There is SO MUCH to see in Athens – from the Acropolis with the Parthenon, the Agora and all of the ancient ruins in the city, to the museums where they display all of the very very very old artifacts. We tried to see most of it while we were there. Didn’t even get to outside of Athens, like Delphi, the center of the world for the ancient Greeks. But we covered A LOT of ground in this city of ruins and… gelato on like every street block.
Here’s how we do museums:
Megan: stops at every single display and reads every description of every item. She is a sponge for information, and can retain all of it. Something I have always admired. The Agora, in Athens, was the heart and soul of social, political, commercial activity for the ancient Greeks. Their museum had many artifacts: Urn of pregnant woman, urn of rich woman, skull of short man. Weapons, figurines, vases….all with descriptions. She reads it all.
Me: I scan. I notice that everything is organized by period, from earliest to latest. I take it all in quickly, noticing a few striking differences between the earlier Neolithic period and the latest Ottoman period, and I try to remember at least some of the names of the different periods. But that’s basically all I retain. I’m done in 20 minutes, and I go outside to the terrace to look out at all of the ruins scattered about the beautiful city, in an overall state of acknowledgement that I am a very, very tiny part of this enormous universe and that my life is a blink of an eye in the spectrum of human existence. I have not smoked anything, by the way.
Kai: She does both scanning and reading, but mostly she spends her time mimicking statues. Sometimes we help her out.
It’s been sunny here every day…Except of course, on our last day in Athens that we saved to go up to the Acropolis. OUR weather report said sunny. Evidently everyone else’s said chance of rain, because everyone else was dressed accordingly, and brought umbrellas and rain jackets. But we stuck it out, even when we were cold and completely drenched. Cuz, the ACROPOLIS!
The Acropolis sits on a hill in the center of Athens, looming over everything in an awe-inspiring way. Even at night, it’s lit up and beautiful. It is the most complete Ancient Greek compound still around. First built in 13th century BC, it went through many iterations, purposes, rebuilt after wars, etc. Pictures only do a bit of justice to capture the history that has been preserved in this city.
Living amongst the gods is tiring work. Fortunately, there was a gelato shop to greet us at every turn. I mean, gelato. Am I right?