ATHENS

ATHENS 28 APRIL 2009 --- We took a bus into town with our friend Delores and went out on our own. We did not have an ambitious agenda: Walk to the Parthenon; have a nice lunch; go back to the ship. Well, as it turned out, the walk to the Parthenon was more ambitious than we thought. The Acropolis is a pretty big hill as you can see below. Clyde was the only one not breathing hard when we got to the top. Did I mention that the sun was beating down on us?



But it was worth it. The view from up there was great.



The Parthenon (Temple of Athena), of course, is only one of the structures up there but it is the biggest. It and two other structures are undergoing extensive renovation and you can see where the new marble (white) contrasts with the old (tannish). It was impressive but after seeing what the Egyptians had done thousands of years earlier…… Clyde was philosophical about it though. He said that the ancient Greeks and Romans contributed a lot more to our civilization than those Egyptians in the long run.








It was a bit crowded with school kids. They take them there prior to when the real crush of the tourist season sets later.


There were a lot of miscellaneous pieces of marble lying about. (See Pics)





We walked down a different way and passed the ruins of the old Agora (marketplace) where a lot of wild poppies were blooming. See the mosaic tile floor that was along the path.




We ended up in an area of cafes where the “hipsters” hang out according to our guidebook. Clyde said that sounded right for him. The food was so-so, but the wine was pretty good. Oh and Clyde thought the waitress was very cute.



We walked back to catch the bus through an area of flea markets and shops of all kinds. Mercifully we did not buy anything of significance.