Athens – Acropolis​

From the pickup at the airport to leaving the city north. We had not much time, so we visited just a few hotspots since Athens merely is enormous. In addition to that, I might remember you of the dimensions of my van. 5,6 meters long, 2,6 meters high and with two persons and fully loaded its nothing short of a three-ton-monster. Not suited for cities, where parking spaces are rare, small and expensive. So we primarily visited some spots outside, then left the car for good and took the subway to the city.

Paiania – Dasos Kesarinis Park

We went from the airport to a suburb called Paiania into the direction of the Dasos Kesarinis Park. The plan was to climb on top of it, but without any guide, we managed to climb to a road and followed it around until we had a beautiful overview over Athens. Not exactly what we wanted but a breathtaking view nonetheless.

The only thing which was not perfect up there was the setting sun “right behind” Athens which made photography as hard as it can get.

As the hike went to an end and the sun came down we headed towards Mojito bay have we had some food and talked until it was pitch black around us. This is quite a thing with your best friends, at least for me. I am not the kind of guy who talks much on the phone, I hate being on the phone, as a fact. The chatting and writing thing is also not the most comfortable for me since I am a huge fan of talking face to face. My closest friends get that fact, and I just love to continue, where we last left off as if it was a weekend in between.
So after we talked and joked around, we discussed our further plans while sitting on the beach of mojito bay, a quite lovely place I’d like to add, but the bar there had already closed as we arrived. Season thing I guess, we did expect it to be open while driving there since the website suggested, it would be open until 4am.
We settled on the plan to get back to the airports long term parking spot and head into the city directly via subway, which has a station right at the airport.
Said and done, an additional plus was the excellent feeling of leaving the van due to the security and cameras in the parking lot. The money required, 13 euros for 24 hours and the ticket would be about the same as parking in the city and getting to our desired destinations.

Athens – The Acropolis
Just a few minutes of walking from the subway station we could see the first walls, up on the hill, in the middle of the city. We made our way around the fence through narrow passages until we reached an entrance to the great site.

The entrance area was quite full with tourists as we did not make it as early as we wanted. We overslept a little bit, but I think we did still well because the lemming-train of selfie sticks got much worse up to the site when we already left.
Well, I don’t want to jump ahead on things so let’s take a deep breath and walk the site. Off we go.

The color of the stones and the earth all around the area are quite typical for Greece, as well as the vegetation around the site. But the first way up, a thick, well-maintained stone road and the other visitors prepare your mind for the sights you’ll encounter here.
The first thing we came across was the former Odeon of Herodes Atticus just as we made our first steps on the way. Right-hand side, directly below us.

Parts of it already renovated is it still one of the most impressive achievements of mankind, to build a structure which could mass so many people and design it so everybody could hear what was spoken in the middle. The temptation to jump over the fence, run down and start yelling to test the acoustics in my head at the first moments quickly switching to a mind game since I’d like to imagine how things looked like. And this building had a roof.
Just imagine the year 100 (or so) sitting in there with your friends, having some kind wine and seeing a theatre show in the glow of fires.
Oh, I need a time machine.

Continuing on the path, we went a few steps beneath the hill but decided to get back and make our way up first since there is a lot of open ground on the foot of the mountain so if more and more people come we have the opportunity to escape and still see some things.

So we made our way up the main stairs which was already a pretty crowded area. Visitors next to workers, who are doing an absolutely stunning job conserving the monuments for eternity.

The stairs are well maintained, and the hoards of tourists do not really matter since you look either down, at the stairs or up at the vast walls and pillars.

Back in the time, this thing must be breathtaking. Don’t get me wrong, it still is but in the age of the Internet we do already know what to expect before visiting.
Just try the Tima machine in your head and imagine how epic this doorway must have been when the building was still flawless, the marvel shiny white and the vast stone door swung open as you came up the steps for the first time. And that, my friends, was “just the door.”

The Pantheon
The undoubtedly most remarkable and memorized feature of the Acropolis is the Pantheon which is nowadays the first thing you look at. Given the size of it, I think it must have been the same 2000 years ago.

Obviously locked up and undergoing restoration as well the sheer size of it is just impressive.

A masterpiece of human engineering, and a testament to culture, art, and sheer devotion. The details, sculptures and everything from head to toe, so to say. Even under the former roof, there were sculptures worked out to perfections. And here we are talking about the things which rest on over ten meter high pillars.
Nobody and his mother would climb up there and see if someone would have taken a shortcut or something. But the ancient Greeks still build it to perfection, and there must have been a “pride of work” thing. Even by today’s standards, these guys would earn some serious coin today. Well, in today’s money it would be more like some numbers on a digital account rather than something of real value, but still, they would get loads of it.

The Erechtheion
As all the buildings up on the mountain, this one has loads of history as well, and I will not explain this structure too much since you can read, and have Internet, which are the primary requirements to get this far on the blog.

Used ad a temple, church and burned, rebuild, bombarded, rebuild through the times an exciting fact might be that one of the original statues was “stolen” by some Scottish lord and is currently at a museum in the UK. Since then, legend has it that you can hear the others moan for their lost sister. Not anymore though since then,  they all have been replaced with replicas to prevent further damage to the remaining originals, who are kept in the Museum on the foot of the hill.

The Site on the top of the hill is offering a stunning view, both on the plateau itself, and the surrounding city of Athens. The first one is the work, going on around the area, full of broken pieces, sorted out and to be repaired and rebuild.

All around in the area around the Acropolis is the Area called Plaka. Mainly where the old city perimeter and outer walls with the nine gates where. Still a beautiful area with lots of other sites to visit, restaurants to get delicious food and cafes just to sit and chill and let the atmosphere take you and your thoughts away to the past.

As a last station in the Acropolis, we made our way down to the foot of the hill where the most significant site is the Theatre of Dionysus Eleuthereus. It was not built like the Odeon of Herodes Atticus – with a roof, but according to its size, it could seat a far bigger crowd.

Back at the time, it must have been an honor to show off a play or performance in front of a huge crowd cheering and laughing. Just think about how many actors would perform there, 2000 years ago and continuing over the whole lifespan of this place.

 

The place in general terms is absolutely breathtaking. When you stroll around an area where some of the most significant people of human history prayed, performed, had chats and wine and laughter, made decisions that shaped the world forever and influenced the development of multiple continents, you cannot help but feel small. Even if you are used to be all-knowing (thanks to the internet) and in control of everything in your life, you realize at some point that your impact on the world, your role to play is possibly much smaller than of the people who worked and lived there. Those names, of the achievements which should echo through history probably as long as mankind exists. Acropolis and Pantheon which made their way into history books and will continue to drag people into their spell.

After this site, and a double greek coffee it is time to visit another place of interest. The Greek War museum just 15 minutes of walking from the Acropolis.