An Athens that is not the Acropolis

It's kind of hard to imagine Athens without immediately thinking about the Acropolis. But there is another, different side to Athens - although whether or not it is an Athens that I entirely like, I am not entirely sure.

There are other bits of the old and ancient world that pepper Athens. Tumbled columns and time-weathered marble, old and collapsed structures, temples dedicated to the gods of the ancient Greeks.



[caption id="attachment_1594" align="alignnone" width="700"] The temple of Zeus.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1595" align="alignnone" width="700"] Of course, you can see the Acropolis from pretty much everywhere.[/caption]







But there is something about all this that is just sadly empty. Old though it may be and despite its thousands of years of seeing people having come and go, there is a tangible lack of people at places like these today.

Once a sacred site and the heart of dedication and worship, these columns today are not much more than stacks of marble and dust. Especially in the hot Athenian summer heat, where people try to avoid the open sun and head for anywhere with shade - there can't have been more than 15 people at the Temple of Zeus when we were there.



Just because they're not the Acropolis doesn't mean they're good for tourist photo poses though.



Something else I noticed is how indifferent the Athenians have become to tourists. Even resentful at times - like any big city that has become a major tourist hotspot, I seemed to sense that the locals wished for the absence of tourists. Yet so much of the city depends on tourism that Athens really wouldn't be Athens without its tourism industry.

People, it soon became evident, were very different here than they were from people in Thessaloniki where I had been just a couple of days previously. In Thessaloniki, people are wonderful - cheery inside and out, always friendly and willing to help out a bunch of lost tourists. They talk to you with a smile, and even if their English isn't absolutely the greatest you can always tell that they make an effort.

In Athens, it was off-putting the number of times we got waved away before we even finished our sentences.

Visually, Athens is of course much more beautiful. It is, after all, the capital of the country - but it is a city that has seen so much tourism you can't help but get the sense people wish you weren't there.



It really is a pity, because the city is beautiful and with so much history.







But I guess that's just how it is when tourism gets the better of a place.

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Marble Everywhere in Athens, Greece

I mentioned in my last post that Athens is full of marble. It lines absolutely everything! It's everyw.here from structures (the Parthenon) to sidewalks.

Greek logic: "No concrete? Pfft, we'll just use marble."

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="700"] Syntagma, or Constitution Square.[/caption]

We headed out to look for the Academy, built on the site where Plato set up the very first Academy - the first real teaching school.

Fun fact - academy or academia is Greek for 'school', while 'school' or skhole is Greek for leisure! I don't know about you, but it seems like something about school got lost in translation...





Everything there was made from marble, and there were even little statues of owls decorating everywhere - the symbol of the goddess Athena.

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Photo Friday: The Acropolis, Athens

Did you know that the Acropolis is built on an outcrop so high that the Parthenon is visible from almost any point in Athens?

I didn't either.

The ancient Athenians built the Parthenon temple to worship the Greek goddess Athena, after whom the city of Athens is named. Almost 2500 years after it was first built, most of the Parthenon is still standing, which is truly remarkable.





It seems that Athens is made out of marble - seriously, this rock is everywhere. And I really do mean, everywhere - the entire Parthenon is made of solid marble, the street pavements are lined with marble. It's like marble is the concrete of this place!

I was lucky enough to have my beautiful and gorgeous friend Melina show us around her home city. Can you imagine living here - so close to the dawn of civilisation and in a place so rich in antiquity that you could probably throw a stone and hit something a few thousand years old?



In fact, so much ancient stuff has been found that when they were building the underground metro system, they hit upon a real treasure trove of ancient artefacts and objects from long-gone peoples near the Acropolis site.

In a place that's been continuously inhabited for over 2500 years, there sure would be a lot of stuff left behind!

A whole museum near to the Acropolis was built to house, conserve and preserve artefacts found near Acropolis, as well as more delicate pieces of marble that have been broken from the Parthenon.



Just casually built over another archeological excavation site, no big deal. (That's Athens for you.)





The Parthenon is even beautifully illuminated by night, and even today it inspires the same sort of awe and reverence that it must have for the Athenians of 2500 years ago.



The Odeion of Herodes Atticus is remarkably well-preserved and is still used for performances even today!



After a bit of a climb, we made it to the top of the Acropolis and approached the Parthenon, a temple dedicated to the goddess Athena. Despite it being early in the morning, the Parthenon was already flooded with tourists baking under the sweltering heat of the Grecian sun!



Of course, that didn't stop us from taking in the heat. After a year of Scottish weather, I sure could do with some Vitamin D!



The Parthenon is an incredibly well-preserved structure - in fact, most of its damage was actually done intentionally in 1687 when a big portion of the building was blown up in the Venetian Siege.









[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="700"] Obligatory photo of me with the Erechtheion and statues of the goddess Athena.[/caption]





After the baking sun had started to get to us and addle with our brains a little bit, we decided to have a wee bit of fun with jump shots - because, why not?

Steven did a perfect jumping Buddha pose here.







The great thing about all the marble here was that it didn't retain heat at all - so while the air was baking, the marble was cool to the touch and great to sit and relax on!





So given the size and grandeur of the Parthenon and the Acropolis, it's easy to understand and see how the ancient Athenians could have worshipped it so.



After all, it inspires the same kind of awe even today.

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