Old Stuff in Athens

Wednesday, March 28 – Monday, April 2 2012

Our final family member visit was from Ang's mom, Deb.  We were excited to have her come out and see the two major sites on the top of her list (besides Switzerland of course) - Greece and Austria (more on Austria later).  Deb's arrival was a little unique - Dave actually had a last minute work trip to Bellevue and he was able to time his departure back to Switzerland on the same day and time as Deb (although they couldn't get on the same flights).  Deb arrived in Geneva on Wednesday morning around 10am and Ang picked her up, while Dave's longer layover in Frankfurt got him into Geneva after noon.  No surprise, when Dave arrived back at home, Deb was taking a much-needed nap on the couch!

Like other family visits, we wasted no time in getting to our first destination.  After work on Thursday, the three of us boarded a flight to Athens.  It was a late one - we didn't arrive into the town square until midnight.  On a side note, we had the pleasure of running into a couple of young guys from Houston who were on a 3-week tour of Europe (and a random tour at that, they chose their destinations as they went along).  The guy that Ang and Dave were talking to was particularly interesting (and quite funny), and we came to find out he owns his own online furniture store (www.sofakingfurniture.com).  Who knows, maybe when we finally buy non-hand-me-down furniture for our new house back in the Seattle area, we might just have to contact him!

While these two guys were not Greek, this kicked off a string of encounters with some of the friendliest people we’ve met in all of Europe.  For example, within our first 10 minutes in town, as we were walking to our hotel, a random car drove by and the passenger yelled, "welcome to Athens!"  Just a couple minutes later, a waiter who was closing up for the night called to us across the street, just making sure we knew what direction our hotel was.  Throughout our visits within the different markets later in the trip, we struck up conversations with a few vendors.  One in particular, who owned a t-shirt shop, knew the owner of the Greek restaurant in Freemont (Seattle) called "Costas Opa", which we've eaten at (and loved)!  He made us promise that next time we ate there we'd say “hi” to the owner from "Nick the Greek t-shirt guy". :)  Lucky for us, all of the locals we interacted with spoke English—we did bring our European language pocket-dictionary with us, but after taking a quick look we realized chances were slim we’d be able to speak even basic Greek words, let alone read them!

Back to our hotel… when we checked in we didn't realize the surprise that was in store for us - our room that night had a perfect picturesque view of the Acropolis, lit up in all it's glory.  What a perfect 'greeting' from the city of Athens.  It was also a gorgeous view in the wee hours of the morning.

The next morning the Acropolis was priority #1.  We left early in the morning to try and beat the crowds, even though March is still technically the off-season.  The walk up the Acropolis is not as intimidating as it looks from down below.  We headed out of our hotel and wound our way up the old streets of Athens, toward the Acropolis.  En route we passed the first random ruins sighting, the Roman Forum (this was the Roman’s version of the Ancient Agora, described later).  The name is somewhat appropriate because random ruins sightings just like this reminded us of our time in Rome.  One of the many reasons we absolutely love Rome is because there is some really OLD stuff there—everywhere you turn!  Little did we know that Athens puts Rome to shame when considering the age of its structures and ruins.

We found the main path and started our way up the ancient Panathenaic Way.  We guess it would be a good time to give some historical context into what the Acropolis and this part of Athens is all about.  The Acropolis (which refers to the giant rocky plateau that all of the ancient buildings stand on), has been the center of Athens since 6,800 BC (yeah, that’s old).  While older buildings used to stand here, the current set of impressive structures date back to as old as 450 B.C.  The Panathenaic Way mentioned above is notable because it was the route of the Panathenaic Festival, a parade to celebrate the god Athena’s birthday.  The Athenians would walk this route up to the Parthenon and deliver a birthday dress to the statues of the god.  Supposedly it was quite the event back in the day. 

We entered through the ticket gate, and quickly saw the first of these impressive structures—the Odeon of Herodes Arricus.  This 5,000 seat musical theater was built in A.D. 161 and is still used today (that would be a cool concert).  Here are some photos we took from up top that morning and below from later in the weekend.

Not much farther up and we hit the grand entrance known as the Propylaea.  Even the entrance to this place had to be spectacular, a recurring theme across the entire Acropolis!

