Our alarm woke us at 6:30 AM so that we could be at the entrance of the breakfast room when it opened at 7. Our group members were all there at that time, and so was a large group of high schoolers.  At 7:15, we began our walk to the entrance of the Acropolis, up hill all the way. Our goal was to be the first group to arrive when it opened at 8, so that we would avoid the crowds that would arrive later. Many other groups of students, and the passengers of five cruise ships, had the same goal.

At the entrance, we met our local guide, “Mama” Faye. We learned that in 450 BC, when Athens was at the peak of its power, its ruler, Pericles,  ordered the transformation of the site in order to honor the city’s patron goddess,  Athena. The project was completed fifty years later. The Parthenon survives, along with three other monuments, the Erechtheion, the Propylaea, and  the Temple of Athena Nike. Originally, all of the structures  were covered in bright colors, so that they could be seen  easily from a distance.

The Propylaea was the original entrance. Designed to be the grandest gate ever built, up steep steps, it was U-shaped, having six Doric columns (they are topped with simple capitals) that once supported a triangular pediment, and two side wings. The Temple of Athena Nike was eleven feet tall, with four columns at each end, and was the first of the Ionic style (topped with rolled capitals)  in Athens. The Erechtheion was  a two-story temple built atop the ruins of an ancient Mycenaean palace. The columns of its  balcony, called the Porch of the Caryatids, are  in the form of six beautiful maidens. The ones here are copies. The originals are in the Acropolis Museum. Near the porch is an olive tree. There has been an olive tree on this spot for thousands of years. According to Greek legend, Athena planted the first one. Greece has 140 million olive trees now!

At the far end of the Acropolis, there is an observation platform with a huge Greek flag. The nine stripes  on the flag stand for the nine syllables in the Greek phrase “Freedom or Death.” The flag is visible from almost anywhere in Athens.

The most famous structure in the Acropolis is the Parthenon. Being so close to it was breathtaking! It had a total of 46  outer columns and 27 inner ones, and there was once a statue of Athena in the center. Some of its  statues, called the Elgin Marbles, were removed by Lord Elgin in 1801. They are now on display in the British Museum. In fact, our daughter Carla saw them there last week!

After our visit to the Acropolis, we followed Angelos and “Mama Faye” to the Acropolis Museum, which is across from the Acropolis’ exit. It’s a huge building and it would take several days to see everything. We saw many treasures including:  the  horses  and  riders,  intended  to  be  a  gift  to  the  gods;  the  model  of  the  West  Pediment  of  the  Parthenon,  showing  Athena  with  a  spear,  shield,  and  crown,  competing  with  Poseidon  for  Athens’  favor  by giving the city an  olive tree; and the  original  lady-columns  that  once  supported  the  roof  of  the  Erechtchion.  

We were on our own for the rest of the day, and we needed time to digest all that we had seen. Speaking of digestion, we were ready for lunch. We wandered down the hill and reached  the street at which we had eaten dinner the night before, and we stopped at a local lunch restaurant, where we shared lamb kabobs. They came with fries (many orders do) and a salad that featured garden ripened tomatoes and red onions,  which are some of Nick’s favorites. We had asked Angelos for the name and location of the best gelateria in advance. It was called Django and it was nearby, so off we went. Nick ordered chocolate, while I tried “cream Catalina,” that contained cinnamon and caramel as well as other flavors, and I was glad I did!

We decided that a nap was in order for Nick to protect his back. We had to pack up, because we would be leaving in the morning at 8:15 AM. Nick took the walking sticks apart while I tried to figure out how we would fit our coats into  our suitcases. The temperature reached 83 degrees, so we didn’t need to wear them. The solution was to tie them around our waists.

For dinner we went back upstairs to the rooftop restaurant of our hotel, Acropolis Select. Each of us ordered the meal that the other had the last time we ate there, so it was beef cheeks for me and mushroom risotto for Nick. The dessert was vanilla ice cream surrounded by half a dozen mini cream puffs surrounded by dollops of chocolate mousse, topped with chocolate syrup. My compliments to the chef and food designer! We were given another liqeur with lemon and pepper at the end of our meal as we  appreciated our view of the Acropolis so much more deeply.

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