Went to the Acropolis yesterday and yes it was absolutely as awesome as all of the pictures show. I didn’t really realize how much stuff was all the way around it though till we got there. There were tons of ancient ruins that were labeled as random temples of this or that all the way around the acropolis. We saw both theaters first then climbed the hill to finally get to see the big show temples. The Parthenon was absolutely incredible its size was daunting and what little sculptures were left on it were incredible. I think the most crazy thing to think about was that those huge rocks its made of had to be brought up that hill from somewhere else. I got pictures of myself reading Plato’s Republic in front of the Parthenon, and even though it was crowded up there we didn’t really have too much trouble getting shots of the historical building without having 300 other people in the frame. Speaking of cameras however my camera died right after I took my last shot of the Parthenon and went to move on to see the rest of the stuff at the top. There was an awesome lookout point from the top of the acropolis with a huge Greece flag flying from it, it was an incredible view of the city from there. Athens, for being by far the biggest city in Greece has no real tall sky scrappers nothing really goes around about 10 stories I would say which made the view a little more dull as it was just a sea of averagely tall buildings.
After the Acropolis we headed to Ancient Agora to see what was around there. There was a large monument there that was the only ancient building I’ve seen still standing with all of its columns and roof still on it. While it was much smaller proportionally to the Parthenon it was cool to see and know that’s the same general idea as the Parthenon was built like. Also at the Ancient Agora was the ruins of the prison where Socrates was forced to drink poison and die. That was really awesome to think that we were definitely standing at a place where Socrates, this great thinker that helped shape human philosophy, was killed at. Pretty sweet if you ask me.
We also went up and sat on the Areopagus Hill which is this natural marble hill just beside the Acropolis. It was so nice up there, an awesome slight wind with the best view of the city I had yet to see. It was also where the apostle Paul gave his famous “sermon to an Unknown God” and ancient murder trials were held. Pretty awesome place to hang out on.
It might be worth noting I went on this little journey around ancient Athens with 4 other people who I met at the hostel. All awesome fun Canadians it was a great time!
After the Acropolis, Agora and the Hill, we headed back to the hostel. I threw my camera on the charger then we went to get some lunch. Got back, grabbed my patially charged camera and headed to the temple of Zeus. I think that by far the temple of Zeus was my absolute favorite thing that I’ve see thus far on this trip. While the Parthenon was incredible the Temple of Zeus was simply daunting. The 12 collumns still standing at this site stand probably 60 ft. high and were absolutely incredible. The history behind it was also just as impressive. The thing took over 300 years to build because they kept starting and stopping it to work on other projects and they would even take the stones meant for the pillars of the temple and add it to walls else where that needed stones to fill it with. Then at the sight there is one pillar that has fallen over and the irony of it is it got struck by lightning in a gale force wind storm.
Finally the last big thing I did today was to go see the changing of the guard ceremony in front of the Greek Parliament Building. It was pretty interesting to say the least, their costumes, heal clicking, and “goose walking” performed with exact precision was really a true art form.
The evening was topped off by one of my favorite activities of all time Karaoke at an irish pub not too far from the hostel. Good times.
Tomorrow, (Monday here) I am going as absolutely cheap as possible trying to save some money. I’m thinking I’m going to hit up a few different free sites then really perhaps head back to the Areopagus Hill with a book, perhaps the Republic and read from a sight were it is very likely Plato spent a lot of time hanging out thinking and being part of the trials of murder cases, that helped him to develop his ideas as far as his book is concerned.
Stay Classy, And I’ll try too ;)
Evan
No comments:
Post a Comment