The tower you can see below, which was the the right of the Propylaea is the Temple of Athena Nike.  Not sure if you already knew this fun fact (Dave didn’t) that the famed shoe company, Nike (although it’s pronounced “NEEK-ee” there), was named after the Greek god of victory.  Clever.  This nearly 2,500-year-old temple is interesting because it was actually taken apart stone by stone just a few years ago and put back together in an effort to preserve the structure.

Passing through the Propylaea we finally saw the most recognizable of all the buildings on the Acropolis - the Parthenon.  If you think it looks impressive in the photos, trust us, it's even more impressive in real life.  Like many of the other sites on the Acropolis, this massive temple was built around 450 B.C. and functioned as both a temple to Athena (who else?) and the Treasury of Athens. 

Some interesting facts about the construction of the Parthenon involve the many optical illusions that the genius ancient architects used in their design in order to give the structure visual balance.

1.    The base of the structure actually curves several inches upward in the middle, which, contrary to common sense, actually makes the structure appear more straight than if the structure's lines were perfectly square.  (This design also helped to drain any rainwater, brilliant.)

2.    The columns tilt slightly inward in order to combat the eye’s tendency to view parallel columns as bending away from each other.  (This is also one of the reasons this structure has endured earthquakes so well.)  We learned that if the columns were extended up several miles, they would eventually touch!

3.    The corner columns are thicker than the inner ones in order to make them appear the same size as the rest.

Every piece of the structure was uniquely built for that 'piece of the puzzle,’ and each was done with such precision that once put together, they fit within a thousandth of an inch! 

We learned that if the Parthenon were built today it would cost over a billion dollars.  They’ve been repairing much of the structure for the last 20 years and it looks like they continue to do so (hmmm, maybe that’s why Greece is in so much debt?). :) 

The reconstruction itself is pretty amazing, if you think about it.  You can see in the photos below where obvious reconstruction has take place—just look for the whiter/lighter colored pieces.  This distinction is kind of cool to be able to see what is actually original.

The smaller, but hardly less impressive, Erechtheion is just across the path.  You may recognize these 6 lovely ladies, known as Caryatids.  Surprisingly these are not the originals (more about those later), but they've done a great job of making them look that way.  Apparently this was the first time that the Greeks combined human sculpture into their architecture.  On the opposite side of the temple are two separate temples built together because the Greeks couldn't decide which god they wanted to honor more - Athena or Poseidon.  (We’re guessing that years later Athena won that fight since the city was eventually named after her.)

This would be a good time to give an architectural lesson that we learned on the trip.  See the tops of the columns?  Those are in Ionic style.  In fact, there were 3 different styles of column “hats” that Greeks used in their architecture.  The most basic is Doric, with no decorations (essentially a flat top).  Then there is Ionic, which introduced scrolls on both sides of the column head.  Finally there is Corinthian, which is the most complex and elaborate, usually involves a slew of flowers or leaves and other decorations.  Once you have this knowledge in Greece its almost impossible not to exercise it everywhere you go! :)

The views from the top of the Acropolis were stunning.  On one side you could see a mind-boggling amount of white homes stretching almost as far as the eye could see.  The population of Athens is over 4 million people and we think we figured out where they all live.  The view from the opposite side had multiple ancient ruins, a couple which we would see in more detail later on.

Athens. Is. Huge.

By now the crowds had gathered and we quietly patted ourselves on the back for waking up early.  Now that we checked off that major site we had time to dive into the other sites we passed on our way up the hill.  The first (and the most surreal site for us) was Mars Hill.  This hill is in mentioned in the bible as the place where Paul preached to the Greeks, who were gathered in the Ancient Agora below.  It also happens to be the namesake of the church we attend back in Seattle.  Anytime you can visit a place where a biblical figure once set foot, let alone preached the gospel, is a special experience for us.

Paul's sermon (in Greek)

View of the Acropolis from Mars Hill

After looking out over the Ancient Agora, we decided to give it a visit as well.  The guidebooks describe this place as the cultural center of Athens from the 6^th century B.C until its destruction 800 years later.  Philosophers like Socrates and Plato walked these streets while common folk shopped the many malls, attended performances at the Odeon of Agrippa and climbed the hill to worship at the Temple of Hephaistos.  2,500 years later we followed in those same footsteps as we toured around the ruins.

The incredible life-like detail of some
sculptures always boggles our minds!

