Mediterranean Cruise

Day 10 - Athens, Greece (The Acropolis of Athens)

All good things must come to an end…  It was time to pack and say goodbye to RSS Splendor.

I was assigned to one of the last groups to disembark, with everybody who was staying overnight in Athens and didn’t need to catch a plane right away.  One last chance to partake of the sumptuous breakfast buffet!

At around 9 a.m. our group was called, and we took a comfortable, air-conditioned bus with panoramic windows (the same type we took on all excursions) to the hotel we were all staying at – Athenaeum Intercontinental.  The rooms were already available, so I was able to stow my luggage there.

I booked my own excursion for that day through Viator, which served me very well in the past, because the only excursion offered by Regent would end at the airport.  Luckily, the excursion start point was only a 20-minute walk from the hotel.

Many Athens excursions, especially the ones exploring the Acropolis, start around the same point – the Acropolis metro station.  In addition, the “Acropolis and Museum In a Cultural Guided Walking Tour” description specified “opposite the Crescendo Café” so I dutifully entered that into Google Maps.  When I got to the supposed location, though, I could find no such café; the awnings all said other names. 

I walked a bit farther and caught my first glimpse of the Acropolis:

I decided to hang around until I saw a group form in the vicinity.

Meanwhile, it was time for a gelato – this time, from the Artemis bakery:

The benches proved very handy for catching a rest in the shade and watching for developments.

Eventually, I saw a group form around a lady with a clipboard – a sure sign of an impending tour! 

An assistant handed out earpieces that allowed us to hear the guide from up to 50 feet away even in noisy conditions, and the tour commenced. 

A quick note about the guide – she was the most passionate about her subject so far on the trip.  All the excursion guides were professionals, some earning degrees in their field, but she had the unapologetic intensity of someone truly devoted to her subject, and her country.  She wasn’t as over-the-top about it as the father from “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” but she didn’t hold back from her pride in her heritage.  She also had an excellent command of English.  I very much appreciated her style and her knowledge.

We began on a wide street/road that starts at the bottom of the Acropolis and winds its way up the hill to the site. 

Once again, we were very lucky with the weather: the day was clear and sunny enough for great pictures yet the temperature was in the mid-70s, making the climb of over 400 feet that much easier. 

Another glimpse!  I think it’s the Temple of Athena Nike:

We are getting closer!

But first, the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, a much later Roman structure built into the side of the Acropolis in AD 161: 

Concerts are still performed there!

Later, we’ll visit another, much more contemporaneous theater where all the extant Greek plays were originally performed!!!

We proceed toward the entrance to the Acropolis:

Great!  More high steps without railings!

But what a view!

(By the way, our guide tells us this Temple of Hephaestus on the right is the best preserved classical Greek temple in the world; I’ll have to come back to Athens to visit it!)

At the entrance, I snapped this picture; it’s a great example of Acropolis restoration: the white part is the restored part, and the rest is stone weathered by 2,500 years of natural and human depredation. 

Finally, the Parthenon!!! 

Even as a bare surviving shell, it is glorious! 

The inner wall, as well as all the surfaces, reliefs, and statues (except the columns), were originally painted in bright hues.  In the game (AC Odyssey) I saw it in all its intended glory; I walked around these columns, I went inside the temple multiple times. The photorealistic game experience made me feel like I know this area like I know my own town.  I hope I don’t sound like a lunatic; the excitement I feel at the familiarity of it is very real. 

The Greeks did invent or greatly advanced pretty much everything: science, philosophy, medicine, history, literature, mathematics, art, and democracy.  There would be no Western civilization if it wasn’t for the Greeks creating it, defending it, and sharing it with the world. 

Here’s another close-up of a column capital:

Notice the black and rust-colored patches?  That’s soot from fires, natural decay, and industrial pollution destroying the stone.  When the restorations began, most of the Acropolis complex was covered in it.  A decision had to be made: do we try to preserve the most intricate details indoors, or do we let them deteriorate and disappear? 

See these famous caryatides from the Erechtheion, the temple of Athena Polias? 

They are copies!  The originals are preserved in the Acropolis Museum, across the road from the Acropolis hill (part of the tour).  They were cleaned up with lasers and other advanced techniques, and then copies were made and re-positioned on the Acropolis.  I support that effort; I wish it was decided to restore more ancient sites. 

Here’s another view of the Erechtheion:

Close-up of the support on the upper right:

The views from the Acropolis are simply breathtaking. 

You should be able to see the Port of Piraeus and the glint of the sea from here, but I am not sure I captured it.

On the walk down from the Acropolis, we took a different path, much more challenging (more steps, uneven stones, steep inclines, etc.) to visit the Theatre of Duinysus:

It is not nearly as grand (or big) as the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, but it is much more significant: it is the birthplace of theater.  This was the first theater where Greek plays were performed; the prototype of all the following theatres.  It boggles the mind.  All the plays and movies we’ve ever seen are direct descendants of this place. 

We can walk on the stage where it all started!

The best seats were reserved for wealthy citizens who sponsored and financed the plays: the original producers: 

Here’s a map of the Acropolis, to put all the sites in perspective:

Our last stop of the tour: the new Acropolis Museum.  It has a great view of the Parthenon:

and is a great homage to its subject.  The guide explained how it was ingeniously designed to take a visitor through the history of the Acropolis and present all its surviving artifacts in an enlightened fashion.  Unfortunately, the most interesting parts (like the original caryatids and the best surviving sculptures) did not allow photography.  You’ll have to visit it yourself to find out!

At the end of this physically grueling and emotionally exhausting four-hour tour, I was ready to collapse.  I barely made it back to the hotel, taking only two pictures along the way:

This was but a single display in this huge bakery! 

I am far from being an admirer of “Dynamic Expression of Urban Culture and Creativity” but this one caught my eye with the last word, an expression (or expletive) I heard often in the game.  I hope the rest of it is not super offensive!  I tried to translate it using Google text recognition but it just yielded a jumble of words.

I went to the closest Greek restaurant to the hotel, which turned out to be quite good.  I had this delightful dish:

(fried calf’s liver), as well as grilled octopus, which I forgot to take a picture of, probably because I made a major dent in this bottle:

For dessert?  Baklava, of course! 

Just to let you know how reasonably priced Greece is, a dinner of two main dishes, a bottle of sparkling water, a bottle of wine, a dessert, and a latte, came to just over 50 euros (a shade more in $$).  In the capital city.

I’ll be back!!!