Following our complimentary breakfast, which consisted of bread, jam, cereal, bacon, hot dogs, and potatoes and some form of orange Tang, we headed out by foot to the Acropolis where we met our tour guide. The Acropolis is simply stunning. For those of you whom may have taken Greek history too many years ago to remember, the Acropolis (which literally translates to “high city”) houses many historic buildings including the Parthenon, the temple of the Athena Nike, the Erechteion, and a few other massive structures. Unfortunately today, while the structures are still massive and amazing, they are only shells of what they used to be, due to pillagers, weather, earthquakes, and pollution. Many of the columns and statues and such have fallen, and there is much work going on currently to help preserve and restore as much as possible so that they may stand for thousands more years.
From atop the Acropolis you can see pretty much all of Athens, which seems to span for many miles in every direction. You can also see two ancient theaters used for the theatrical performances; this is also the site where Yanni delivered a stunning performance in our recent history. Further off in the distance you can see the Temple of Zeus, the Agora, and the Areios Pagos.
Following the conclusion of our guided tour and few minutes of free wandering, we headed down the hillside, back through the Agora to its entrance where we met with Professor John Camp, who is one of the lead officials on the archeological digs in Athens and has been working on recovering the ancient city for over 20 years. Having been a former professor to our professor he granted us special access to some of the areas that not many people get to see. Our first stop was just outside the Agora gates, alongside the subway tracks, where they had unearthed the remains of a few buildings, one of which served of significant importance as it was basically the office of the “king” who oversaw the religious and judicial matters in the city. Based on historical references in various writings, it is said that Socrates stood in this very building.
Professor Camp then lead us across the street to a site currently under excavation, where they had claimed the current buildings and tore them down so that they could dig down and unearth more of the old Agora. Here they were currently working on digging up a large Stoa, that they believe used to be a sort of “hang out” spot for many of the people and it is further believed that this is where many of the great philosophers came to speak to the people.
We were then led back into the Agora and to the Ancient Agora Museum which was built on the foundation of the Stoa of Attalos and serves as an almost exact replica of it. Today it houses many of the artifacts found within the Agora. Professor Camp again granted us access to a non public area as we got to tour the basement of the museum, which housed many rows and drawers full of all sorts of various items from ancient pots used to carry large amounts of wine, to bones, to rocks containing parts of the Ancient Athens’ laws. It was very interesting and exciting to see all these items that only a handful of people have ever seen.
Before departing, Professor Camp, took us up to the main level of the museum, which was public access and gave us a brief and quick tour through the museum.
Following his departure, we were again left to our own vices for the rest of the day and night, so a few of us decided to walk through the rest of the Agora and up to the Temple of Hephaistos, which is a roman temple still in pretty good shape, though the inside ceiling is completely black from all the pollution in the city, which is very sad to see.
Having seen all that the Agora had to offer we decided to wonder back into the Plaka and view the shops and people. We spent a good couple hours walking throughout it, stopping here or there to look at items and buy a souvenir or two, before deciding that it would probably be a good idea to eat. We decided upon a restaurant we had seen the day before in the square across from the hotel, however, after walking the maze of streets of the Plaka, our sense of direction was off and ended up having to ask for directions….turns out we were not very far and it actually allowed us to view a protest by the students of the university taking place in the street. While we are unsure of their reason, we do know it was something that warranted a bunch of police in riot gear to surround the streets.
We found our restaurant and sat down for a sandwich and a beer….this time I went with Mythos Beer, another local brew, but I think I still prefer Alfa.
After lunch we headed to the hotel for a break and then met up again across the street at the coffee shop where they had free internet access, since the hotel makes you pay 5 euro per 2 hours. After coffee and some checking of the emails, we returned our laptops to our rooms and headed back into the city. A few hours of walking later, it was about 8pm and time for dinner so we found a cool restaurant with seating in the streets and had another great meal. This time around I went with the gyro plate (consisting of pulled pork, pita bread slices, onions, tomatoes, sauce and fried potato slices) and an Alfa. The service was also great, as I have noticed it has been at most of the restaurants here, as the waiters were friendly and even brought us a small shot of some sort of coffee liquor to cap off the meal.
Tired from all the walking and sightseeing, we decided to head back to the hotel, to relax and hang out before calling it a night.
Tomorrow will be a full day of museum tours, a visit to the Athens stock exchange and a cocktail party. So for now, goodnight.
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