The Parthenon, a temple to Athena, was undergoing repairs during our visit, but it is probably impossible not to be awed by the size of these monuments and the history on display here.
The statues, called karyatids, are replicas, but still very awesome, no? The originals are in the Acropolis museum.
In the museum, we saw many of the sculpture and monuments from the Acropolis. Athena is the main god here--it is Athens, after all--and so we saw lots of owls, a symbol of the god. Now I know where Bubo comes from in Clash of the Titans. One obvious piece missing from the museum is the sculpture from the Parthenon pediment. The British stole them many years ago and put them in the British Museum. How obnoxious that the museum won't return them.
The Acropolis provides great views of Athens. Here is a view over the ancient town, called the agora, at the base of the Acropolis, with modern Athens running all the way to the hills in the distance.
I was a harsh task master when it came to touring. Get there early to avoid the crowds. Here we laugh at the late-arriving suckers as we leave the Acropolis.
Down in the agora, we get cuddly. The temple in the background was for Hephaestus, club-footed god of forge and fire. How he managed to marry Aphrodite is beyond me. Actually, Hephaestus was so ugly Aphrodite cheated on him with Ares. Gotta love the gods.
A striking feature of Greece is that history is omnipresent, ruins are everywhere, and things that are treasured and preserved exist shoulder-to-shoulder with modern life. Here a metro train zips through the agora.
Our tour of Athens included the Temple of Olympian Zeus. This massive place took more than 700 years to build. That little white speck in the lower right is Sofia.
Athens is not all ruins. The city is crowded and has some charming, run-down streets. "People will think the whole city is crumbling from your pictures," Sofia said. I'm a romantic, okay?
Actually, most of Athens is a concrete sprawl, with miles upon miles of buildings that went up in the 20th century. I hear it was a pretty provincial place up until the last 100 years or so. The tall building just left of center was our hotel.
An Athens pet shop. 25 Euros for a chipmunk seems a bit steep to me.
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