A day in Athens

Tour day 13 - 9th April

The last day of our tour, and we spent the morning touring Athens, the foundation of democracy. We visited the Acropolis (derived, unsurprisingly, from the Greek words “akron” meaning “highest point” and “polis” meaning “city), that iconic ancient citadel located on a rocky outcrop. As we ascended towards the hill, we first stopped to view the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, the site of those “live at the Acropolis” performances.

Next it was onwards and upwards to the summit, to view the Parthenon, the Temple of Athena Nike and the Erechtheum. On the way there our tour guide, James, again gave us fabulously detailed explanations of the history of this amazing complex, and as we stood on the top (in really cold wind) he pointed out some of the quirky details - apparently there are no right angles and no straight lines in the whole of the Parthenon, something to do with visual perception and non-Euclidean geometry but don’t ask me to explain!!

It was COLD and WINDY!!! 

As with many ancient buildings in Greece (and the other countries we’ve visited) there have been many sieges resulting in destruction of original buildings, not to mention earthquakes causing major damage at various times, and all this has resulted in several iterations of the buildings on top of the Acropolis, but there is residual evidence of habitation as far back as the 4th millennium BC. The present buildings and remains date to the 5th century BC. However old it all is, they are incredibly impressive buildings. The restoration project, started in 1975, continues to this day.

After descending from the Acropolis, we gathered at the foot of the rock known as Mars Hill, where the apostle Paul stood and preached the truth to the Gentile nation of polytheistic stoic and epicurean philosophers. If you didn’t know the Biblical story, you would think this was just a great big rock near the Acropolis with awesome views of Athens. But as we stood at the base, our tour guide James read and expounded Paul’s speech from Acts 17.

Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, “to the unknown god.” What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives all mankind life and breath and everything.

Of all the speeches that could have been inscribed on the lowest slopes of the rock, it’s this speech that is etched for posterity.

There were two sets of steps going up to the top of the rock. The original ancient steps - had it been raining we probably would have avoided these due to the eons of wear and tear that have left them smooth and worn away to a slippery slope in places - and a more recent set of sturdy metal stairs a few metres away. James told us that before the new stairs were installed, whenever it would rain the authorities would park an ambulance at the bottom  of the ancient steps, waiting for the inevitable casualties. Apparently it wasn’t a matter of “if” but rather “when”!!

We ventured up the ancient steps, and it was easy to see how treacherous they would be when wet, and then we could see the Agora below - the ancient marketplace and centre of ancient Athenian public life - and the expansive views across Athens. Then, taking on board James’ tongue-in-cheek comment that the two sets of steps sort the “wise” from the “wiser”, and not interested in spoiling the rest of our holiday with even a twisted ankle, we chose the new metal stairs down!

We then had a whirlwind bus tour pointing out the main areas of the city centre, including the Acropolis Museum, the House of Parliament, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier where there is a changing of the guard every hour, the Olympic Stadium, the Presidential Palace, and various churches. It was a great way to get a feel for the area that we will be returning to in a couple of weeks with time to investigate and visit these and other locations at leisure.

Finally, the bus dropped us in the Plaka area of the city to explore at leisure. A small group of us shared lunch, then wandered through the pedestrianised areas. One of our group wanted to find the Apivita store, so we consulted our maps and navigated our way up past and behind the French and Italian embassies, until our target appeared around the corner. I love exploring and getting a mental map of a new city. We even popped into a supermarket to have a look, it’s always a fun way to get a feel for the way of life, but much harder to read the words in Greek than it was in French when I shopped in Paris!!

I’m thinking the first word says LIMES, but the rest???

Police not looking at all menacing in Syntagma Square 

The hotel shuttle bus collected us from Syntagma Square at 4.30pm, giving ample time to get organised for our early start the following morning. We enjoyed one final group dinner with the people with whom we’ve been travelling and sharing this amazing journey, then it was fond farewells and time for bed. Our tour had come to an end, and from here we would be off to the islands, just the two of us, for a bit of R & R!!