The Acropolis & The Parthenon
Today was the first full day of the cruise itinerary and we spent a "full day" visiting the ancient Acropolis by climbing to the top and then seeing the Parthenon up close. Having taught World History for several years, this was a big bucket list to me. I loved teaching about the ancient Egyptians - saw the pyramids of Giza last fall; about the Roman Empire - visited the Roman Coliseum a few years ago; and finally about the ancient Greeks - and today saw the Acropolis. SOOOOOO cool.
We were on the bus by 9am after meeting our guide for the day Efie - who's named for a heroine of a Greek tragedy! As we drove through Athens we saw several landmarks including the Olympic Stadium that was built in 1896 and Hadrian's Arch, right outside the ruins of the Temple of Zeus.
We then visited the Acropolis Museum. The VERY coolest part of the museum, besides the fact that the place is FILLED with artifacts all found on the Acropolis site, is that it is built over an archeological dig site. AND you can see down into the ruins as you approach the museum AND THEN INSIDE the museum the floors are of glass on the basement level and you can look down on more of the ruins. Just really something to see.
Exiting the museum we climbed - and I DO MEAN WE CLIMBED to the top of the Acropolis. The views of the outer temples as we approached were breath taking, and looking back down on the theatre was a very cool site. Once we'd reached the outer temples we went through the massive entrance and there before us was the Parthenon itself. Just huge - I've included images of what it would have looked like inside and outside originally.
As we left I got what I thought was a very cool shot of the city of Athens framed through the temple entrance. This evening we set sail for Santorini which is supposed to be one of the most beautiful of the Greek Isles. Side story....we were all on the bus ready to leave when we realized one couple on the climb up to the Acropolis had decided to "go on their own." Their friends notified Efie they were missing. Finally got hold of them on the phone and they said, "we don't know where we are." Sigh.... the entire rest of the tour group is being held up because they wanted to explore and got lost. Finally Efie was able to get from them they were near the museum and one of their friends on the bus offered to go find them and take them to the shuttle busses which were near the museum. Word to the wise when part of an excursion group - stick with the program :)
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