Having flown back to Kusadasi in Turkey with 8 others we had toured through Turkey with, we had to wait a little while before boarding the Celestyal Journey to start our cruise to Greece, a first time visit for us and for me, the first time on a large cruise ship. |
| The cruise route to a few of the Greek islands |
We boarded, undertook the mandatory emergency drill exercise and were briefed on the ships facilities like which restaurants we needed reservations, where to book offshore tours and generally how things worked. There were about 1,300 passengers on the ship so for me… it was big. |
| Our ship |
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| Little bit bigger than what I am used to |
After a short overnight cruise to Crete we took a tour to some ancient ruins. What came to the fore very quickly was all our cruises to new destinations before reaching Athens would be short and that led us to having a closer look at a map.
In the 2 previous posts, a lot has been said about history and the influence of the Byzantine (Greeks) and Ottoman (Turks) and their relative conquests of each others land. The current borders between Greece and Turkey are also very close to each other as the map below shows.
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| The border between Greece & Turkey is very close |
There is ongoing tensions between Greece & Turkey because of the history and proximity of the Greek islands very close to Turkey’s land borders. In fact the island of Cyprus is still divided between these 2 countries and tensions remain.
We arrived into Heraklion, the capital of Crete and went through the tedious process of getting large numbers of people off the ship to their selected tours, board buses and don our ‘whispers’ or radio controlled headphones for local tour guides to brief us as we walked and not annoy the crowds of other tourists around us.
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| The first of a LOT of 'rocks' were going to see over the next 21 days |
Our local tour visited the ancient site of Knossos with a human habitation history going back 7,000 BC, but the main ruins we saw were built by the Minoans from the 19th-17th centuries BC and included bringing water from mountain based springs many kms away using clay pipes.
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| 2000+ old clay pipes to bring water to the city |
Unfortunately due to the crowds, we had to stand in a queue for about 45 mins whilst our guide did a good job of trying to keep us all ‘entertained’ and finally we got to enter a small ancient room containing various examples of original Minoan life.
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| Crowds, crowds and more crowds |
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| Inside a Minoan royal building |
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| One of the Minoan ruins in Heraklion |
For us at least, it was interesting and demonstrated the Minoan love of colour and elegant construction but the crowds were a tad frustrating. The city of Heraklion however was quite pleasant to walk around as we returned to the ship, along with hordes of other tourists, via the port area and re-board the ship.
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| Walking through Heraklion |
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| Port and fort of Heraklion |
Another short cruise was to Santorini which everyone was looking forward to, as we’re sure all the passengers on the other 6 cruise ships which dropped anchor below the cliffs next morning were too. Yep… this would mean LOTS of people to negotiate our way through.
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| Just a few of the other ships visiting Santorini |
Having read a little about Santorini, its shape confirmed its history as the location of one of the largest volcanic eruptions in recorded history with the city perched around the edge of a massive sea filled volcanic caldera, a very impressive location indeed.
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| Santorini on the cliff and local tender collecting tourists |
To get off the ship this time, we had to get onto tenders or small boats and be ferried to shore, in this case, to waiting buses parked next to the ocean. Then it was a steep zig-zag climb up the side of the cliffs to reach the rim of the caldera to start our tour proper.
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| Zig zag road from water level to the top of the cliff |
The village of Oia is a very popular destination for people visiting Santorini because it has those wonderful white buildings seemingly hanging on the edge of cliffs, including the very photographed 3 blue domes of a church also sitting near the edge.
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| Oia looking quite spectacular |
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| 'Those' much photographed blue dome churches |
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| Coastal view at Oia |
Back in Santorini itself and will stop mentioning this, it was really crowded with its narrow little alleys going every which way, so there is a lot to find if you put in the effort and go searching, churches, other interesting buildings but always the views of everything clinging to the top and edges of the caldera. Then there are the views out to the ocean!
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| Church courtyard in Santorini |
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| Coastal view in Santorini |
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| Cable car taking tourists down the cliffs |
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| Ships anchored below Santorini in the caldera |
So without mentioning the ‘c’ word, we eventually found ourselves standing for an hour in a queue waiting to board a cable car taking us down to the port area. There were other options of either using a donkey to carry us down the path also leading to the port or walk down the same path whilst avoiding the donkey poo as we went. We waited and eventually made our way down, found a tender and re-boarded the ship.
