Athens and the Plaka district

Day 4 – Athens and the Plaka district
Athens

Thursday, 19 September 2013

Slept reasonably well, even if the bed was a bit hard. Couldn’t really sleep with the window open as the traffic noise was pretty constant.

Breakfast was muesli with Greek yoghurt and percolated coffee (gift from Aris our host). Coffee was a little too bitter for my liking so made an English Breakfast tea instead. Lovely rainwater shower and then dressed for walking in jeans and walking shoes, with Anthony in shorts and polo short, and of course our hats.

Our street was busy already with cars and motorbikes but on the way to the Acropolis, all the shops were still closed, with cleaners sweeping up yesterday’s litter.

We arrived at the Acropolis before the crowds. Our admission ticket of 12 euro will get us in here, as well as a number of other historic sites, for four days.

It was just so amazing to be here!

There’s a lot of restoration work occurring and it all looks very different to the way I remember it from January 1998. Much of the stone has now been cleaned. There’s scaffolding and cranes, and even a railway line for transporting stone. There are archeologists painstakingly cleaning stones, and sounds of stone cutting for the new pieces that will be inserted.

Beautiful blue skies formed a perfect backdrop for ancient ruins – the Odeum of Herodes Atticus, then along the sacred way where we entered through the Propylaea, the Temple of Athena Nike, the Erechtheion, the Parthenon and over the walls to the Theatre of Dionysius.

Then onto the New Archeological Museum with adult admission at 5 euros. This an extremely beautiful building with architecture that mirrors the columns and colours of the Parthenon. It’s built on top of an ancient Athenian suburb that was discovered when they began excavating the museum site. They’ve used glass floors so that this ancient find can be seen throughout the building.

Fantastic space and well worth a visit. Shame that so many of the treasures are in the British museum!

We had a refreshing pot of English breakfast tea and some brunch in the museum cafe with stunning views toward the acropolis.

Then walking through the Plaka, by chance we came across the Library of Hadrian. It was fantastic because you can get up and personal with the ruins, including taking photos of the statue of Nike that was discovered on site in 1988. We then headed to the Ancient Agora and the reconstructed Stoa of Attilus. This is a beautiful building with an extensive collection of artefacts associated with the Agora. Our visit was cut short with much whistle blowing indicating the site was closing – it was a strike by all the public servants of the archeological sites against the further austerity measures.

Lunch at a taverna with views towards the temple of Hephaestus – delicious seafood platter and Greek beer. Then walking through crowded plaka streets with competing tourist shops and others selling local products and handicrafts.

Home for cooling shower and cup of tea before going out again to see the Acropolis at sunset from the Hill of the Areopagus.

	Odeum of Herodes Atticus [Map]		looking up towards the Acropolis [Map]
	The karyatids on the Erechtheion [Map]		In front of the Erechtheion [Map]
	The Parthenon [Map]		In front of the Parthenon [Map]
	Reconstruction of the Parthenon [Map]		The crowds [Map]
	Doorway in the Erechtheion [Map]		Detail of the pediment on the Parthenon [Map]
	An archeologist at work [Map]		The New Acropolis museum [Map]
	Museum built on ancient Athenian suburb [Map]		Ground floor of new museum [Map]
	Orignial Karyatids [Map]		View of Acropolis through the window [Map]
	Theatre of Dionysus [Map]		Statue of playwright [Map]
	Library of Hadrian [Map]		Statue of Nike found on site at the Library of Had [Map]
	The recreated Stoa in the Agora [Map]		looking along the Stoa [Map]
	Our seafood lunch [Map]		The moon rising over the Acropolis [Map]
	The Acropolis at night [Map]