The Ruins of Athens

All flights lead to Athens.

Our final stop on our Greek tour was Athens.  So back to the mainland!  We left through the little airport of Santorini, which had 6 gates, but only used 2 of them.  (In fact, there was no gate 1 or 2, and gate 3 had a snack stand permanently built in front of it).

Athens was a very interesting city.  There were ruins everywhere.  Of course, the most commanding was the Acropolis, built on a high hill overlooking all the city.  It could be seen from pretty much anywhere.  

Ruins were everywhere within the city.  In fact, there are so many, that for a long time, Greece did not worry about preservation of study of its own ruins (a task left up to groups from Germany, France, etc).  Only in recent times did they begin to treasure all of their ruins - true treasures indeed!

This is Hadrian's Library, in the middle of Athens.

Overlooking a Temple and an old church, with Athens in the background.

We made the hot hike up to the top of the Acropolis.  It was a hot walk, but well worth it. 

Up in the nosebleed seats.

Finally, reaching the Acropolis.

Hot and sunburned, we stop for a picture.

Hot and happy.

Cool pillars!

The scrollwork on the columns was quite impressive!

Proof: the Acropolis was built out of legos!

So that's why it's still standing after all these years!

In the open air theater, in the shadow of the Acropolis.  Important people sat in the front row.  Their chairs came complete with backrests. 

Excavations are still underway.  In fact, it took Athens quite a long time to build their own metro.  They had to stop whenever they encountered an archeological find, which was quite often.  These are under the Acropolis Museum.

More ruins, in the middle of the city.

Walking around the Plaka at night, home to many tourist shops and nice restaurants.

Greece is also in the middle of a lot of political turmoil as well.  Every night, they closed off the streets in front of the government buildings so no one could get too close.  In the background of this picture are signs of the protests.

More strikes than France...

Shopping ala Athens.

We also wandered through an antique flea market. 

Even more "modern" buildings have nice motifs.

We had an awesome view from our hotel of the Parthenon. 

Some of the ruins still had intact mosaics.  Amazing that they exist after all these years.

Yet more ruins.

And something to leave you with: ancient Greek bathrooms.

Pass the TP

Athens was our last stop, however, we did go on a road trip to nearby Delphi.  That will be in my next blog post.  So, as they say, see you in Delphi.