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| Church found exploring the alleys |
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| Path and steps from Santorini to the port |
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| Where we caught the tenders back to the ship |
Before departing the area at night, we tried taking a few photos from the ship to get a different perspective of the fabulous place to visit and experience which was Santorini.
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| View from ship of Santorini and a tender at night |
Overnight the ship travelled yet another short distance to the island of Mykonos which we did spend time exploring for a day, but will spend more time later in the post describing Mykonos because we returned to it for a longer stay, but this is a ‘tease’ photo.
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| Cafes and views of the ocean on Mykonos |
Our final destination before reaching Athens was the small, intimate and volcanic island of Milos, a very quiet location for a change, especially as we were beginning to reach the end of the tourist season. By now the routine was well established to disembark the ship and find the right bus for the tour we had chosen.
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| Port area of island of Milos |
It’s hard to avoid history in Greece as we visited the location where the original statue of Venus de Milo, or the goddess of love, was found in 1820 and now on display in the Lourve, Paris. It was believed created around 130 BC. In the same area is a small ancient theatre most likely built during the same time.
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| Replica of the Venus de Milo statue found here |
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| Theatre overlooking the ocean on Milos |
Milos has a reputation for its beaches and we visited Klima, which was certainly popular with visitors enjoying the very clear water or simply sunbathing or posing for photos. Before departing Milos, we spent time wandering through the quaint village of Plaka, the island’s capital.
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| Klima beach on Milos |
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| Posing for photos at Klima beach on Milos |
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| There are tunnels carved into the rocks at Klima beach |
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| Intimate little cafe in Plaka on Milos |
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| Church with a view in Plaka on Milos |
We enjoyed a fun final night as a group onboard ship. After berthing in Athen’s large port of Pireaeus, we said farewell to our fellow travellers who had simply been great to travel with… thank you.
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| The 'cruise group' and thank you Norma for the photo |
So now the 2nd element of our Greece travel commenced involving a 10 day, land based private tour through the Peloponnese and central areas of Greece, to explore ancient sites and areas of natural beauty as shown on the route map below.
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| Our route and destinations on mainland Greece |
We had arranged to simply have an english speaking driver and then local guides at 3 key locations which worked very well. Dimitris arrived at the port to collect us, and after brief introductions and with the car loaded, we were off.
This was a very packed tour filled with many daily visits, so will focus on highlights we enjoyed the most to keep this post shorter. Also, Greece has a very long and rich history and with this in mind, will try to limit as much as possible, too much historical description… will try to anyway.
Now we had a detailed itinerary which we referred to, but had we studied it in great detail… no, preferring to get some surprises as we progressed through it and the first surprise came quickly when standing on a bridge over the Corinth Canal.
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| Impressive engineering of the Corinth Channel |
This canal is artificial and was constructed from 1881. It connects the Gulf of Corinth with the Saronic Gulf in the Aegean Sea at a narrow isthmus and was our entry to the Peloponnese from the Greek mainland. For the statistically minded, it is 6.4 kms long and 22.5 metres deep.
We did quickly visit our first set of ancient ruins starting with Corinth without a guide, the first of many, many to come. This city was built by the Greeks around 900 BC but was destroyed by the Romans 800 years later, a cycle repeated often.
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| What Corinth would have looked like |
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| These structures are very 'common' in ancient cities like Corinth |
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| Very complex structures |
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| The statues the Greeks made are quite amazing |
After being on ships and buses, time for something a little different after enjoying lunch in the village Diakopto and then boarding the Cog Railway which runs for 22 kms through the very steep and beautiful Vouraikos Canyon. Dimitris drove on and picked as up at the station in the town of Kalavryta.
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| Walking through the village of Diakopto |
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| Example menu in the village of Diakopto |
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| The cog railway waiting to depart |
Thank heavens we had been doing a lot of walking and climbing in Bosnia and Turkey because it was very handy and after winding drive into the mountains on a narrow pot holed road to reach the start of our hike in the ravine of Lousios to reach the Monastery of Agios Ioannis Prodromos.
