temple it was closed but quite impressive lit up in the dark.

We wanted a good weather day for that.  We walked around till all hours of darkness and found a great little Gyros Pita restaurant where the Pork or Chicken Gyros Pitas were only 4 Euro and they were delicious.  Many of the Greek Gyros Pita have French Fries stuffed into them.  I prefer them without.

The Cannells pose for a rare family photo.

Darren with the Hubers

The Acropolis just does not get old in the day or the night.

Making our way home with a view.

People/tourists are out day and night.

Gorgeous.

This was the Acropolis Museum at night and a 5 minute walk from our rental.

A pic of Dax and I on the rock trying to figure out how to take the best shot of the Acropolis.

The day started off amazing and we had been in shorts everyday in Athens which I wasn't expecting. We had a 10:00 a.m. time slot to tour the Acropolis grounds and Hubers had a 9:00 a.m. time slot. Thank God we were as early as we were because there were countless people up there with us. When we were on our way down towards the entrance there was a wave of humanity coming towards us at 11:45 am.

We abhor tours but we had heard that it was a good idea to have a tour guide. We spent a little bit of extra money and once again we probably should not have.  I had seen a video at the Acropolis Museum and it gave me almost as much information as our tour guide did but I still enjoyed walking around with her. Thank goodness we only had a small group of eight people. 

Our first stop was Hadrian's Gate which was a one minute walk from the Tour Company place that we met.

Hadrian's Gate was the entrance into the Temple of Zeus.  This photo shows what was left of it.  This temple would have been almost twice as high as the Parthenon and it was built after.

Making our way towards the entrance to the Acropolis grounds with the Tour Group.

Ruins and statues along the way.

This was a theater.

The other theater taken from a different angle.

The theater was very impressive!  It is operational today.  We were not allowed into it unfortunately.

Photo of Athens down below.

Panoramic photo of the decadent theater where even Pavarotti had sung and the Greek Soprano Maria Callas.  I love Opera so this would be a Bucket List for me.  I missed out on Pavarotti, but my sister Michelle and my Mom got to hear him.

Dax and I walked around the site for another 45 minutes and captured as many photos as we could because we most likely will not return to the Acropolis. It's a bucket list item but you don't need to see twice. 

Entering the Acropolis area through the first set of temples.  You can see the hordes of humans and this was low season.

Its quite cool to enter and I have wanted to go for decades.

She's a stunner in the bright sunlight.

Dax beside one of the Marble Pillars 
gives perspective to the circumference.

The Parthenon in all of its glory.  There is constant restoration work on this to keep it standing.

The other Temple of Athena Nike which we could see from our balcony.

Putting the Acropolis back together is an impossible gigantic jigsaw puzzle.  Much of it was torn down, looted and smashed by the Persians led by Xerxes in 480 BC and a lot of of it pilfered by Lord Elgin in the 1800s and other conquerors.

These Ladies are copies and the originals are now in the Acropolis Museum.

Dax has always been a good little photographer, capturing photos on the World Tour in 2003 that often surprised me.  Now he is very good.

These huge slabs of marble belong on the roof line of the Parthenon.  There apparently has been a crane up on the Acropolis for the last 40 years slowly putting the pieces back together.

More pieces below that are scheduled to be moved and placed somewhere because they are tagged and cataloged.

You can see the scaffolding and the men working behind the scenes to hold this baby together.

Marble carvings that are still intact.

This lady was in our tour group and if I ever lost track of the group then I would look for her because she was wearing a tablecloth.  We had headsets on to listen to our tour group leader.

Carved marble horses still remain.  This whole
area under the roof was solid marble statues depicting a scene in the front and a different one in the back. They have a mocked up scene of both in the Museum.  The amount of money and work and effort and skill that went into these Temples was mind-boggling.

Some marble statues still remain on the opposite side.  They must have been too hard to pilfer so therefore they were left alone.

Dax and I went around the North and South slope inside the grounds of the Acropolis.  

