Spay Our Way in Romania: The Acropolis

Early morning view... the crane is lowering something at the base.

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

We had a leisurely start to the day today. After a light breakfast at one of the cafes downstairs, we all went off to the bank to exchange some money. The first bank was having technical difficulties, so we went off in search of another bank. Finally found one and the line was incredible! We had to take a number and there were 45 people ahead of us! Ginny and I decided to just use an ATM, Marion still had some Euros, so off we went to get our day going. Marion finally got some money exchanged later. She had to pay a hefty fee and deal with rude and unhelpful bank employees. Sometimes it is just cheaper and easier to use an ATM, but in some places it is not safe. Your banking information can be stolen. (Sandy and I had our info hacked while in Roatan, Honduras). So check it out ahead of time if you are going to travel internationally.

A couple of street dogs doing their morning constitution.

A local resident at the Acropolis!

We all went our separate ways. My plan: climb to the top of the Acropolis… before the thunderstorms were due to arrive in the afternoon.

Luckily signs are in English as well as Greek.

The hike up the hill looks daunting, but it really isn’t that bad. Just the mind boggling crowds… thousands of people out there. It was worse than Disneyland! But the structures are phenomenal. They are always in a state of restoration. At first I was trying to not have the construction equipment in the photos, then I realized that is also part of the history… the current history. So I took more pics with signs of renovation included. The crowds were so heavy that on the way up to the top I took very few photos, thinking I could take more on the way down. Turns out, you leave via a different route. (So there will be more photos on a later day!)

The Odeion of Herodes Atticus

Built in the mmiddle of the second century AD, this building has a capacity for an audience of six thousand. The completely restored theatre is still used for concerts and theatre productions.

The Parthenon.
A Huge monumental offering built to house the colossal statue of the goddess Athena.

Sometimes when you visit a historical site, you can get some special feelings about the time period in your mind. With the tremendous crowds, I did not get those feelings at all. Found out later that the passengers from the cruise ships are there until about 4pm, then it really clears out. I may try to go back one afternoon. It would also be neat to watch the sunset from up there, but I think it would be treacherous coming down. Also, I think it closes well before sunset.

The entrance is about a 3 minute walk from our flat! Anyway, I paid for an “all inclusive” ticket which gives me entrance to several sites. I can return to any of them while I am here.

The walk up to the top is not too strenuous, but the path is uneven, lots of marble stones in the pathway. So you do need to be very careful. There are sites to see along the way, so it is not just a steady climb. The morning started out very cloudy. But as I climbed, the sun came out in full force! I had forgotten my sunglasses back at the flat… and although I had my hat on, the glare off the marble was blinding. In spite of that, the structures are incredible and to think these have survived thousands of years! Awe inspiring!

Here are some of the bags that we saw being lowered in the first photo.

View from the top.

View of our flat from the top!

The Theatre of Dionysos had the capacity for an audience of about 17,000.

View of the Temple of Zeus from the top.

The Erechtheion is the Temple of Athena Polias (guardian of the city) and it is also the place of worship of other ancient deities of Athens.

Caryatid porch of Erechtheion

Six statues of girls support the architrae in place of columns. Due to pollution, the statues have been replaced with exact copies; the originals are kept in the Acropolis Museum, with the exception of one, which is in the British Museum in London.

The portico containing and altar. Here, according to tradition, Poseidon is supposed to have pointed his trident and made a fountain of pure water spring up, on the occasion of the contest with Athena for the possession of Attica.

The walkways are very uneven and have marble that has been polished slick from pedestrians. Have to be extra careful when the weather is damp.

The exit is quite a way from our flat. So I had a lovely stroll along the streets to go home. The roads and walkways are often cobblestone. And motor vehicles and pedestrians use all the areas! Pedestrians strolling all through the “streets” and motor vehicles on streets and (what seemed like) walkways. If cars or motorcycles are blocked by pedestrians, or other cars, they just wait patiently until the way is clear. Don’t want to be in any kind of hurry here!

The Hephaisteion, the Temple of Hephaistos, above the Agora

The perfectly preserved temple, built in the mid-fifth century B.C., still bears the sculpted decorations of its Doric frieze: the Labours of Heracles and the Labours of Theseus.

The Agora is "the square" This is part of the Middle Stoa.

Next I toured all over the Athenian Agora. Wonderful grounds and structures, some of which have undergone major restoration, others have not. There are pieces of structures scattered all over the area.

Beautiful statues are housed in the middle stoa.

The streets are used by pedestrians and motor vehicles.

A wonderful musician.

On the walk back, there was a street musician playing (there are musicians everywhere, all day and late into the night) what looked like an old piano with the top gone, and striking the strings like a hammer dulcimer. He was excellent! I listened for a while and bought his CD.

We all gathered back at the flat. Everybody had a good day. Then we regrouped and headed off for the metro (just across the street from the flat, less than a minute walk!) to get to the Masistraka for our cooking lesson! We had to ride 3 different lines, for only one stop each during commuter traffic. Just part of the adventure!

The table laid out for our cooking class.

Our cooking class was a blast! There were 10 in the class and it was well set up. We started with a drink and little appetizers. Learned about local culture, foods and alcohol. There is no drinking age here! Kids start out drinking diluted wine and progress as they age. There apparently is not an alcohol problem in Greece. People drink slowly over hours as they visit and eat. Quite civilized!

Ginny with her juice.

Stacy and her drink.

Marion enjoying some appetizers.

We prepared 3 starters (dolma, spinach pie, zucchini balls), greek salad, roasted lamb and potatoes and dessert. OMG, it was fun, informative and yummy! The class took about three hours, then we all got to eat our meal! The class was in a nice room, but then we went out into the main restaurant and the meal was served to us. It was fun and wonderful and scrumptious and filling! Then they packaged up the leftovers for us to take home! We had a fun and friendly group and the teacher was great. This was definitely a highlight of the trip!