ATHENS, GREECE–THE SEQUEL

DAY 3 (4/10/12)
          ∙ No trip to Athens could be complete without visiting the classic sights of this historic city, so we jumped aboard a double-decker "Hop On Hop Off" bus and toured everything from Piraeus (Athens’ main port, and the largest port in the Mediterranean -- where our ship is docked) to the Acropolis and Parthenon in central Athens.  This first bunch of photos is from Piraeus:

 
          ∙ Olympic Stadium

 
          ∙ We walked the grounds of the Acropolis to the Parthenon, the Theater of Dionysos and its other structures.

THEATER OF DIONYSOS

THE PARTHENON

OTHER SITES FROM THE ACROPOLIS

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          ∙ Hadrian’s Arch, indicating the border between the Greek and Roman cities in ancient times.

 
          ∙ The Temple of Olympian Zeus, which took 700 years to complete, not to be confused with the “Temple of Zeus” in Olympia -- our next port -- one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, which was destroyed by fire; the only remaining Wonder of the Ancient World is the Pyramid of Giza in Egypt).

 
          ∙ We visited the New Acropolis Museum, featuring artifacts from ancient Greece and glass walkways that allow you to see the amazing ancient Greece – most of which lies underground.


          ∙ We passed by the National Gardens, the Parliament building, the National Archeological Museum and many other sites of Athena – the City named after the Goddess of Wisdom.


∙ THOUGHTS/IMPRESSIONS
          ∙ We had cold, drab weather here, but this was a beautiful, unique and extremely interesting city.  One finds ruins hidden among the modern structures and archaeological sites dating back thousands of years.  It’s a wonder anything remains, and yet chunks of history still do.
          ∙ We’ve heard so much press coverage about Athens’ financial problems that I was surprised to find a modern European country that is not at all “poor”.  Vietnam, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, even Egypt are “poor”.  Athenians drive nice cars and live in nice apartments in a gorgeous city.  They need to clean up all the graffiti everywhere, but their financial problems aren’t apparent from their living conditions.  I don’t doubt that they exist; you just can’t tell from looking at the place.
          ∙ Tomorrow, we visit the ruins at Olympia, where we’ll have cloudy, 61-degree weather.  We’re finally in Europe, where I can wear shorts or anything I like, and it’s too darned cold to wear them!  Ah man.  For now, we bid a goodnight, and farewell, to Athens!