As you exit the Propylaea the monumental Gateway to the Acropolis

On the way out.

On the way down and out of the Acropolis grounds.

Dax and I exploring after the 90 minute tour.  This side of the Acropolis is under scaffolding.  Apparently the scaffolding just came off the front which was convenient for us.

Classic Doric architecture in the pillar.

The sheer size of this is
incredible.

I did not know that the Acropolis
was originally painted.  This poster
demonstrates how.

Original Olympic stadium has been renovated several times and the last time was in the late 1800s.  It is not a complete oval.  This is taken from the heights of the Acropolis looking down on it.

The old theater where actual 'theater' began.

I apologize, but I could not stop taking
photos.

Notice the many hills of Athens.

A beautiful column that belongs somewhere.  
Notice the detailed engravings by some Master marble carver.

Dax could have stayed there
all day taking photos.

On the South and North slope we found some interesting things like natural springs that used to exist there, fountains, etc, ancient roads into the Acropolis, and an engraved plaque that was highly interesting. 

The black bronze plaque reads:  'On the night of May 30, 1941, Manolis Glezos and another man climbed up the Acropolis and took down the Nazi flag of the German occupation forces in Athens'  I believe they deserved a plaque too.

Looking up at the Acropolis walls.

We made our way to Anafiotika, which is a whitewashed little area of Athens at the base of the Acropolis. It has tiny windy streets and is maybe not as special as it's touted to be.  There's lots of graffiti and a lot of the houses are quite dilapidated, but it could be made special again. 

The walkways are narrow.

Many of the walkways and stairs are 
white-washed too.

Some pretty lane-ways.

We could not find many
photos to take.

It had its charm, but
Anafiotika needs work.

Gorgeous flowers.

Lots of graffiti in Anafiotika.

The stair restaurants are popular in Athens.

Bougainvillea can make any neighborhood look better.

A Greek Orthodox priest in his traditional garb that is still worn by most.

We met up with the Hubers and went and had lunch at the same place. We enjoyed the owner and his food the first night and Dax hadn't eaten there so he ordered the Moussaka which is a Greek Lasagna and he didn't like it and didn't even finish it. I tasted it and I didn't either.  That was OK because there are so many other Greek dishes to eat and enjoy.

Darren walked back to the apartment and Dax and I continued on our quest to see more of Athens. 

Dax under Hadrian's Gate.

This was the 1896 Olympic Building.

Green Parakeet of Athens.

Dax sitting in the columns of the Olympic Building which would have been quite impressive back then and still is today.

Ceiling in the rotunda of the Olympic Building.

Dax in the shadows.

This is a Panoramic photo of the Panathenaic
Olympic Stadium which is a half oval stadium which can seat
50,000 people.  In the 2nd century BC it
was rebuilt in marble.

Very interesting facts on the stadium.

It was pricey to buy a ticket in so we were satisfied just taking photos from the outside.

Statue of a disc thrower outside the stadium.

In the National
Gardens of Athens.

We walked towards Temple of Zeus grounds and realized that it was €20 to get in which was was too high considering how much money we had already spent that day. We wanted to do all free things for the rest of the day. We continued on into the Acropolis gardens where there's many, many things to see. The most interesting thing for me was a Roman Villa which was found when a Gardener was digging 6 feet down. He discovered a Roman Mosaic floor and it turned out to be a Roman Villa. 

Inside the Athens National Garden an ancient Roman Villa was discovered and the Mosaic Tile floors were a dead giveaway that it was Roman.

Dax had quite a few photo opportunities in the garden with animals and a mini zoo. There is always the ever present stray cats and some strange looking ducks. 

Weirdo looking ducks.

People come to feed the cats
in Athens not the ducks.

I liked Dax's reflection in the pond.

