The Acropolis and more

On our second day in Athens we walked up to the Acropolis. A lot of guide books that I had read said that the walk up to the Acropolis is a long and arduous climb but after the hike to the Villa Jovis, this seemed easy.
So now I'm faced with the dilemma of trying to describe what it was like to see the Acropolis for the first time.

It is incredible?

Amazing?

Unbelievable?

None of those seem to fit.

The Parthenon is massive and I can only imagine how astounding it would have looked with the pediment and friezes still intact. All I can say for sure is that it's so much more amazing when it's in front of you.
The Porch of the Caryatids is a stunning achievement in ancient Greek architecture. I asked Scott to pull off a small branch from "Athena's Olive Tree" that grows next to the Cayatids as a little souvenier. It will grow back. And if I come down with a sudden bout of plague then I guess it's a lesson learned.

Once we walked around the Acropolis for awhile we walked down to the New Acropolis Museum that houses the artifacts that had not been pillaged from Greece by British imperialists. We then took a brief walk around the ruins of the Agora, the marketplace and former cultural and political hub of the Western World. We saw the Temple of Hephaestus there, the most well preserved temple. It is not something to miss. It is as wonderful as its more popular sister temples and it can help you understand how the Acropolis temples would have looked before years of destruction.
We ended the day by stuffing our faces with delicious Greek food.

Today we had planned to go to Delphi...

but...

we slept through the alarm and missed the bus.

Damnit.

So, instead we wandered around Athens. We did a little shopping for trinkets for friends and family and visited some of the lesser known Roman sites scattered around Athens.


I guess we will try for Delphi at a later date.