Saturday, September 17, 2011

My big fat greek tour!

WELL... it took me a while, but here are 100+ photos from my first crew tour. It cost me $10 for the tour, 12EUR for admission into the Acropolis, another 12EUR because my friend didn't bring any money to get into the Acropolis, and my time from 12-4pm. Not bad considering it was quite the life-changing experience!





A view of the beaultiful Athens coastline.

One of the many facilities built in Athens to host the 2000 Olymic Games. This was the indoor volleyball venue.


Not a particularly good picture of anything specific, but I really like the combination of the Greek Orthodox Church and the partical reflection of the interior of the tour bus.

First view of the Acropolis off in the distance.

A terribile picture of the ruins of the temple to Zeus.



ANCIENT OLYMPIC STADIUM


We only had a 10minute stop to see the stadium, so I made what I could of it!



The view of the Acropolis from the Olympic Stadium.



Statue of the architect of the stadium.

Ruins of an ancient public bath.

The house of parliment.

The guards stand at attention on shift all day. They wear funny shoes that turn up at the toes and weigh 3kg each.







Street view of the major road in the city.

The College of Athens...

Very famous for its astonishing architecture. I can't remember which is which of the 3 most famous buildings we saw were, but I know one was the library and another was the college of science.











This picture is in the main political square of Athens. It has 3 people joining together, symbolizing the three political parties working in unison for the good of the people. Somehow the statue's inspirational message did not eschew the 500 billion in debt they are now drowning under.
The old house of parliment.

The new house of parliment.
Columns from the ancient temple of Zeus. I was so frustrated that I couldn't get a better picture than this while driving by in the tour bus...


THE ACROPOLIS!!!!!!

My first view of the acropolis.





Ruins of an ancient ampitheater.





Center stage as always :D - my Vera is very well traveled!




Christian was my tour buddy today!



This is the main entrance to the acroplois.




Currently, there is a large restoration project underway which is scheduled to be completed in the year 2020. Hence all of the scaffolding everywhere. It was still very incredible. This was my first view of the temple of Athena.

* * *


It is greek mythology that both Poseidon and Athena battled over to whom the acropolis was dedicated. There was a vote in Athens to decide which God would reside over the city. In the city, there was one more woman than men, and Athena ended up winning by one vote. So the temple of the Acropolis was dedicated to Athena. In outrage, the men stripped women of their right to vote. It was not restored until the 1950s. Men also decided to build a second temple at the acropolis - much smaller - and dedicated it to Poseidon.
This is the temple to Poseidon at the Acropolis. There is no source of water at this point, and yet an olive tree sprouted at the base of the temple. The tree was a gift from Athena offering compromise between the people and the gods.





Me and the Greek flag!
ME & the Temple of Athena!

Athena's temple on the left, Poseidon's on the right.
Athena's temple is on the left, Poseidon's is on the right.
From the top of the Acropolis you could see the columns for the temple of Zeus again, the ones that I failed at getting a decent picture of from the bus. This one's not too shabby, though!
You can also see the archway entrance to the temple (in the bottom left quarter of the photo).
I love this picture.
Temple of Athena.
Another ampitheater.
Pieces laying out ready for restoration.
A tower on the next hill.
An overhead view of the first ampitheater we saw.
Poseidon's temple and the olive tree from Athena. No this is no longer the original olive tree. It died a long time ago, but they replanted to keep the spirit of the story alive.
You can really see some of the restoration work that's been done. I can't even believe how dedicated the workers on this must be. Not to mention how hot, dry and dusty it is all of the time.


Temple of Poseidon.
Temple of Athena. The lighter marble areas are reconstructed.
Temple of Poseidon.
Temple of Poseidon.

Looking out from the back of the grand entrance.
Looking down from the top of the grand entrance.

Halfway through the grand entryway to the Acropolis.



Stone lion statues.
Ancient temple in the distance.
A view from the bottom of the entrance to the Acropolis looking up at the top of the entrance. It is very grand, lots of stairs, columns and carefully constructed stone walls.

A beautiful Greek Orthodox church.

1 comment:

  1. These are fabulous photos, especially the ones with you in them! If you have the chance to do an excursion from Palermo to see the Greek ruins near there, you should definintely go! There are actually more and better preserved Greek ruins in Sicily than in Greece! Thanks for shaing! And thanks to Christian for taking photos of you.

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