Today was the big day in Athens . . . seeing the epic Acropolis!
To Guide Or Not to Guide?
We all agreed we needed to patch into a guide to properly experience the Acropolis and all its various components. We hadn’t booked one in advance of arriving in Greece, so we hustled to find a tour that would meet our needs during the select days we were available. We ended up finding a 3-hour tour with Athens Walking Tours (booked via GetYourGuide) that included a comprehensive tour of the Acropolis, as well as a guided tour through the Acropolis Museum. Bam! That would do the trick.
On the way to the tour meet-up point we realized we left both Doug & Sadie’s baseball hats somewhere the day prior. We mentally retraced our steps and referenced pictures on our phones to try & remember when/where we last saw it. We narrowed it down to three potential spots: Tom’s shoe store, our lunch restaurant or our pre-dinner drinks spot. Doug called Tom’s; no dice (on a side note, the Tom’s store in Athens was so cool & reminded us of their flagship Venice Beach, CA location). The bar where we had an early evening drink was coincidentally just down the street from our tour meeting spot. We popped in there; again, no dice. Third time’s a charm . . . Doug called our tasty lunch deli from yesterday and sure enough, they had them! We had left them hanging off the back of our chairs. So grateful for the kindness of strangers. Doug went by later in the afternoon to retrieve both hats. All’s well that ends well :)
Time to Tour
Our tour was slated to start at 11:30am. The check-in process was a bit crazy & clunky. Turns out there were about four tours scheduled concurrently. We were ultimately assigned our guide, Katarina (aka “you have enough on your plate to walk all the way up to the top of the Acropolis; I’ll make it easy for you, just call me Kate!” as she said) and off we went.
Experiencing the Acropolis
Heading to THE Acropolis was a bit surreal. Truth be told, none of us are particularly fanatical or knowledgeable about Greek mythology or history, but to be visiting a landmark as iconic as the Acropolis was pretty darn awesome. There’s a reason it’s one of the world’s most revealing archaeological sites.
We entered the Acropolis from the Southern slope where crowds were (relatively) minimal. We started the tour by learning about the various temples and structures below the wall. Most notably we saw the Theatre of Dionysus (5th century amphitheater, said to be the birthplace of performing arts) and Dionysus’ Sanctuary (dedicated to the Greek god of wine & fertility). We also saw a former hospital and heard all kinds of crazy tales about how patients were “treated” for their ailments. Quirkiest part was that the hospital had a 100% healing success rate; anyone that came back a 2nd time complaining their woes were not healed from the prior suggestions of the hospital, was turned away because it meant they (or one of their ancestors) had sinned/were cursed & they were effectively banished. That’s one way to go about it :) Kate the guide shared countless stories of Athina, Zeus & other deities, and the mythology around them.
Sadie's Question
Early on in the tour, Sadie tugged on Doug's shorts, saying she had a question for our guide. Sadie has gotten much more comfortable speaking up & asking questions to new people in the past months; we're very proud of her. In a sweet, soft voice she asked Kate "How did they get the stones to the Acropolis?" Sade detailed the guide's answer in her writing entry later that day. Check it out:
We stayed the course, getting more vertical with each step. We finally reached the top and came to Propylaea gateway, the Acropolis’ main entrance, along with hundreds of our closest friends :) It was tough to navigate the crowds and slippery bedrock. We did pause a few times, though, to take it all in. Enough of the Propylaea remains that there’s definitely an awe factor. Through the gate, we were treated to sweeping panorama views of Athens all around us. The sprawl of Athens surprised all of us.
We spent some time at the Temple of Athena Nike, a temple built around 420 BC dedicated to the Goddess Athena Nike. We learned that nike means "victory" in Greek, and that citizens worshiped Athena in hopes of a successful outcome in the Peloponnesian War fought against Spartans & their allies.
The Erechtheion temple was built in honor of Athena and Poseidon. It’s famed “Porch of the Maidens” on the South side consists of six draped female figures (aka caryatids) as supporting columns. The ones in the Acropolis are replicas; we saw the real caryatids in the Acropolis Museum later in the afternoon.
Drumroll . . . the Parthenon!
We finally reached the crowning glory of the Acropolis - the Parthenon! We learned Greek mythology dictates the proportions of temples have one side 2x+1 longer than the other (i.e. the Parthenon has 8 x 17 columns). Part of the Parthenon was under scaffolding as they continue to excavate & repair with care. It was pretty awe inspiring to imagine the Parthenon & all the surrounding temples/structures built over 2500 years ago, still standing strong.
Acropolis Museum
We carried on with Kate (and a much smaller contingent of the original tour group) to visit the adjacent Acropolis Museum. It’s ranked as one of the top 5 museums in the world, and we can totally see why. The museum contains an impressive collection of statues & relics, all found physically on Acropolis property. The museum space itself is gorgeous, with its modern steel & glass aesthetic. They did a terrific job of laying out all the amazing array of Acropolis relics. They even had the original pediments (sets of statues on the East & West facades of the Parthenon) laid out in an exact footprint of the real Parthenon. Hard to explain, but a prime example of how well designed the museum was. Piggybacking the Acropolis Museum with the Acropolis itself allowed us to connect the dots on so many things that we might otherwise not have been able to. Definitely the way to go!
Break to Rest
Our tour started around 11:30am and at 3:00pm we finally parted ways with our guide, Kate. It was a full-on 3.5 hours but immensely informative & enjoyable. The girls did an amazing job at staying engaged & calm during the long stretch of guide time (even if they were seated on the ground half the time). Guides & walking tours are generally not their favorite things (we’ve learned along the way); they tend to surprisingly prefer museums! We commended them several times for their great behavior. But we were starting to lose them the last ~15 minutes of the museum part. They were hungry and getting a mega case of ants in their pants. We all agreed the best idea was to plop ourselves down in the museum cafe for a bite to eat & something cold to drink.
Divide & Conquer
At that point we split up. Doug walked back to yesterday’s lunch restaurant to reclaim our two baseball hats. I walked back to the apartment with my parents & the girls, but then immediately took them out to a nearby playground. They needed an outlet to just run around & be silly and loud. Perfect spot. I love that they’re still into playgrounds. I think it’s such an important thing for their well being; getting fresh air, moving their bodies, being silly, and ideally getting a parent to be silly & play with them too :)
Winding Down
Back the apartment the girls each wrote about what they saw/learned at the Acropolis today. Gramps had brought his cribbage board with him so he busted it out to play with Paige. He had taught Paige previously but she needed a refresher 101. Sadie listened intently as well so she’d be ready to play a hand soon enough. Drinks + appetizers on the terrace, eventually followed by homemade dinner capped off a super day.
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