Athens again

Athens is a city of 4.5 million people, the capital of Greece since the 1821 rebellion against the Ottomans. We took the standard half-day tour, starting at the 1896 Olympic Stadium built on the site of the classical Athens stadium.

Then on to the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier in front of the Parliament Building. The honor guard is chosen from each year's new recruits (1 year of service is mandatory for all males). Those selected must be 6'1" and weigh about 196 lbs - the perfect Greek male.

Next was the Temple of the Olympian Zeus. Here the original (475 BC) Doric columns were recut to be Corinthian columns in 131 AD. Originally this temple had 2 rows of 20 columns, but most fell in an earthquake in 560 AD.

And then we climbed to the Acropolis. Mary made it to the top, even though her knee has been painful. The acropolis (extreme city) was built at the peak of Greek power in the 5th century BC, when it was Athens was the head of the 212 city-states in the Delion league. We walked through the Propylaea, the monumental entrance to the Acropolis. At the top stood the Parthenon built over the course of 42 years completed in 432 BC. It is over 240 feet long and actually would have looked too long if seen from the old city, since the hill it is built on is only 5 feet higher. So it is positioned to be seen from the sea which is 580 feet below the Acropolis. The building looks straight but it is all curves - 4 inches taller in the center than the ends, and columns that lean inward to better survive earthquakes. It actually stood through the centuries until a gun powder explosion in 1690 during the Ottoman-Venetian wars. The Parthenon was originally built to thank Athena for victory over the Persians. But it isn't clear that it was ever dedicated as a temple, instead it served as a treasury.

The other smaller building is the Erechtheum built in 407 BC over what had been the palace of the king. It was built next to an Olive tree that legend says was given by Athena, a gift of light, light from olive oil.

The group at the Acropolis of Athens

We walked into the Plaka neighborhood, where Steven was trying to find a restaurant recommended by Frommer. We finally gave up and ate at a Greek family restaurant, Sholarhio. What luck! This was the best Greek meal we had. For 5 people, we could choose 12 dishes from a selection of 18 plus ouzo, wine, and dessert, all for 12 Euro a person. It was a great place to celebrate Mary's 57th birthday.

Everyone did a little shopping on our last day. Mark Kolhour and I did a dash through the Roman Aggora and the Temple of Hephaestus, the best preserved temple in Greece from 460 BC. We managed both of these in 45 minutes before the 5:00 PM closing time.

Temple of Hephaestus at sunset

A long day, we headed back to the hotel for showers, packing and some drinks before our short night - our flight is at 6:20 AM, wake up time at 3:00 AM.

All in all, it was a good trip. While we were disappointed with the cruise line itself and some its crazy itinerary - I wouldn't have missed Ephesus, Rhodes, and Santorini. The highlight was the days spent in Greece, extra time to explore Athens and the 4 day road trip to Olympia and Delphi. And, of course, it's always fun to do this with friends.

Kalambaka

View from our hotel window to the Meteroa

We're visiting the 14th century monasteries sitting on top of the "suspended rocks" in the Meteora area of Greece. Our first stop was St. Stephen's monastery built in 1300, burnt in 1941 and then rebuilt. It is a typical Greek Orthodox church with a Narthex for those yet to be baptized, the Nave (boat) with a dome above (heaven) and a sacristy hidden by a wall of icons and finely carved wood. The whole church is covered with icons. The Narthex was quite gruesome showing many martyrs and the last judgment. The Nave was filled with stories from the New Testament especially the Transformation and the Resurrection. An interesting belief is that the face of Christ in all their icons is based off the Shroud of Turin and the face of Mary from an icon painted by St. Luke.

St. Stephan's

We also visited the Monastery of St. Barbara with a similar church but the icons were the originals from the 14th century. There are 4 other existing monasteries and ruins of several others.

In the afternoon we traveled the 400 km. back to Athens and ended up having dinner about 9:30 PM, just like the Greeks. In all we've traveled 1400 km. in the last 4 days.

