Our last day.

The early morning sentry is out making his rounds.

Thursday, October 1, 2015

After breakfast, Ginny and I walked up to the Museum of the Acropolis.  WOW!!!  The museum is built over ruins that are being excavated.  There are open viewing areas and glass sidewalks so you can view the work being done!  It is incredible!

The Acropolis Museum entrance.  

This massive building stands on pillars, with ost of the floors in transparent material so that visitors may observe beneath the structure where the remains of buildings that occupied the area until late antiquity can be viewed.

The museum itself is amazing.  There are artifacts that are thousands of years old.  Quite mind boggling.

The ground floor houses scale models of the Acropolis.

Material discovered in the sanctuaries and in the prvate houses on the slopes of the Acropolis is on display along the slanted ramp that goes from the ground floor up to the first floor.

On display in a loggia are the Caryatids  that used to belong to the ancient loggia on the southern side of the Erechtheion.

 The museum itself is amazing.  There are artifacts that are thousands of years old.  Quite mind boggling.

Laser treatment is used to clean the sculptures of decades of pollution.

There is a Leggo sculpture of the Acropolis!

Only got a few photos… some signs say no photos, some say no flash.  Sometimes got in trouble for taking photos… anyway, it is a place you can spend hours and hours.  We were there for three hours and really just looked at things, didn’t try to read the descriptions.

Got a cool book that has overlays, photos of the ruins with an overlay of what the structures are thought to look like when originally built.  Very cool.

Visitors can see the sites of ancient dwellings.

These are the little bistros and businesses on the ground floor.  The apartments are above.

Entrance to our apartment building.  We can use the spiral staircase or one of two lifts.

The Theater of Dionysos

After lunch Marion and I did a little more shopping then I decided to go back up to the Acropolis.  By then it was after 4pm and the crowds were gone.  It was fantastic!  Only a couple of hundred people up there compared to the several thousands that were there the other morning!  It was a much more satisfying visit.

Ornate scroll work on the marble benches.

The figure of Silenos

Local resident!

Temple of Asclepios

The Odeion of Herodes Atticus

Still used for productions today!

Shrine of Athena

Erechtheion

Some closeups of the details

Each of the ladies had a slightly different dress, stance and hair style.

 We met up with Jessica again for dinner.  Then back to our apartment for our final packing.  We are leaving at 3:30am for the long trip back.  Time for a fast sleep!

Good buy Athens!  Hope to see you again soon!!

A local resident enjoying the afternoon sun.

More adventures around Athens

Hadrian's Arch (or Gate) was constructed in 131 AD by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as part of a wall separating the old and new cities of Athens.

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

The weather changed, very cool and windy.  Had to put on pants and long sleeves instead of a cotton dress.  Darn!

Ginny and I went to a tour office to get some ideas for tours.  Decided to do an afternoon tour to Sounion.  I spent the morning at Hadrian’s Arch and surrounding ruins.  There was another area next to this site that looked interesting.  But I never found a way in.  It may be an archeological site not open to the public.  But I did have an interesting walk through other parts of Athens.  What a crowded and busy city!

This ancient city has very modern transportation like these slick trains.

The Temple of Olympian Zeus

Also known as the Olympeion.

The foundations were laid in 515 BC then abandoned.  Work resumed in the 3rd Century BC, delayed again.  In the 2nd century AD the temple was taken up again by Hadrian who finally brought it to completion in 129 AD.

Took a different road back to the flat, oops, got sucked into a dress shop… looking for some nice cotton pants.  Ended up with gorgeous pants, top and a shawl-sweater.  Wore it all back to the flat.  When I arrived, Ginny did a double take, “that is not what you wore out of here this morning!”.  LOL!

Marion returned and we warmed up leftovers (in olive oil, of course) and had a nice Greek salad for lunch.  

Remains of houses and Roman Baths for 5th century BE to 2nd Century AD.

Olives!

Cute little resident.

A pomegranate!

Crazy traffic....

We walked to the pickup point for the afternoon tour.  Had a beautiful drive along the coast line to get to the southern tip of the Attica peninsula, overlooking the Aegean Sea.  The site of the ruins is high on a hill, it was cold and incredibly windy.  The ruins were fantastic.  So amazing that these structures have survived so many centuries!

Beautiful scenery as we rode the bus to Sounion.

Our guide pointing out some of the highlights.

Sounion is on the rocky peninsula that projects into the Aegean Sea at the south-east tip of Attica. 

The Athenians built sanctuaries to their two most important deities: Poseidon and Athena.

The temple of Poseidon, god of the sea, was built on the summit of the rock; two temples to Athena Sounias were erected at a lower level.

Beautiful drive back.  Then we met Jessica (from our WV trip) for dinner!!  We had a blast catching up on our last few days.  She and Sue had spent the last few days touring castles in Romania.  They went to the castles we visited several years ago when we went to Romania the first time.  They had a super time.

After our wonderful visit, we made a date to meet again the next night for dinner.

What a fun filled and packed day!

More fun tomorrow!