Again, Dimitris left us at a small church at the start of the trail and drove off to wait for us at the other end. Thirty minutes later after a nice up/down walk along the ravine, we came around a corner looked up and our mouths dropped open… wow!
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| Quite a location for a monastery |
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| Quite a view back down the into the ravine we walked through |
It is unclear when it was actually built, there are 11 monks living here and it includes the St John the Baptist church. The monks had free Greek coffee available and Turkish delight to help keep the energy levels up and were very helpful in advising how to find the path to continue our hike.
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| inside John the Baptist church |
The next section was not so easy with steeper climbing and a lot of steps to negotiate both up and down. The scenery was very nice but it certainly got the heart rate up. Eventually we reached the next monastery(s) of Philsofos both the old one built in 963 AD and the oldest in Greece and the new one built in 1691 AD but neither were open to visitors.
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| Next section more of a trek than a walk |
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| The newer monastery of Philsofos but alas... not open to visitors |
We had organised this tour to not have single night stays, so we returned to what is known as a the romantic town of Nafplio located next to the ocean, a very large mountain overlooking it, and an old town to explore. It was very pleasant.
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| There are lots of quaint little cafes and shops to enjoy |
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| Inside the old town section of Nafplio |
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| Small fortress of Bourtzi in Nafplio harbour |
On top of the mountain is the Palamidi Fortress built during the Venetian occupation in the 17th century and was where the Greeks also started their successful struggle for liberation from the Ottomans (Turkey) in 1822. The Venetians certainly knew how to build very significant fortresses, with its expansive views to Nafplio and ocean.
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| View of Palamidi Fortress from Nafplio old town |
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| View of Nafplio old town from the fortress |
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| Walking within the fortress |
We learned from Dimitis, who was becoming more relaxed and humorous with us, that Greece consisted of multiple city state kingdoms, for example Athena (Athens area) and another we visited called Sparta, famous for their fighting skills.
In the Peloponnese we had multiple especially impressive places to experience so will cover them in visit order. There were other things we experienced like walking and riding in boats through stalagmite filled tunnels and far to many others to describe in this post.
The ancient Theatre of Epidarius is claimed capable of holding 15,000 spectators and wouldn’t doubt it, but also has fabulous acoustics which we heard first hand after climbing up to the ‘nose bleed’ rock seats and listening to a group of people clapping hands on the stage area below.
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| Rob sitting at top of Theatre of Epidarius and yes it was huge... biggest we saw in Greece |
The centre of Greek civilisation based at Mycenae was also the location of Agamemnon, legendary King of Mycenae who was involved in the attack on Troy when Helen of Troy was involved and the Trojan War.
Here Agamemnon had his ‘acropolis’ or citadel which in typical style was very large and had everything including shops, houses, wine merchants, aqueducts and tall Cypopean walls made of extremely large stones they believed only a cyclops could lift. This ancient citadel was abandoned 2,000 years ago.
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| This is the Lions Gate with its cypopean walls leading into the citadel |
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| Some of the ruins of the Mycenae citadel |
The Byzantine town of Mystras essentially consists of 3 levels starting with the fortress at the top of the mountain built in 1249 AD, but conquered by the Byzantines in 1262 AD. With so much power concentrated here, people began to inhabit down the mountain below the fortress constructing churches, homes etc in 2 layers of the upper and lower towns.
From 1834 AD, the inhabitants began moving to the more modern town of Sparta leaving these breath taking ruins to the tourists and UNESCO protection.
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| Fortress of Mystras at the top and the middle layer of ruins below |
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| The ruins of Mystras were very extensive all way down the mountain |
Monemvassia or the ‘Gibraltar of the East’ was totally unexpected as we approached it as you will understand from the photos below. After driving across the causeway and around one side of it, we entered through the gates and found ourselves walking along narrow laneways with restaurants, homes and places to stay scattered everywhere.
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Found both these photos using Google to show more clearly why
Monemvassia is called the 'Gibraltar of the East' |
Naturally, there had to be a fortress with walls designed to protect the inhabitants and was founded in the sixth century, and now is one of the oldest continually-inhabited fortified towns in Europe.
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Walking through Monemvassia was very cool and unique
indeed with its fortress above it |
So by now we had done quite a bit of driving around this part of Greece and 3 things were now standing out to us, specifically there are a LOT of mountains everywhere and they are very rocky, which explains all the rock ruins and modern homes made out of rock, rock and even more rock.