Delphi

It is believed that 6 temples have been built at Delphi, 3 of wood and 3 of stone. Why here, on the face of a mountain? The temples were built over a spring of methane gas, thus the priests who consulted the oracle were intoxicated. The last temple was built in the 4th century AD, after which Christianity took over from the Greek Gods. We entered an agorra, a market place where you could buy your offering after traveling long distances. Along the way were a series of statues, followed by the treasuries of the various city-states of Greece. All were made of local stone, except for the Athenian treasury which was made of marble. Then came the largest building, the temple of Apollo, of which only a few columns remain. Since there are both Greek and Roman ruins here, we learned to distinguish them by the columns: ridged and in layers connected by lead or brass are Greek, smooth and all in 1 piece are Roman. We also visited a theatre above the temple and then the stadium for the Pythian games with stone seats built in Roman times.

Athenian Treasury

The museum had many unique pieces. There was a Sphinx from 570 BC influenced by Egyptian art, the twins of Agros, a fine ceramic bowl of Apollo (480BC), and the Center of the Earth marker from the temple. Mythology talks about 2 eagles being released by Zeus in different directions around the world and they met at Delphi - the center of the Earth. The best piece was a charioteer at the moment of winning the Pythian games, made of bronze with eyes of enamel and ivory. It is so lifelike that you can see the muscles and veins of the hand.

Charioteer

In the afternoon, we drove to the region of Thessolonia, mostly through the mountains, which cover 60% of Greece, and then a large flat plain with lots of agriculture. As has been true in all of Greece, the skies are filled with smoke and smog. Apparently, this is because of the warm weather we've been experiencing which has winds from the South.

Olympia

Olympia, of course, is the home of the Olympics which were held every 4 years from the 8th century BC until the 4th century AD. Before and after the Olympics was a 6 month period of peace between all the city-states of Greece. Only Greeks could compete, but anyone including slaves and foreigners could watch the games (except for married women). The area was dominated by the temple of Zeus (460 BC). The East portal depicts the chariot race of Pelops and the west portico, the battle of Lapith and the Centaurs, both of these are in the museum. Second to the temple of Zeus is the temple of Hera (his wife) where the Olympic Torch is lit. Most of these temples were destroyed during an earthquake in 526 AD. We also saw the remains of many of the training rooms, the circular Philippcon, and a 5th century church, built here to signify the end of the Greek gods. Lining the way to the stadium are 16 bases of Zanes (statues of Zeus) paid for as a fine by the men and their towns who cheated at the games, only 16 cheaters in 1200 years. The stadium itself has grass rather than stone seats, because the Olympics were held at the full moon of August in the heat.

Results of 526 AD earthquake on Temple of Apollo

The museum here was superb with bronze offerings from the 9th century BC, the porticoes, the Nike of Paionios (the sculptor) which celebrated the victory of the Messenians and the Nasapactians over the Spartans, and a beautiful statue of Hermes. Sculpted by Praxiteles, he was the first to use human features to depict the gods in 340 BC.

Hermes with baby Dionysos

In the afternoon, we began our drive to Delphi, stopping in Patra to see the Basilica of St. Andrew.

Athens to Olympia

We collected people across 5 hotels and then headed into the countryside. Our first stop was the Corinth canal built in 1892 to connect the Aegean and Adriatic Seas, it is 4 miles long and 25 meters wide.

Lions Gate Mycenae

Then we visited Mycenae, a fortress palace built in 1300 BC. This site was explored by archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann in 1876. The Lions Gate had been exposed for centuries, but was mistakenly assumed to be of Venetian origin. Schliemann, who had already discovered the city of Troy, began digging behind the gates discovering 5 of the 6 royal graves eventually found in the grave circle. Mycenae was built with huge stones, some weighing 18 tons. In the 5th century BC, the Greeks couldn't build with stones this big, so they created the legend of the Cyclops to explain these walls. Nearby is the tomb of Agamemnon, a beehive tomb (shaped like a beehive inside) which has been preserved since 1350 BC.

Beehive tomb of Agamemnon

We had lunch in the port town of Nafplio which has a fortress in the middle of the harbor. Next stop was the Theatre at Epidourus, which seats 14000.

We spent the next 4 hours driving through the mountainous country with many hairpin turns arriving in Olympia well after dark. The hotel, Europa, was top notch with beautiful rooms and a courtyard leading to the pool.