Walking with Bill - Part 5 The Off Beaten Track Up The Acropolis

I guess only the locals would be able to negotiate the small streets in Athens and not get lost in the elaborate maze like area. Bill said there are many ways to go up this most popular site in Athens. Tourists by the throngs would take the guided tour routes. He however was going to take us on the off beaten track to the sacred hills. It was a bit exhaustive on the knees the climb was but it was so well worth it.

We walked pass local Athenian houses that were built on the steep hill going up to the Acropolis

 

White washed & blue houses

The climb along the small streets

As we arrived up the hill....and our route down to Plaka

Surprisingly there are many cactus plants in Athens

Greek Orthodox Church at the base of the Acropolis

Greek Orthodox Church at the base of the Acropolis. Many Orthodox churches sport this style of design

Another view of the church

  A beautiful path through some trees before you begin the ascent to the Acropolis.

And finally we were almost at the top

A beautiful site...indeed

 

When you are up there you can see the whole of Athens from every direction.

 

It is really like a concrete jungle as far as the eye can see.

US on the Acropolis Hill

Them...bumming & shooting the Acropolis

Walking with Bill - Part 2

Athens is the capital of Greece and is also largest city in the country. It has a recorded history that goes back 3,400 years. Bill, our guide explained that classical Athens was a center for philosophy, art and learning and considered the cradle of Western civilization and democracy. Today, Athens with its 5 million inhabitants is a modern metropolis that is the financial, political, cultural and economic center for the country.

The name of Athens in Ancient Greek was Athenai (pronounced At-he-na). According to Bill the Greeks believed the city was named for its protectress - the goddess Athena. Before our trip I read a fair bit about Greek mythology and its Olympian Gods and also its heroes and monsters. Zeus (king of all the gods), Aphrodite (goddess of beauty and love), Athena (goddess of wisdom and defense), Poseidon (god of the sea) were my favourite reads. 

From the stadium, we walked towards Herodou Attikou St. According to Bill this is one of the most aristocratic thoroughfares in Athens. The street is home to the Presidential Palace and the Maximos Palace which is the official residence of the Prime Minister. 

Herodou Attikou St is lined with orange trees

Residence of the Prime Minister behind those gates

Police wheels near the PM Residence

Greek Presidential Guards

A very unique kind of march

next...changing of guards ceremony

Walking With Bill - Part 1

When Bill our walking guide shared stories about Athens - its people, the myths, culture and many more I was very thrilled. I am no history buff. Never excelled in history in school. Somehow history lessons to me was all about memorizing dates.

However now late in life, I actually regret my fooling around during those history lessons days. During my travels, I saw how the engagement with history of a certain country or ancient civilization would provide you with a better understanding of the people, culture and politics of the country. 

Before we started our walk with Bill, he explained the routes we were going to take. He said there was quite a bit of walking especially when we get to the Acropolis area. As there were only the 3 of us, Bill had more time to share stories about the places he took us - very much to our delight!

Our first stop was Temple of Olympian Zeus.

Temple of Olympian Zeus, also known as the Olympieion, is a Greco-Roman temple in the center of Athens.

During the years of Greek democracy, the temple was left unfinished.The temple is made of fine marble brought from Mount Pentelus. Originally 104 Corinthian columns, each 17 meters high; 48 of these stood in triple rows under the pediments and 56 in double rows at the sides. Today, only 15 columns remain standing. 

Not far from the Olympian Zeus Temple, close to a Metro station we saw an excavated site that was believed to be the bath area of the ancient Athenians.

This ancient bath complex was uncovered during the building of subway in Athens in preparation for the Olympics.in 2000. This was a Roman bath actually - a well-preserved complex that can be viewed from above.  Clear view of the pillars that would have allowed the floors and rooms to be heated for a luxurious bathing experience.

The bath must have been quite a happening place I imagine. After a hard day at work, folks come here to chat and share latest gossips while they soak and relax. 

We continued with our walk until we arrived at the Zappeion.

The Zappeion - its architecture is in the neoclassical order, with a Corinthian portico. It was an exhibition hall and was the first building in the world to be constructed in order to serve Olympic needs.

The columns in Zappeion

From the exhibition hall the Zappeion, we passed its lush green gardens known as the Parrilissia and headed to the Panathenaic Stadium.

The home of the first modern day Olympic Games. 

Reconstructed from the remains of an ancient Greek stadium, the Panathenaic is the only stadium in the world built entirely of marble from Mount Penteli and is one of the oldest in the world.

For museum souvenirs

to be continued....

A Walking Tour & A What If.....

We had about 3 days in Athens. When I was doing up the itinerary for our "to dos" in Athens, it was tough, like I said earlier. Athens is a big city there was no way we could visit the many recommended interesting places. On top of that we have our own must do gigs at the must go places - gigs like the jumps, the bums, the selfies, wefies...and others. It's really a pull hair task coming up with this itinerary.

Nissa & her "signature" bum post...so how to go on group tours like this?

And this was also one of the reasons why we don't do group tours anymore. The photography that we do could get us really carried away and in group tours the time allocated may not permit us doing things we like most when we are on holiday. However, we also enjoy listening to the stories given by the tour guide when we go on a tour. So much of information and there was no way we could get such valuable information from any readings about the city.

 So how??

In the past we'd go on the City Sight Seeing Tour Bus and the bus would take us to most of the recommended sight seeing places. There's always an audio guide we would listen to. Not comprehensive but it suffice in giving us a brief introduction to the city. When I googled city tours for Athens, other search categories came about ie. the "Walking Tour" and "Free Walking Tour". I clicked on a few of these websites and found very interesting information about these walking tours. I did comparisons on their walk routes and the reviews others gave about their service and I finally decided on the Athens Free Tour Team. Sent them an email on the date we chosed and they were fast at responding. 

This was our first time doing a free walking tour. I wanted to try it when we were in Ghent last year, but some conditions given on the website somewhat put me off. 

The email from Athens Free Tour Team provided a meeting place and time for the tour. We were earlier, took the metro from our apartment and stopped at the Akropolis station as instructed in the email. The meeting place was near the Hadrians Arch. 

Our first try at taking the Athens Metro. This was Metro Line 2 and we were to take the train that goes to ELLINIKO.

Platform was not crowded as it was still early

Clean and spacious

Our Metro stop - Akropoli...only 2 stops from where we boarded

 

Archaeological finds at Akropoli Metro Station. The frescoes on the wall are well preserved 

She...in her element

In the email it said that the tour was to start at 9.45am. We didn't see anyone there except just the 3 of us. Not long after that came this really tall guy and he asked if we were joining the walking tour. I hesitated at saying yes in the beginning as somehow, suddenly, this thought "what if this guy was....." hit me. Yikess I hate that feeling, really! 

At the Hadrian Arch - where we met our tour guide Bill. The arch was erected by the Athenians in honour of the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a token of their gratitude for the works he had done for their city.

The one facade of the Arch of Hadrian demarcated the borders of the historic centre of ancient Athens and the other one of the modern part of the city, where Hadrian had built great public buildings. On the one side of the arch, there is the inscription: “This is Athens, the ancient city of Theseus”, and on the other one, the inscription reads: “This is the city of Hadrian and not of Theseus”.

Anyway, after exchanging greetings and he showed us his ID (still...it could have been a fake one) I decided to give him  benefit of the doubt. Later we got talking and he told us that he was an Irish who is married to a local girl from Athens. 

Bill (that was his name) later explained the routes and the time we would take to complete the tour. He started explaining the history of Athens and as he started telling his stories about the places we visited, my "what if..." thoughts just flew into the winds :) 

And off we went with Bill.....