There is also abundant green on any flattish ground, olive green in fact because of thousands, maybe millions of olive trees growing anywhere the locals can plant then, so Greece… the home of mountains, rocks and olives.
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| Stopped at a very quiet beach for a cuppa |
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| It wasn't all 'rocks' just for a change |
Talking about rocks, time for more ruins, a lot of ruins in multiple locations starting with Messene built in the 4th century BC and originally protected by a 9.5km long wall built again with big rocks.
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| Very small section of the wall around Messene |
Messene was another ‘city state’ and must have been magnificent with its theatre, basilica, floor heated sauna, bath houses, villas, stadium, gymnasium and so on, all scattered over a very large area. The Messenes were conquered by the Spartans which stopped the growth of the city and finally like so many others, including the impact of earthquakes, it fell into ruin.
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| The theatre of Messene |
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| Stadium for the sport competitions |
Mentioned earlier in this post about using local guides at three locations and we had reached the first of these… the ancient site of Olympia… home to the first Olympic games held in 776 BC. Elena was our guide and also a trained archaeologist.
Here there is a great museum filled with many artefacts from that era with original statues 2,800 years old. She also explained why the hands and heads are usually missing… earthquakes made them fall over and they are the first things to break off.
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| This formation of statues adorned the top of the temples in Olympia |
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| One of may statues to admire |
Once out we began wandering in amongst the ‘rocks’ viewing areas like the actual spot where they light the Olympic flame, the original competition field with its bare ground without trees where the fans watched the competitions from. There is the original tunnel the athletes walked through, Zeus and Hera’s Temples and all fabulous to see.
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| Part of the temple of Zeus |
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| Tunnel the naked athletes walked through to the stadium |
Where the flame is lit for each modern Olympic Games was a big surprise in that it is simply a few flat rocks on the ground.
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The flat rocks in front is where the Olympic flame is lit
and behind it is part of the Temple of Athena |
Elena stressed over and over again the games in those days were about politics and influence rather than the games themselves. The rich and powerful wanted to be seen, have the best athletes to demonstrate their power and used this event to rub shoulders with others.
When the games were held, wars would stop and some spectators died from sunstroke whilst watching the competitions and events.
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| The actual field the first Olympics were held on |
So far in Greece, apart from the history involving Romans, Byzantines and the Ottoman, we also heard a a great deal about the gods like Zeus, Hera, Aphrodite, Apollo, Ares, Artemis, Athena to name a few and Olympia had multiple buildings dedicated to the gods as did our next impressive location… Delphi. |
| The modern town of Delphi is perched on a mountain |
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The ancient site of Delphi is not far from the modern town
and also clinging to the mountains typical in Greece |
For us at least, Delphi was different in that it was a religious sanctuary, not a city per se and was dedicated to the god Apollo. Our private guide told us, whilst first visiting a very good on-site museum, the myth that Zeus had sent 2 eagles to find the centre of the earth and they landed at the now ancient site of Delphi.
The location of the archeological site of Delphi is nestled into the mountains over 1,000 metres above sea level, a very stunning location indeed.
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| Model of ancient Delphi using the mountain slopes |
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Nice to see a more complete looking structure this one
being where gifts to the God Apollo from pilgrims |
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| More of ancient Delphi's temple |
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Replica of bronze column located here
taken to Istanbul by the Ottoman |
The museum was full of not only masses of tourists, but a large collection of original items found here during its excavation. There were artefacts of pottery, gold & ivory and many statues. There was a very impressive 2,700+ year old bronze statue of a charioteer, including bronze eyelashes.
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Much admired statue but with 'bits' missing
when earthquakes toppled them |
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| Gold decorations and ivory face over 2,500 yrs old |
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| 2,500 year old plate |
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| Large 2,700+ year old bronze charioteer statue |
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| The charioteer's face even has bronze eyelashes... impressive |
We heard the story of the ancient oracle(s), women over 50 years old, who were considered able to directly communicate with the god Apollo and who offered prophecies on personal, political and affairs of state. When she died, a new one was selected but the Romans ended all this around 390 BC because they were Christians and worshiping the Gods had to end.
