My trip to Athens
A few months ago I went on a trip to Greece. Athens to be precise. This was in early spring, so even though the weather forecast was nice, I underestimated the warm weather, and ended up packing a notch too warm clothing. Long-sleeved rather than short-sleeved shirts, and pants rather than shorts. On the other hand, I guess I didn’t end up looking like the typical tourist, which is no disadvantage in a city where pickpocketing is the most widespread crime. 🙂
The best known sight of Athens is of course the Acropolis. The Acropolis rock may not be Mount Everest, but it certainly is noticeable on the Athens skyline. The famous temple on the top is the Parthenon, dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena, who the city is named after. There’s a fair bit of scaffolding around the Parthenon at the moment, since there’s restoration going on. There’s also a smaller temple, called the Erectheion, dedicated to both Athena and Poseidon, as well as a couple of mythical kings.
South of the Acropolis is the newly opened Acropolis museum. Here you can see the many statues and reliefs from the Acropolis. Some of them exist, but are held in other museums around the world. The Greeks have decided to simply display open, illustrated spaces where they should have been. They obviously expect them to be returned at some point.
Near the Acropolis are several other arhceological sites, both Roman and Greek. Southeast you can see the remaining columns of the temple to Olympian Zeus. They are garagantuan, taller than the ones in the Parthenon. Close to it is Hadrian’s arch, built by the Roman emperor, to divide what the Greek’s had built, to what he had built.
Athens also has some other great museums. The national archeological museum documents the history of the earliest advanced civilization in Europe, and you can easily spend hours there.
There’s actually a higher hill in Athens than the Acropolis. It’s Lykavittus hill, and has a small church and a restaurant at the top. The view is great, since you get an aerial view of the Acropolis, but there’s not exactly a lot to do up there.
The area north of the Acropolis is crawling with tourists. Thissio, Monostiraki and Plaka have plenty of both street cafes and various sellers and peddlers of wares. The food is generally good, although the price and quality get a bit better if you aren’t smack in the middle of the main thoroughfares. Moussaka, souvlaki, lamb, yum!
On Syntagma square you can see the changing of the guards in front of the parliament building. It’s a strange affair, with the guards walking in an exaggerated, slow-motion style. I heard a few people laughing…
I was in Athens for one week, which is a bit long. There really isn’t one week’s worth of world-class sights in the city. If I hadn’t done a couple of day trips, I probably would have gotten bored. But to summarize, it was definitely worth the trip.
Tags: 1, Athens, Greece, Travel
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