Athens, Greece - Day 2

We finally arrived in the port of Pireas by 5:00am on Sunday, and took the metro to our hostel. Luckily, even though it was so early, our room in the hostel was available. So, we slept for a couple of hours, before going out to find a gyro shop for lunch.

After lunch, we took the metro to downtown Athens, where we headed towards the Acropolis. As we neared the ruins, the Acropolis looked enormous, set nearly 500 feet above the rest of Athens, overlooking the city. Since we had all day to explore, we decided to walk to the top. Just our luck, the day was a special National Museum Day, so we were able to walk up for free.

As we began walking up the hill towards the Acropolis, we passed by dozens of ancient ruins, including the Stoa of Eumenes. The first main sight we saw was the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, which is a large theater. While the walls of the theater were almost completely in ruins, the stage and seating had been restored. In fact, the theater is still home to some performances.

We finally made our way to the top of the rocky hill, where we hit the Monument of Agrippa as well as the Propylaea, the gateway to the Acropolis. As we walked through the Propylaea, the steep hill opened to a wide open, flat surface. It was also very slippery on the smooth, rocky surface. I can’t imagine how one could even walk on it in the rain.

The Acropolis was covered in ancient ruins, but a few still remained relatively intact. Directly in front of us stood the Parthenon, the famous temple to Athena, the Greek Goddess. The Parthenon looked larger than life, with dozens upon dozens of huge marble pillars.

On our left, we could see the Erechtheum, another pillared, ancient Greek temple

But, the best part about the Acropolis was the view. The highest point in Athens, we could see the entire city, all the way to the ocean. We could see Mount Lycabettus with the Chapel of St. George in the distance, as well as Philopappos Hill with the Gaius Julius Antiochus Philopappos Monument. Far below the Acropolis, we could make out the ruins of the Theatre of Dionysus, as well as the ruins of the Temple of Olympian Zeus.

Behind the Parthenon, a huge Greek flag stood on a rocky viewing area at the furthest outreach of the Acropolis. From this point, we could look straight down the steep Acropolis walls to the city below.

After wandering around the Acropolis, we headed back down into the city, towards the ruins of the Temple of Olympian Zeus. This temple was impressive even being in the sate it was. While only a dozen or so columns were still actually standing, those that were made it easy to visualize what the temple must once have looked like. The temple, which took over 650 years to complete, once took up nearly 4500 square meters of ground. It consisted of 104 columns, each with a diameter of 2 meters and a height of 17 meters.

While only a small corner of the structure remained standing, it was still a sight to behold. A handful of single-standing columns were still present as well. However, one column was toppled on the ground before the others. It was said to have collapsed during a terrible storm in 1852.

Nearby the temple we spotted Hadrian’s Gate, an archway that led from the old city of Athens to the Roman portion.

From the gateway, we moved on to the many ruins of Hadrian’s Library.

After wandering through the ruins, we passed the Mikrí Mitropolí, an old, tiny church, and headed into the National Garden. There, we walked along paths shaded by huge palm trees, and we passed numerous statues and monuments. We even stopped at a couple of small pools filled with turtles.

Once outside of the gardens, we passed the Zappeion and St. Pauls’s Church, and headed towards the Agora of Athens to see the Stoa of Attalos. This marble and limestone building, full of statues and other artwork, was once again absolutely enormous. It stretched out 115 meters by 20 meters, and was very impressive.

Off in the distance, we could see the Temple of Hephaestus and Athena Ergane set on Agoraios Kolonos Hill.

After walking around the Agora of Athens, we took a metro back into the city to see the Greek Parliament at Syndagma Square. There, we saw the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which was guarded by Evzones. While the Evzones looked rather funny in their strange uniforms, it is said that they are recruited from only the absolute best of the Greek Army.

Finally, after a long day, we headed back in the direction of our hotel, stopping along the way for a dinner of Souvlaki. When we arrived at the hostel, we packed up our luggage, prepared for an early flight the next morning, and went to bed.

We woke up at 4:30am the next morning, and headed out in the city in search of a taxi, which we found quite easily for that time in the morning. The taxi brought us back to Syndagma Square, where we caught a bus to the airport. After a long flight, as well as a layover in Munich, we landed in Hannover around 7:45 at night. We took the next train to the Hannover Hauptbahnhoff, and then finally headed back to Braunschweig. It was an amazing trip between Austria and Greece, but it felt great to be home after all that travel!