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Museum painting of an oracle on her stool with thermal pool
steam coming up from the mountain |
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This rock is believed to be what the oracles sat on, the small holes
for her stool and the large hole to let the hot fumes to rise from below |
We walked a zig-zag path climbing up the mountain past the remains of what must have been a very impressive complex with its Agoras selling tributes to the god Apollo, there were temples and as we climbed, we reached the theatre and finally the stadium where athletic competitions were held every 4 years.
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| The highest part of ancient Delphi is where the stadium is |
The Romans closed Delphi in 200 AD and over time pillaging and earthquakes reduced the site to ruin until it archaeologists began uncovering everything seen in the museum and restoring some of the ruins.
A wall got my attention, original and untouched, looking almost brand new… despite earthquakes and around 2,500 years old. It was built using what are called ‘polygonal’ shapes cut into large stones, so that they fit tightly together to resist land movements.
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| The 2,500 year old earthquake proof polygonal wall of Delphi |
The last time we saw walls like this was in Cusco and Machu Picchu which are ~600 yrs old versus these which are 2,500 yrs old. The Greeks were very innovative and clever!
It was time for a long drive to reach an area we had been waiting to see, yet another unbelievable location where you stand looking at what was built and simply wonder, how did they build these.
Dimitris very generously offered to drive us high to a vantage point to take our first photos of a Meteora monastery at sunset… more photos to come.
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| Sunset with one of the Meteora monasteries in front |
Next day we had something very different to experience as we started a mini tour at the Mushroom Museum in the town of Kalabaka and were driven to a forest of very old oak trees, a small lively dog waiting to meet us and show off its skills.
We were truffle hunting, black truffles and when the dog was released it took off, its nose near the ground, searching, searching, searching until abruptly stopping and digging in amongst the grass at the bottom of a tree. Up popped its head, a smile almost on its face before returning with a truffle in its mouth to give to its handler.
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| The truffle hunting dog... very new experience |
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| Black truffle which is washed and scrubbed before being used |
6-7 truffles later it was time to use them and the ‘truffle tour team’ had also set up a huge paella shaped, gas heated dish to cook a pasta based dish, heavily layered at the end with the truffles just found.
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| Rob having a go at cooking the pasta, wine & herbs in the large pan |
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| A lot of truffles were sliced all over each serving of pasta |
Delicious… and to finish it all off, mushroom sweets a bit like candied cherries.
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| Candied mushroom anyone? |
Now back to those surreal looking structures on limestone rock pillars up to 600 metres high. People had lived in the area prior to the last ice age but later they transitioned from hunter gatherers to farmers and dug caves into the limestone.
Our accomodation for a few nights was located right near the base of some these limestone pillars in a small village... very pleasant indeed.
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| Rob in front of our accomodation with the limestone pillars as a backdrop |
From the 9th century AD, individual hermit monks appeared and created somewhere to live by also carving holes into but high on those rock pillars and we saw many examples of holes dug into the rock cliffs.
Around 1340 AD, a group of monks from elsewhere arrived and built and founded what is believed the first monastery called The Great Meteoron Monastery on the Broad Rock. But later in the same century, the Byzantine rule over northern Greece was under threat by Turkish raiders and this motivated other monks to start building more monasteries on top of other pillars.
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| Some pillars are very narrow |
Over time, 24 monasteries were built using ropes, pulleys, baskets, nets and long ladders to get the building material of the time, high up onto the pillars. Then over time, the monastery constructions became more sophisticated.
and water also hauled up was stored in large timber tanks
Now of the 24 monasteries built back when, there are only 6 still functioning which are now more easily accessible by steps and pathways carved into the rock pillars. Other monasteries were either destroyed by the Ottoman or later by the Nazis, many of which are now in ruin.
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| Look carefully... there are 4 different monasteries in this photo |
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| Quite a challenge to build a monastery here |
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| Simply beautiful, amazing, intriguing... almost unbelievable |
We visited 2 of them, one where 12 female nuns live and the other home to 9 male monks. After climbing up to them using steps and crossing a few bridges along with our local guide, we were able to explore and learn about these amazing structures.
