Our first full day in Athens started with a beautiful breakfast atop the hotel, overlooking the Acropolis and Parthenon, followed by Hop-On/Hop-Off touring. At the Acropolis stop we skipped the long ticket lines thanks to a guide who was soliciting customers. She took six of us throughout the Acropolis and shared wonderful insights into what we were seeing. Truly a worthwhile investment.
Some Acropolis highlights:
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| Some of the many folks scrambling to see the Acropolis and Parthenon inside; can't imagine what the summertime crowds must be like. |
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| What a vantage point the ancient Greeks had from here. |
We learned so much about the design and construction of the Parthenon--fascinating--and the work still goes on. We learned that it can't be a 'restoration' unless 25% of the original remains (not true here), so the many, many small parts of these structures (see below) are being used to try to keep it stable and as much like the original as possible.
The story of Athena and the olive tree charmed us (this one next to the temple of Athena is 'believed' to be a descendant of the original tree that she sprung from the earth), and the history explains why the olive is so important to the Greeks.
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| More relics. |
More HOHO, then back to the hotel to get ready for a roof-top dinner at the Hotel Grand Bretagne, sister hotel to ours right next door. Not too many restaurants provide tables that look over the Acropolis by night. It was an elegant and delightful evening.
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