After a busy morning, we had planned a more relaxed schedule for the afternoon (we're never quite sure how much the kids will enjoy skipping naptime). From the New Acropolis Museum we headed through the Plaka to the Temple of Olympian Zeus.
We took a picture of Atticus pointing to a sign with his name on it. He was really excited about it, can you tell?
Since we were going to be walking past the area that our church is in (for attending services on Sunday) we figured we better make sure we know where it is so that we wouldn't be late. It was a smart thing we did locate it today as we got lost a couple times trying to figure out where the street was.
And right across the street from the church was the the Arch of Hadrian. According to our friend, Wikipedia, it spanned an ancient road from the center of Athens to the complex of structures on the eastern side of the city that included the Temple of Olympian Zeus, which we went to see afterwards. It has been proposed that the arch was built to celebrate the arrival of the Roman Emperor Hadrian. There were two inscriptions on the arch, facing in opposite directions, naming both Theseus and Hadrian as founders of Athens. See all those black marks on the structure? That's all that car pollution making it's mark on history!
Next, we walked over to the Temple of Olympian Zeus where the Stiles Olimpiou Dios or "Pillars of Olympian Zeus" still stand today. Very cool. In the middle of a metropolis, taking in these gigantic ruins can have an interesting effect on a person. On one hand, it's hard to drown out the hustle and bustle of the city all around you, but on the other hand, you can really lose yourself trying to envision what life would have looked like when these ruins weren't ruins at all, but edifices of grandeur. In the end, we enjoyed it most by finding a balance between these two worlds.
The weather was simply fantastic that afternoon. We could not have been more fortunate. Off came the jackets and out came the sunglasses - at least, for part of it.
It would have been pretty amazing to have been able to climb around on these a few ruins years ago. For some time now, however, they've been off limits in order to preserve them from excessive wear and tear.
With Laura and Milayla in front of some of the pillars you get a much better idea of how big these things were.
More pics of the Zeus' pillars.
Just had to get one of these shots in. Corny and cliche, but why not?
After we finished up hangin' with Zeus, we walked down to the Olympic Stadium. Yep, this is THE Olympic stadium.
Without a doubt, it is just plain incredible walking around a place that hosted sporting events some two milliennia ago that are still today the epitome of athletic achievement. Granted, the stadium has seen its fair share of restoration, especially with the more recent Olympic games being held once more in Athens, but all the same...
Our original plan after leaving the Stadium was to walk up to Syntagma Square, but as we got closer we started to hear quite a bit of noise from the parliament, a good indication that the protesters were a little restless. So, not wanting to get ourselves too close for comfort, we opted to walk through the National Gardens, and we're glad we did. They were beautiful!
The church below, if we heard correctly, has been undergoing restoration work for YEARS! Not sure exactly how long, but according to the locals, it sounds like it just never stops. Apparently it is the most important of the Greek Orthodox churches in Athens. There wasn't anything particular noteworthy about the place, except that some young Greek guy that spoke English came up to us as were looking at the church and wanted to know if we were interested in buying a brand new iPhone for 130 EUR. Hmm...let me think about that one for a second...uh, no thanks. Anyhow, it was pretty cool to see it in any case (the church that is, not the hot iPhone).
Anyhow, it was a pretty amazing day, well spent roaming the streets of Athens in gorgeous weather along with who know how many other thousands of people. We were thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. On to day FIVE! Woohoo!
No comments:
Post a Comment