I enjoyed walking by the Presidential Mansion which was much larger than I was expecting and most likely more security than the White House. We got a little bit too close to the fence surrounding the Mansion and we got yelled at by a military man who asked us to step back on the other side of the white line which we didn't even notice.  There were police, military and the Greek guards that are dressed quite ridiculous, so I had to take a picture.

 

Greek Guard

Presidential Palace

In the garden, which is right beside the President's Mansion, we found a cafe and ice cream. I tried some sour cherry ice cream and it was excellent quality. 

I was getting bitten by mosquitoes and it was getting closer to 5:00 p.m. and it gets dark at 5:30. We vacated and made our way back towards the apartment and on the outside of the garden there was a construction zone and Dax spotted a Turtle. But when we got closer to it, it was actually a Tortoise which we found out are endemic to Greece. It was quite a large tortoise and Dax skipped over the construction fence and picked up this 15 lb tortoise and put it back into the garden because it was trapped by the 12-in curbs.  Dax did his duty for the day. 

Dax picking up his Tortoise friend to save him.

We got into the apartment and I spent quite a few hours on my blog and photos from Rhodes, Greece.

We left the apartment late the next morning because I was doing laundry and I wanted to get it hung up to dry.  We walked towards Lycabettus Hill which is the highest hill in Athens.  It was supposed to have great views. I quickly realized that there was about 10 to 12 stories to walk up first and then I thought maybe we could walk up the whole way, but it was just too much.

Multiple flights of stairs 

Lots of stairs up to the Funicular.

The Funicular station.

Inside the station which is tunneled through the rock.

We took the Funicular which was pricey, 13 Euro round trip.  It took us to the top where there is Lycabettus Church, a traditional looking little Greek Church that's white and blue. The hill afforded great views of the entire city.  Athens is in a bit of a trough surrounded by hills on three sides and Mediterranean Sea on the other. 

Lycabettus Church at the top of the hill.

Great view of the National Park of Athens which is a large Metropolitan park.

Acropolis view and the Mediterranean Sea in the distance.  The sun was getting lower therefore it was creating a nice glow on the Parthenon.

My Google 8 Pro phone camera was maxed out on the zoom on this photo.

We started our walk back after grabbing some gelato and we walked down a road close to the Presidential Palace and it had many Consulates that were prior mansions, absolutely gorgeous homes. 

The walk back down the multiple sets of stairs.

And more stairs.......

We noticed that there was three Greek Guards walking down the street with a military escort and I looked at the time and realized that it was 3 minutes to 4:00 and that the Changing of the Guard should be happening near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

3 Greek Guards and Military escort heading down to Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

One of the many old mansions along this street.  This one has been converted.

We watched that and the three soldiers change and watched the the other three soldiers walk off with the military escort back to their Barracks.

Changing of the Guard.

The leg routine is very interesting.

We continued to walk home to our rental and realized that there were more ruins to see and these were the Roman Baths that were in the National Garden adjacent to the road.  They were discovered when the Metro was being dug. 

Ancient Roman Baths under the street.

When we passed the construction at the National Gardens, Daxtin looked for his Tortoise friend and he found him to close to the curb, so he walked him further into the garden area.

Dax moving his Tortoise friend again.

We proceeded to do some shopping for Christmas and Dax and I both wanted a T-shirt.  We chose a different road to walk back and found a new ruin that we had never seen before and many, many cats.

More ruins that we happened upon.

More cats on the ruins.

We came back to the apartment and met up with Garth and Sandra and then we all went out for supper and enjoyed the Gyros Pitas. We sat outside and paid our 3.90 Euro and this time I tried a pork one and I enjoyed the pork more than the chicken. It was a good day and overall a really excellent stay in the Plaka area of Athens.  The Acropolis View Penthouse was the perfect place to be right in the center of all the action, close to everything and of course those stunning day and night views of the Acropolis!

Dax took this photo on his good camera and then I took a photo of his photo.  This is a horizontal slice of a marble pillar which is partially sunk in the soil to show the sheer size of an Acropolis pillar.