This morning, we went to the Acropolis. It was a pleasant 20 minute walk down a gently sloping hill. We turned onto Dionyssiou Areopagitou Street, nicknamed the “Walkway of the Gods”, which runs along the south side of the famous historical monument. The street is closed to car traffic. Near the intersection, there are quite a few tourist shops, but they quickly give way to private residential buildings with no shops on the first floor. It is clear by the upkeep of the buildings that this street is a high rent district. The walk is lined with trees and plants, and there were several street musicians performing.

We got to the entrance. “Acropolis” means “high city” and it sits at the top of a flat topped rock, 150 meters (490 feet) above sea level. We stood at the base of the mountain, warily eyeing the distance to the top. Our bodies were mad at us from the last three days of serious hill and stair climbing we had done, and we knew our bodies would be even more unhappy with us after this hike up. Why is every holy temple so far up a hill?

The Acropolis (the top of the rock) has been used as a holy place of worship since Neolithic times. It seems to have had houses of worship built on it dating as far back as Mycenean times, some destroyed by nature and war, some torn down to make way for newer buildings. The complex in its current form dates back to the 5th century, the Classical Period, and is made up of several buildings. We were surprised to find that it was $18 per person to get in. Then we realized that the tickets are good for 5 historical monuments in the Athens area, not just for the acropolis. The tickets are good for 4 days, which was a moot point for us, since we are heading back to Crete tomorrow.

We started up the hill. There is archeological work being done at the moment, and there were lots of areas where fragments of stone were laid out, and it looked like they are trying to piece them together. There was also scaffolding on some of the exiting buildings as they continue to reconstruct them.

The first thing we came to is the Theater of Dionysious, completed in 324 BC. It was the first stone theater, where plays written by Sophocles, Aeschylus, Euripides and Aristophanes were performed. In the 6th century AD, part of the building was incorporated into a new Christian basilica. The theater is currently under reconstruction efforts.

Next we came to the Stoa of Eumenes, a two story building built in 197 BC. It is also under construction, and mostly covered by scaffolding. Here the hill became very steep. We passed the Temple of Aclepios, built in 420 BC, and also undergoing reconstruction. It was believed that spending the night at this temple would cure people of health ailments. You can see in this photo that we have a long way up to the top of the hill still!

The next building up the hill is the theater of Herod Atticus built by the Romans in 161 AD and still in use today. The two photos are meant to be laid side by side to give you the full view of what the theater looks like.

Here the walkway turns into a staircase and the line really backs up. At the top is the Propylea, a large building that serves as the official entrance into the Acropolis. It was completed in 432. All the descriptions call it a “gate”, and so it is a surprise that the “gate” is a massive building with lots of stairs and doorways. The first shot is one of the doors into the Propylea building. The narrow entrance is the reason for the traffic backup. The second picture is the middle of the main room, and the last is the actual doorway that leads out to the rest of the buildings at the top of the Acropolis. As you can see, they are also working on restoring it.

To the immediate right is a small temple devoted to the goddess Athena Nike, (the Victorious Athena — yes, Nike shoes and their logo are taken from this representation of the goddess). It was begun in 427 BC as a tribute to the victory over the Persians. It is undergoing serious restoration. Somehow we missed going in there.

The Parthenon is straight ahead and kind of to the right as you walk out of the Propylis, on the south side of the Acropolis. It a temple devoted to Parthenos Athena (virgin Athena), and was built in 438 BC. The Parthenon is an amazing architectural feat. The building looks straight. But straight lines look curved to the human eye, so the building is curved to give it the illusion of being straight. From a temple it became a church, a mosque, and finally a storage facility for Turkish gunpowder. In 1687 the Venetians seized the Acropolis. A cannon ball hit the gun powder and blew it up. Prior to that, it had been completely intact. Here are photos from the front (east side) and from the back (west side). As you can see, this one is also undergoing restoration.

The Erechtheum is opposite the Parthenon, on the north side of the Acropolis. It is built on the holiest of holy sites up there. It happens to be uneven rock, so the building is an odd-shaped, multi-storied structure that was completed in 405 BC. It is Eric’s favorite of the ruins. He thinks the columns are cool. The first picture is of the east side, the second is the west side, the third is a close up of the columns.

Beyond the ruins at the west end of the rock is a museum that is closed for renovations at the moment, and an enormous flag from which there is an awesome view of the city.

Once we had finished looking around, we headed down the mountain back to Dionyssiou Areopagitou. Since we already had tickets for it in hand, we walked a few blocks over to… To be continued tomorrow”¦