Athens and the Acropolis

I headed up to Athens today by tram from Glyfada (glee-FAH-dah), the suburb of Athens where I’m staying in a lovely hotel, the Hotel Sea View.

The tram stop is about a block away from my hotel, and the number five goes all the way into Athens and stops fairly near the Acropolis, at Syntagma Square, before turning around and heading back to Glyfada. It took about 45 minutes and the ride was fairly un-scenic, as Athens is just a big city that happens to also house some amazing ancient historical monuments.

When I disembarked the tram, I walked left through Syntagma Square, down Mitropoleos Street and through Monastiraki Square where a lot of tourist shops can be found. I avoided these like the plague because there were so many people and I was afraid of being pick-pocketed. Plus I don’t really need any more souvenirs.

My goal was to see the Acropolis, so I headed that way. I left my map back at the hotel but every now and then I saw signs, so I knew I was headed in the right direction. ‘If all else fails, just follow the people,’ I thought. Pretty soon I turned onto a street where I could see some ancient ruins, so I checked those out first. Part of the ruins turned out to be an ancient astronomy tower, as well as the ancient gate to Athens and some ancient public latrines. A little further up the hill on my way to the Acropolis, I came to a small ancient church where the man on guard was nice enough to allow me to take some photos. I wanted to light a candle, but I’m not Catholic so I talked myself out of it.

I kept walking, past many more tourist shops and past Ancient Agora. I took photos of Ancient Agora from the hill to the Acropolis because the sky looked dark and ominous and I didn’t want to miss the main attraction. It was lovely, and I could see the Temple of Hephaestus tucked into the lush green landscape.

When I finally got to the entrance to the Acropolis, up through the cobblestone streets that eventually turned into half ancient marble/half modern concrete, I walked up to the ticket booth prepared to pay my 12 Euros for a ticket. Today, however, was my lucky day! Tickets to the Acropolis and other ancient sights are free during Greek Easter weekend (the weekend after the US Easter). I took my free ticket before they changed their minds and walked to the entry gate. After scanning my ticket on the machine, I was granted access to one of the most historically important monuments of the ancient world: The Acropolis.

Set on a hill in the center of Athens, the Acropolis can be seen for miles. Or at least that was the idea in ancient times. In modern times, it’s very hard to see it for all of the buildings in the way.

I didn’t hire an Acropolis tour guide (but I could have, supposedly, for a very cheap price, or so I was enticed with once I had passed through the entry gate), so I just walked around and saw things on my own, taking in all of the ancient history that I know so little about.

I followed the entry signs and marble pathway up to the first split in the path and decided to go straight to see the Theatre of Dionysos before the Parthenon. The theatre was spectacular. I imagined the rows and rows of stadium seating filled with onlookers watching an ancient Greek play and cheering at their favorite parts. I imagined actors on the black and white checkered marble stage. I wanted to walk down there so badly, but the theater is roped off and visitors can only look down into the theatre from the viewing point above.

I left the theatre and kept walking, and I saw a garden of ancient Athens from my vantage point at mid-way on the hill.

The sky started looking even worse, so I turned around and headed for the Parthenon. I didn’t want to have come all this way and miss it because of the weather.

I made my way back up the hill and over to the entry to the top of the hill, which was a very large ancient monument that everyone walks through to see the Parthenon. I walked through the ‘gate’ to the Acropolis and felt like an ancient Greek. Maybe I was going to see Athena. Or look out over the ancient city of Athens and pray to the Greek Gods for good weather on a safe journey across the sea.

When I walked through the ancient gate, I saw the Parthenon. It was breathtaking. The entire ‘front’ of it is currently covered with scaffolding in a restoration attempt. Either way, visitors can only walk around the bottom of the Parthenon as it is roped off and signs of ‘motion detectors in place’ were visible in case anyone decided to sneak a view from the ‘inside’. I walked all around the monument, over to a look-out point in the rear where, for reasons unknown to me, the Greek flag stood at half-mast. I then walked over to another smaller monument right next to the Parthenon.

Almost the entire hill of the Acropolis was covered in ancient marble, many of it with striking pink lines flowing through it. I snapped a few photos of it but they don’t do the marble justice. It was lovely, but slippery even when not wet.

So who goes to visit the Parthenon on the Friday before Greek Orthodox Easter? Me, for starters. I also heard people speaking Greek, Italian, Spanish, English speakers with a range of accents from American to Irish to Scottish and more, and I even saw a large American high school group on tour with their teachers.

After visiting the Parthenon, I decided it was time to head back to Glyfada before the rain started in earnest. I walked back down the hill, past Ancient Agora, past the restaurants and tourist shops. I stopped for a moment at a bakery I passed earlier and purchased a slice of baklava which turned out to be very rich and extremely delicious, and then it was back to the tram stop where the number five was already waiting. I purchased my ticket and found a seat. I was so sleepy on the ride back that I missed my stop, the second-to-last stop, and had to walk back to the hotel from the end of the line. Thankfully it wasn’t far at all.

Tomorrow I plan to head back into Athens to check out the National Gardens, opposite the Acropolis, and then it’s back to Glyfada to spend my remaining time in Greece on the beach.

Kalinichta everyone!