Athens, Greece

 Day #1

After arriving in Athens last night, we woke today ready for a full day of sightseeing before our Gate 1 orientation meeting/dinner tonight. Before setting out, we got a map and directions from the front desk of the hotel along with instructions on how to use the Metro. We walked several blocks to the Metro station where we took the subway to Syntagma Square. Once at Syntagma Square, we walked over to the Old Royal Palace building which houses the Greek Parliament. Every hour on the hour there is a changing of the guards ceremony in front of the Old Royal Palace. We arrived just in time to see the ceremony.

The guards' uniform includes funny pom poms on their shoes.

The guards must stand at attention without moving for a full hour until the next changing of the guards ceremony takes place.

From Syntagma Square, we walked a short distance to Hadrian's Gate which is a structure built in 

131 AD to honor the arrival of the Roman Emperor, Hadrian to Athens. 

Looking through the arch opening, you can see the Acropolis in the distance.

Adjacent to Hadrian's Arch are the ruins of the Temple of Zeus. Construction of this temple began in the 6th century BC, but was not completed until the reign of the Holy Roman Emperor, Hadrian in the 2nd century AD (638 years after construction began). The original temple contained 104 huge stone columns, but after many years of pillaging and disrepair, there are only 16 columns remaining.

 In this picture you can see a column that has fallen over. It's easy to see how the columns were constructed by stacking round sections on top of each other.

We stopped for a quick lunch of Greek salad and kebabs at a small restaurant on the outskirts of the Plaka district, then walked through the cute streets of the Plaka enroute to tour another set of ruins - Hadrian's Library.

Looking up toward the Acropolis from Hadrian's Library

After Hadrian's Library, we enjoyed some gelato while people watching in Monastiraki Square.

Monastiraki Square

By now it was getting late, so we took the Metro back and got cleaned up for our orientation meeting and dinner with our Gate 1 group. We met Katerina, our guide, along with the other 33 members of our tour group. Tomorrow begins the Gate 1 tour!

Day #2

We had breakfast at our hotel, Zafolia Athens, and then boarded the Gate 1 bus for a city tour of Athens. We drove passed Hadrian's Gate and the Temple of Zeus again, before arriving at The Acropolis for a tour of the ruins. We learned that the word Acropolis means a fortified part of a Greek city usually set up on a hill. The actual structure that most people think of as the Acropolis is actually the Parthenon. As we walked up the hill toward the Acropolis, we had views down into the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, a stone Roman theater completed in 161 AD. It originally had a three-story stone front wall, a wooden roof, and a seating capacity of over 5000 people. It was renovated in 1950 and has been the venue for many music performances by famous artists including Frank Sinatra, Sting, Elton John, Diana Ross, etc. Our guide, Katerina, told us she has been to many performances in this theater and that it her favorite concert venue.

The Odeon of Herodes Atticus

Walking up the steps of the Acropolis

Restoration of the Parthenon is continual, and it is very rarely without scaffolding.

The Pandroseion Temple sits next to the Parthenon.

In front of the Parthenon

After the walking tour around the Acropolis, our city tour continued with a stop at the Panathenaic Stadium (built entirely of marble) which hosted the opening and closing ceremonies of the first modern Olympics in 1896 and was again used as an Olympic venue in 2004. The last stop on our city tour was the Acropolis Museum. This museum was built to house all of the artifacts found on the hill of the Acropolis from the Greek Bronze Age to Roman and Byzantine Greece.

After the city tour concluded, we had lunch on our own at a restaurant close by the museum, then headed back to our hotel for a nap and to get ready for our dinner reservation at Thea Terrace Rooftop Bar and Restaurant. 

Waiting for the sun to set at Thea Terrace Rooftop Restaurant

This was a perfect way to end our time in Athens!