Column carnage

There were many interesting facts about this historic center but one that stood out in particular was this 30 foot tall by 10 foot wide wall composed of town ruins (columns, sculptures, etc.) that was placed here as a defense barrier after the Agora was partially ruined (a first time) by the barbarian Herulians.  In the end the city center was abandoned and over the years many of the marble and stone that once beautified this area were drug away for other purposes.

After a quick lunch stop (by the way, the food in Greece is amazing) we set out to view more ruins that we had seen from on top of the Acropolis earlier.  The first was the Arch of Hadrian, which marked the entrance to a popular Athens suburb.  Right next door was what turned out to be Deb's favorite structure, the Temple of Olympian Zeus.  While not much remains, what little does is pretty incredible simply from a sheer size perspective.  These columns stand 56 feet tall while the Parthenon columns stand only 34 feet.  While only 15 columns still stand today, back when this was still intact, picture 89 more.  As you can imagine, this was the largest temple in all of Greece. 

Even though our trip was only 3 days long, we wanted to make sure we got a little taste of the Greek Islands, too.  We opted to visit neighboring Hydra (pronounced 'EE-drah') for an overnight getaway.  We took the train down to the Piraeus harbor where our boat, called the "Flying Dolphin" (how masculine) was waiting for us.  These boats look pretty unique in motion as the front-end lifts out of the water and planes on large ski-like surfaces.  It's interesting to see but the ride was quite bumpy.

Here's our dolphin, but it doesn't plane at this speed

Here's the dolphin doing it's high speed thing...

We arrived into Hydra around 6pm and were immediately greeted with a spectacular evening view of this quaint harbor town (the island and the town are both named Hydra).  We were also greeted by these four-legged friends, a small army of donkeys and mules - the only public transportation on the island (cars are banned, only a handful of service vehicles make up the only motorized vehicles on the island).

We wandered through the cobbled town streets all the way to our hotel, Hotel Mistral.  The owner spoke little English (perfect, that means we’re in a non-touristy area) :) and we started to feel the relaxing, off-the-beaten-path feeling we set out to experience when booking this overnight detour.  That feeling continued at dinner when we enjoyed traditional Greek food and wine—although the wine was a bit stout, tasted like it had hard liquor in it—on the rooftop at Taverna Gitoniko (although it's referred to by the locals as "Christina’s place" - even better!).  Exhausted after a long day of walking through ancient Athens, we let the laid back small-town-feeling take over and headed to bed a little early.

Our hotel was GREAT by the way; we would definitely stay there again in a heartbeat—it had a real ‘mom & pop’ feel to it and the genuine service reflected that, too.  We usually try to book hotels where breakfast is included, for the $ savings and for the convenience.  Little did we know when we sat down in the cute little outdoor courtyard that a breakfast FEAST was included. :)  They just kept bringing out more and more courses of goodies, just when we thought surely they were done.  It was delicious, handmade (with love) and a great way to prepare for a day of exploring Hydra on foot.  

This little town had its heyday in the past, benefiting from being the center of a lucrative trade route, and its grand architecture still remains.  We started our walk by climbing up to the sweet lookout tower complete with a set of cannons that still look ready for battle.   From here we could see Hydra in its entire splendor!

Next we descended into the "main town" area, past the donkeys and boats lining the harbor and toward the opposite end of the harbor.  We made a quick stop in a chapel—which ended up being one of the most gaudy church interiors we’ve ever seen.  There wasn’t an inch of space left undecorated with some sort of object. :)  Back on our route, we passed another friendly stranger, an old smiley man carrying a bundle of purple flowers, passing them out to all the ladies he met along the way (Deb and Ang included of course).

The route we were on led us along the rocky cliffs of Hydra.  Our destination was Kaminia, a cute seaside village, but we might have enjoyed the walk there even more than the destination itself.  Dave commented that the surrounding ocean and islands reminded him a little bit of the islands scattered throughout the Puget Sound (minus the couple-hundred-year-old architecture of course) - see for yourself if you agree... :)  We ended our stroll with a much-deserved feet-dip in the waters of the Aegean Sea.  It was very cold, but refreshing on such a warm and sunny day.

Finally we dipped out feet in the incredibly clear (but cold) water!