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| To reach most monasteries involve stairs |
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| The buildings the monks or nuns use in the monastery |
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| The monasteries are naturally full of religious symbols and artefacts |
We were unable to take any photos inside the areas like the church itself but could everywhere else and as expected, religious symbols were abundant and some very beautiful. Whilst the nuns and monks can leave the monasteries, unless they need to stay in hospital, but they must return to their monastery each night.
We spent quite a few hours driving around looking for locations enabling us to take many more photos of these truly stunning structures built high up upon and seemingly gripping to those limestone pillars.
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| Meteora is a VERY special destination |
Well our land tour with Dimitris had come to an end as we drove back to Athens to our overnight accomodation. We had seen and learned a lot and Dimitris had been both an excellent driver and great company… thank you.
Also thank you to 'Please Yourself Travel' (PYT) in Adelaide, Australia who we have used a few times, who pulled this together for us... it all happened seamlessly!
It wasn’t time to leave Greece yet but it was time to revisit the island of Mykonos to chill for a bit and do our own thing in terms of exploring the island.
Mykonos is known as a party island but we were here right at the end of their tourist season and various locations had started closing down literally and packing everything away, something also happening in many other parts of Greece. We find this a bit strange considering the temperatures but heh… this is relaxed fun loving Greece… why work too hard!
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| Time to relax in Mykonos |
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| We were hoping it would be quiet on Mykonos... it was! |
So for 3 days we woke up a little later and explored the island on foot and by bus using the GPSmyCity app to ensure we located the main tourist sites to enjoy. Walking around the main town of Mykonos involves exploring many small laneways served by equally narrow little vehicles to bring supplies to the various shops everywhere.
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| Our accomodation was up these stairs |
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| Narrow delivery vans for narrow laneways |
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| One of numerous churches throughout Mykonos |
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| Typical laneway through Mykonos |
We simply enjoyed admiring those white buildings with the coloured windows and doors, the port area and its restaurants, those famous windmills, the numerous small churches dotted throughout and the list of all the little things which are so typical of the Greek islands. Equally it was enjoying the food and the happy, friendly nature of the people we met.
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| Enjoying sunset at 'Little Venice' on Mykonos |
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| The port area with all the restaurants to choose from |
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| Octopus anyone |
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| Historic 3 wells in Mykonos |
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| The famous windmills of Mykonos at sunrise |
30 minutes from Mykonos by boat, is another island called Delos which we decided to visit and so glad we did. This is when the god Apollo pops up again, and this island is regarded as the mythical birthplace of this god and a major religious centre. It was built between 900 BC and 100 AD and Delos was also a very wealthy and prosperous trading port.
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| The ruins are spread out over most of the island of Delos |
During its heyday, Delos was the most sacred destination for pilgrims to visit and its structures were extensive and its wealth would have been well known, but that became the reasons for its demise when it was attacked and looted twice by pirates.
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| The lions standing guard on Delos |
The constructions across the island were both extensive, impressive and varied including statues, theatres, special lake, athletic field, mosaic floors, columns, wells and examples of peoples large 2 storey homes and how they renovated them like we do today… all of this happening over 2,000 years ago.
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| Statue of a goddess |
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| A 2,500 year old single storey home on Delos |
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| Mosaic floor of the same era... 2,500 years old |
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| Walls of the agora (market) area of Delos |
The final part of our Greek odyssey involved flying back into Athens for a 3 night stay to enjoy and explore this large chaotic city of 3+ million people and 35+ square kms in size, so very spread out.
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| Athens is a very spread out city |
The roads and traffic in Athens is crazy and could easily put you off this city so we decided to walk it and so pleased we did because Athens is a city we needed to feel, not compete with and something as simple as finding somewhere for dinner involved walking into an old part of the city and climbing stairs whilst negotiating the crowds, but the atmosphere was great!
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| Plaka was a nice location for dinner |
In amongst everything, there were 2 must visit destinations for us, the first being the world famous Acropolis or citadel sitting there big and bold on top of a mountain right in the middle of the city.
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| The acropolis is prominent above the city |
The Acropolis is a series of buildings and one of them is the Parthenon, that large rectangular ‘thing’ with all the columns. But there are/were other buildings like the Erechtheion, the Propylaia and the temple of Athena Nike.
