Monday 7/24: 1.3 miles, 1.3 total,
Tues 7/25: 5 miles, 6.3 total
After a quick drive from Yakima, we flew from Seattle to
Frankfurt, which was a relatively easy flight of about 9.5 hours. We
spent a couple of hours with a layover in Frankfurt. Our next flight
was supposed to be 3 hour flight to Athens, which ended up being
4. After leaving the airport we caught a train into Athens that
required a transfer to another train halfway through. We got off of
the train and then couldn’t figure out how to get to the other
train. We asked a few locals who were nice, but kept telling us to
get on the bus. After taking a deep breath (and watching a fight
almost break out between drivers), we found the other part of the train stop
where the connecting trains passed. The train was almost a half hour
late, so by the time we arrived at the Athens train station and walked to our
hotel it was already past 9pm. We dropped our bags off and then went
out to get some gyros for dinner.
Wed 7/26: 11.5 miles, 17.8 total
In order to beat the heat and crowds, we made our way over
to the Acropolis early in the morning. First we stopped at Mars
Hill, which is a rocky outcrop at the base of the Acropolis. This is
where the Apostle Paul introduced Christianity to the Athenians. Even arriving
early at the entrance, there was still a long line to enter the
Acropolis. Once it opened, we made our way in and spent our time
winding our way up to the top, listening to a Rick Steves podcast along the
way. The view from the top is amazing! It is awesome to
think how the Greeks built the Parthenon at such a scale and accuracy with
limited tools. Even though it was 9 in the morning, the temperature
was already over 90 degrees. The heat starting radiating off of the
rocks and the crowds started getting larger, so we decided to make our way
down.
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| Monastiraki Square, Athens |
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| Cats everywhere! |
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| Mars Hill with the Acropolis in the background |
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| Theater on the Acropolis |
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| Climbing to the top of the Acropolis |
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| Erechteion |
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| Parthenon |
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| Looking down on Mars Hill |
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| Looking down at the Acropolis Museum |
Once we got down we learned that they were closing the
Acropolis at 11am due to the heat wave. The high for the day was 106
degrees and it felt like it! For part of the afternoon we wandered
around the streets of Plaka, a neighborhood at the base of the Acropolis,
looking at different souvenir shops and using their air
conditioning! We also ventured over to the ruins of the Temple of
Olympian Zeus. At one time it was the largest
temple. Now, there are only a handful of enormous columns that
remain. In the late afternoon we toured the Acropolis Museum, which
was recently opened and contains many of the artifacts that were found on the
Acropolis and its slopes. It was amazing to learn of all of the
groups over the last 5,000 years that have conquered or held that hill and its
importance in the history of the world. For dinner we went to a
restaurant and had some great Mousaka and Greek Salad. By this time
we were overheated and exhausted and went back to our hotel.
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| Plaka neighborhood |
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| Temple of Olympian Zeus |
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| Acropolis Museum |
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| Uncovered ruins at the Acropolis Museum |
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| Looking for dinner |
Thurs 7/27: 11.8 miles, 29.6 total
Our
first stop this morning was the ancient agora, the old center of
Athens. Most of the site was in ruins, but the temple of Hephaestus
was still in great shape and there was also a rebuilt stoa that had a museum
inside. Afterward we ventured over to the site called Kerameikos,
which was an ancient cemetery. It was fascinating to see some of the
old headstones. By this time it was getting very hot, so we took a
lunch break. After lunch we headed over and visited Hadrian’s library and the
Roman Agora. We were worked over and decided to head back to our
hotel for an afternoon siesta.
In the evening we decided to walk over and climb
up to the top of Filopappou Hill, which is just southwest of the
Acropolis. From the top we had a beautiful view over Athens at
sunset. Once the sun set, we continued our walk and did a complete
loop around the Acropolis. We then finished off our day with an
excellent dinner of Greek food at an outdoor restaurant with a magnificent view
of the Acropolis lit up at night.
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| Excellent parallel parking |
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| Acropolis at Sunset |
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| Athens at sunset |
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| Dinner by the Ancient Agora |
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| View from the restaurant |
Fri 7/28: 12 miles, 41.6 total
We started this morning with a long walk over to the
archaeological site of Lykeion, which is where Aristotle had his
school. There wasn’t much to see, but as one of the information
signs said, this location had more of an impact on western civilization’s
teachings and thoughts than perhaps anywhere else in the world. Our
next stop was the Panathenaic stadium, which hosted the first modern Olympic
Games in 1896 and the 2004 Olympics. Afterward we wandered through
the National Garden and over to Syntagma Square, which is right in front of the
National Parliament building. From there we watched the changing of
the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
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| Lykeion, school of Aristotle |
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| Olympic Stadium |
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| Olympic Stadium |
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| National Guard |
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| Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier |
After lunch we toured the National Archaeological Museum,
which contains some of the best Ancient Greek artifacts in the
world. Since we were so close, we then decided to hike to the top of
Lycabettus Hill. Normally people come up to the top for sunset, but
we decided to come up mid-afternoon, right in the middle of the blazing
sun. It felt like a death march going to the top. The
view from the top made it worthwhile. We then descended back down to
Syntagma Square, walked down Ermou Street (which is the most famous shopping
street) and then to a restaurant for dinner. By this time we were
exhausted from the heat and walking.
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| Academy of Athens |
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| National Archeological Museum |
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| Mask of Agamemnon |
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| Artemision Bronze |
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| Athena |
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| Antikythera Ephebe |
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| Comedy Mask |
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| Athens and the Acropolis from the top of Lycabettus Hill |
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| Ermou Street |
Saturday, 7/29: 5.0 miles, 46.6 total
After grabbing a quick breakfast, we got on the metro and
headed out to Piraeus to get on our cruise ship. We only had to walk
a bit from the metro stop out to the cruise ship terminal. Since we
had done all of our paperwork online, check in took only a few minutes and then
we were on the ship. Our room on deck three has a giant
window. We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the ship and
taking a long nap. After dinner we went to a show that featured a cellist named
Wendy Law.
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| Our ship, the Celebrity Constellation in Piraeus, Greece |
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| Our stateroom |
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| Bread at the buffet |
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