Greece! Part 4. Exploring Athens

Trish and I grabbed tickets for a hop on/hop off bus on Tuesday to explore Athens. The ticket was good for two days and covered three routes, so we did them all.

The first day, we explored the ancient agora (which included an ancient temple and a museum), the modern agora (which included a lot of shopping), Syntagma Square (which included the changing of the very stern guards in ceremonial dress at the tomb of the unknown soldier).

We walked 7.25 miles on the first day of this "bus tour." 

It was a great day! Here are photos. 

First, a little morning visit to the rooftop of our hotel, the Ermass.

Dunno what the smoke was; I'm guessing garbage?

First stop: Monastiraki Square, including Hadrian's Library.

The Temple of Hephaestus (449 BC). Hephaestus was the god of blacksmiths. He helped birth Athena by knocking Zeus's head open and letting her come out, fully grown and fully armored. 

His temple is pretty!

The Ancient Agora and its museum. Aristotle wandered the agora and talked to the citizens.

Here stood the mint.

This baby was buried in the pithos below, 750-725 BC.

A young girl's grave. She was buried with bracelets, rings, and those jars

An early ballot system!

Ostraka prepared by citizens with the name of Themistocles. They thusly ostracized him. 482 BC

The "Prison of Socrates," but it's questionable if it really was.

Finally, the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier at the Parliament Building. Later, I'll make a video compilation, which will include the ceremonial movements that these fellas do.

Wednesday we rode the bus around the Riviera and the port areas and mostly stayed on the bus.  

I didn't take many photos since we pretty much stayed on the bus, so I'll spare you those. 

Next, we get out of Athens! Coming up.

Greece! Part 3. Delphi

Our second guided tour in two days was to Delphi.

We had another couple of wonderful guides, Petros who taught us tidbits on the two-hour drive there, and darn that I didn't get his name, a certified guide at the site and the museum.

Delphi was incredible! Small group guided tour is the way to go.

Here are photos. 

We stopped at the picturesque village of Arachova on the way, where we enjoyed the views.

A lot of those trees are olive trees. There are millions of legacy olive trees in this area, some many hundreds of years old. The grove is a UNESCO protected site.

An ancient gymnasium, where the famously nekkid athletes trained 

We hit the museum first. Our guide hit the high spots. I don't know how they choose. There is so much! I have a new appreciation for educated guides. I got a lot out of our museum visits when there is someone to fully interpret what I'm seeing. 

Julia, the resident Delphi Dawg

Sorry for the glare. An artist's rendering of the ancient site. It was a busy place for thousands of years.

A silver and gold bull. His important parts (genitals, face, hooves) were gold.

This sphinx sat high above the temple

The interesting pieces of this prehistoric collection are the tripod thrones. Even in prehistoric times, tripods were important. This construction carried through to Ancient Greece

Antinous. The most beautiful man in the world? Hadrian thought so.

The Omphalos, or navel, proving that Delphi was the center of the world.

Apollo represented on a kylix, around 480-470 BC. 

The Charioteer of Delphi, from around 470 BC, an important and rare bronze

Onward to the Delphi site itself. 

Mindblowing. I really did not know a lot going in, and our guide was fantastic at educating us to the long rich history of this site. Seriously mind-blowing that for hundreds of years, citizens – both regular citizens as well as the rich and famous –brought offerings to this site in exchange for advice from the high priestess oracle, who got her visions from Apollo himself. 

The ancients didn't know it, but her throne sat next to volcanic vents, and her visions were likely due to inhaling poisonous gas.

The site is incredible. It feels more raw and approachable than the Parthenon, and I enjoyed the heck out of it. 

Some of these will be slightly out of order to the actual path we took.

The stone wall construction is brilliant. These retaining walls have stood the test of time and earthquakes for thousands of years.

Close up of the above: beautiful olive crown engravings

Squinty-eyed crappy pic but proof! I was there!

More views of the theater. Can you tell I love theater?

And above the theater, the ancient stadium of the Pythian Games, Panhellenic competitions said to have been more important than the Olympics.

The original marble pathway. How many feet have crossed these pavers over the centuries?

After our tour, the group enjoyed lunch and views at Vakhos, a local taverna. Trish and I shared Opsimotyri of Mt. Pernassus, a creamy sheep cheese served with sharp onions; fried cheese; and Mandi, handmade fresh pasta with trahana, and feta pesto inside. 

Interestingly, our small group of nine consisted of three Gauchos and two speech-language pathologists, as well as five Californians. 

We dozed on the long drive back to Athens. It was a good day.