The Acropolis

On our second day on Athens we took the long hike from our apartment to the Acropolis hill. One dog companion later, we arrived at the Parthenon.

Our dog friend

They had rebuilt an impressive amount, and half of the ruins were new marble bricks. We hiked through the ruins, and came out in a large open area were the Parthenon stood.

Mr. Ninja admires the ancient Acropolis

We went over to the Erecthyion and admired the half ruined temple. Apparently this was where the two gods, Poseidon and Athena, competed to be the patron god of Athens. They created a saltwater spring and an olive tree, respectively. (Athena won)

We had made a big fuss to bring all of our Freds and traveling companions to take a big picture of all of them looking at the monument. As we set them up, the guard came out and scolded us for taking the picture. Apparently we couldn’t take pictures of rubber ducks. We blew this off, thinking the guard to be mistaken in our intentions. We moved over to admire the Parthenon.

We then tried to take a picture of the ducks there. Another guards came over and told us we were ‘defaming’ the Parthenon. Dad had a small argument with the guard about how a few pictures of Fred would certainly not defame the Parthenon. The guards kept a close eye on us for the rest of our visit. Note that the pictures of the Lego men are ‘illegal’.

We moved on to the theater of Dionysus, one of the first theaters.

Theater of Dyonysus

But the Parthenon museum is what really made the visit worthwhile. The first part gave a overview of Athen’s history, along with ancient coins and other artifacts. We moved across a hallway full of ancient jewelry, which wasn’t really that interesting. The second level had a lot of ancient statues, and was fairly well done. Easily the best level, however, was the top one, were a video was playing on a loop describing the Parthenon and the figures on each side. It was very informative, and added to the experience when we saw the actual stone figures. There were a few small models showing what the Parthenon/Elgin marbles looked like in their heyday. On the outside of that room the reliefs that used to cover the side of the Parthenon were laid out, so you could walk along the room and look at them as if you were actually walking along the top of the Parthenon. There was also a large window where you could see a great view of the actual ruin.
At two sides were what was left of the marbles that were placed at each side of the Parthenon. All in all, a very nice exhibit.

And that’s the Parthenon!
-Bjorn