It was time to head back to Athens so we caught our Dolphin back to the mainland.  By the time we arrived back it was the evening, so we had a relaxing meal with a liter-o-beer to take the heat off.  We called it a night back at our same Athens hotel from the first night—minus the sweet view unfortunately; but to make up for that, we just went to the rooftop terrace so we could again enjoy the amazing view of the Acropolis lit up.

Sunday was our last full day and we continued our Athenian theme of seeing old stuff.  First stop was the National Archaeological Museum to learn about the evolving sculpture art through ancient Greek culture.  We won't bore you with too many details, but one thing we learned in more detail was the love affair the Romans had with Greek sculpture.  So much so that it's often hard to distinguish between the two because the Romans would make near-exact copies of famous Greek works.  The Roman copies are typically the ones that remain today, while the Greek originals were lost over the years and are less common.  The trick to distinguish between them is that the Roman statue sculptures weren't often built as well and needed a supporting stone for the subjects to be propped on.  On the other hand, Greek sculptures were somehow better built and would be 'free standing.'  Regardless, the immense, life-like detail of some of the sculptures we’ve seen to date, still blows us away.

Another interesting thing we learned is that the older Greek art is significantly different in style to the newer sculptures, which are more popular in even today's culture (probably much thanks to the Romans).  For example, look at how stiff and rigid the first few figures below are...

And now, see how much freer moving and natural these statues are.  There is about 700-800 years of difference between these styles, which becomes more understandable when you look at our modern culture and compare art from today to art from 700-800 years before (a big difference!).

Aphrodite, Pan & Eros

Emperor Augustus

Zeus or Poseidon (historians
can't tell which because either the
trident or lightning bolt is missing)

Enough art... now to more interesting things - like the Olympics!  When we heard about an ancient stadium, called the Panathenaic Stadium, that held the first modern Olympic games in 1896, we had to make a visit.    It was originally built in the 4^th century B.C. and then rebuilt by the Romans in the 2^nd century A.D.  It was restored again in the same Roman style for the first Olympic games, as mentioned above.  Not only is the stadium historically significant, it's visually stunning, being the only stadium covered entirely of the rare Pentelic marble (over 93 million tons of it) that was used on many of the important buildings of ancient Athens, including the Parthenon.  Total capacity of the stadium is 60,000 people!

During our tour, we unexpectedly stumbled into a dress rehearsal for some performance that we’re guessing was the history of the Olympics.  It was all narrated in Greek, which probably made it seem stranger than it actually was.  Below is a little taste...

Being huge fans of the Olympic Games, this was a fun place to poke around.  One unique thing is that you could go into the tunnel where the performers have been coming down onto the field for years (including both modern athletes and ancient gladiators). 

From one vantage point in the Stadium we had a great view of the Parthenon and Temple of Olympian Zeus.

And finally, we were able to experience the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat as athletes have done here for centuries... :)

The last major site of our time in Athens was the Acropolis Museum.  Interestingly enough, underneath this museum is a large archeological dig site (see photos below).  This is where we could learn even more interesting history of the Acropolis and Athens as a whole—but unfortunately, no photos allowed inside. :( 

Remember the replica Caryatids maidens from the Erechtheion?  Well, this museum housed a few of the real ones and showed an interesting exhibit on how they use laser technology (actually a couple forms of radiation) to remove years of soot and grime that build up on the ancient structures.  Unfortunately no photography allowed. :(

The top floor of the museum is completely made of glass and dedicated to the great views of the Acropolis from below.  This floor also showed reconstructions of the different reliefs and sculptures that archeologists think lined the outside of the Parthenon (although with so much lost over the years we're not sure how they know so much detail).

We rounded out the nice evening with a final stroll around the bottom of the Acropolis, passing Odeon of Herodes Arricus, Mars Hill and the Ancient Agora one more time on our way back to the hotel.  We had one more "Rome" moment as we stumbled upon the Hadrian’s Library, which is another seemingly overlooked set of ancient ruins that in any other city (well, besides Rome maybe) would be the highlight of the city.  We enjoyed one more delicious Greek dinner (seriously, some of the best food we’ve eaten throughout all of our European travels).

Our flight back to Geneva was early, but the amazing views of the Alps made up for how tired we were.  It’s always a treat when the skies are clear when we are flying in and out of Geneva.  We’ll miss these amazing views!