The 2nd prime destination for us based on Dimitris’s insistence was to visit the Acropolis Museum but let’s deal with the Acropolis first which we tackled in 2 ways, the first involving more walking and climbing to another nearby mountain, along with hundreds of other people, before sunset.
We found our spot, staked it out with camera and tripod, and waited as the sun set behind us, its warm glows progressively engulfing the whole of the Acropolis, until the sun finally set and ‘blue hour’ kicked in, then finally darkness save the influence of a near full moon.
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| The Acropolis transitioned from light to dark before our eyes |
Walking back to our hotel after such a great experience, the moon came out from from behind the clouds to shine down on the ruins of the Temple of Olympian Zeus. We slept well that night.
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| Temple of Olympian Zeus |
Now it was time to actually go visit the Acropolis, so we were off walking very early, before sunrise in fact, and happened to be visiting on a major public holiday, where entry to the Acropolis is free, hence arriving well before opening time, a queue already forming.
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| The queue waiting for free tickets as sun rises |
Time came to enter, up we all started climbing past the roman theatre and came to an abrupt halt. We had to wait for some traditionally dressed soldiers who had been performing a ceremony in the Acropolis at sunrise to depart before we could all stream in.
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| The traditionally dressed soldiers had to exit before we could enter |
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| Now it was time for us to enter into the Acropolis @ 8am |
Wow! Nothing quite prepares you for the size of the various buildings as we entered via the gateway of the Propylaea and walked towards something called the Erechtheion with its 5 statues of the maidens. There were 6 maidens but one original is held in the British Museum.
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| Entering via the Propylaea into the Acropolis |
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| The Erechtheion is an ancient temple to Athena & god Poseidon-Erechtheus |
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| The 6 maidens of which 1 is original, 4 others protected in Greece |
We continued walking past the Parthenon itself, a large structure at 30.9 meters in width and 69.5 meters long, scaffolding currently in place as continued restorations take place, but it is very dominating on the skyline.
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| Rob photographing the Parthenon... and the crowds |
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| The Parthenon certainly dominates |
Without prolonging all this, we actually slowed down to ensure we absorbed it all, and simply stopped taking photos for awhile. We departed the Acropolis area from a different exit which took us pass the Theatre of Dionysus Eleuthereus, the first part of this magnificent public meeting place in the mid to late 6th century BC.
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| The Theatre of Dionysus Eleuthereus |
As we walked around Athens, we kept finding or going to more ancient ruins, they just seem to be everywhere and no more so than when we arrived at the Acropolis Museum itself and in the museum, the bigger picture came together for us and Rob even enjoyed it.
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The 2 photos above are models showing what the sculptures looked like around the top
of the Parthenon and 50% of the originals are now in the British Museum |
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| Original bronze statue |
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| Original pottery from Acropolis |
Part of the museum replicated the Parthenon in terms of the size of its structure and as we walked around it, we learned about the statues and other adornments that decorated it when it was built. Also saw replicas of some carvings and statues, coloured the way they would have looked originally… very bright indeed..
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| This is the original sculpture found on the Parthenon |
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| This is a replica painted as it would have been |
What stunned us was how many original statues originally placed around the top of the Parthenon currently reside in the British Museum versus being housed and displayed in the home country… about 50%. We also learned what ‘tools’ were used to build many of these giant structures.
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| This is a model of what they believe the Greeks created to build the Acropolis |
Dimitris was correct… this museum was truly worth a visit with its very extensive display of original statues, pottery, decorations, multiple floors of it.
Our final ‘event’ in Greece was to visit and watch the changing of the guard which happens hourly undertaken by a special group of soldiers who guard the Monument of the Unknown Soldier in front of the Hellenic Parliament and the Presidential Mansion. The ceremony is very precise and their high steps and uniforms very traditional.
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| The crowds were there to watch the changing of the guard |
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| Part of the ceremony |
Greece had been very kind to us, especially its very friendly people and ‘enjoy life’ attitudes but if we were going to summarise Greece we would simple say… ‘Mountains, Olives Trees and Rocks (ruins)’.
So our ~3 months of travel was at and end and it was time to head home carrying many memories to enjoy into the future.
CLICK HERE for more photos of Greece
So until then…. enjoy an ouzo and go well!
