Ancient Athens
Athens ranks among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world and is a must-do for all history aficionados. It still retains quite a few splendid monuments from the Greek Classical era, the Roman era and Ottoman times. The Parthenon ranks amongst the key landmarks of early Western civilization. The core of the city is the Plaka, a historic neighborhood that has been continuously inhabited since ancient times. Just walking through its cobblestone narrow streets evoke the feeling of going back in time.
We visited Athens in the height of its financial & refugee crisis, and were worried about its impacts. Thankfully, we had a very pleasant experience.
Acropolis & Parthenon
No visit to Athens can be complete without a trip to the Acropolis. The Acropolis is an ancient citadel atop a hill that overlooks the city of Athens. It contains some of the most important monuments of Western Civilization.
The monuments were built in the reign of Pericles, in the 5th century B.C. in what is known as the Golden Age of Athens & have endured a lot of damage since. The Turks invaded Greece in 1458 C.E. and converted the buildings to a mosque & used Parthenon as a place to store gunpowder. In 1687 C.E., the Venetian army besieged the acropolis in an attempt to fight the Turks. A direct hit from a Venetian shell ignited the gunpowder, and led to a large explosion that damaged quite a few monuments, including the Parthenon.
There was no attempt to repair any of the damage caused. In fact, is is said that tourists would frequently help themselves to a souvenir from the ruins. In this state of neglect, Lord Elgin of England (Britain’s ambassador to the Ottoman empire at that time), paid off the Turkish authorities to saw off almost half of the sculptures and adornment of the Parthenon, including what is notoriously known as the Elgin marbles, a collection of surviving classical Greek marble sculptures made under the supervision of the great Greek sculptor Pheidias. Elgin then proceeded to sell these to the British Government in 1816 to pay off his many debts.
The main monuments of the Acropolis include:
Parthenon:
A magnificent temple dedicated to the city’s patron deity – Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom, War & Crafts, and the favorite daughter of Zeus.
The temple is the most prominent monument in the Acropolis, and can be viewed from all over the city. It was designed by architects Iktinos & Kallikratis & the project was overseen by the Greek sculptor Pheidias.
A masterpiece of ancient art and an engineering achievement, the building achieves the illusion of perfect straight lines, symmetry and exact proportions by incorporating subtle curves and angles to deceive the eye. The Parthenon is currently being restored, and you should fully expect to see scaffolding & cranes when you visit it.
Erechtheion:
An architecturally complex monument, the Erechtheion was built to house the ancient wooden statue of Athena. To its east is the famous portico known as the Porch of the Caryatids. Caryatids are ornate statues of women built as a replacement to a column to provide support for a structure. Six caryatids i.e. girls hold up the portico, and no two of them are alike. Unfortunately, none of the ones you see are the original, they are all replicas made of plaster. Five of the original are now housed in the Acropolis museum, whereas one of the caryatids is in England, taken away as part of Elgin’s bounty. Pictured here is the stunning Erechtheion with storm clouds brewing in the distance.
Theater of Dionysus:
Located in the south side of the Acropolis, this prototype greek theater can house up to 17,000 people and was built to honour Dionysus Eleuthereos.
Temple of Athena Nike:
The Temple of Athena Nike housed a statue of the goddess Athena holding a pomegranate, the symbol of fertility, in her right hand and a helmet, the symbol of war, in her left hand. Nike means “victory” in Greek, and the temple is built to honour Goddess Athena in a victorious form.
Propylaea:
The monumental gateway to the Acropolis, this monument was designed by Mnesikles, and like all the monuments here, built with the famous Pentelic marble (marble quarried from Mt. Pentelic, famous for its white marble with a tinge of gold).
Plaka
An ancient neighborhood that has been continuously inhabited since the ages, Plaka is where you want to stay in Athens for multiple reasons:
- It’s narrow lanes lined with majestic mansions will take you back in time.
- You are walking distance from all the Greek archaeological sites such as Acropolis, Hadrian’s Arch, Temple of Olympian Zeus, Agoras, etc, and it is where all the museums you will want to see are located as well.
- It is also very close to Syntagma Square and Monastiraki Square, and connects through the metro to the airport and port.
- Restaurants, bars, galleries and shops for souvenirs abound, and the plaza is very walkable, with parts of it completely blocked off to car traffic, making it a very peaceful place to walk.
We did an AirBnB and stayed at a condo right opposite the Hadrian’s arch. If you are here, don’t forget to check out the colorful Brettos bar when you are here.
Sounion jaunt
Just an hour south east from Athens, Sounion is the location of the ruins of the Temple of Poseidon. Picture this – 16 soaring white marble columns of a temple dedicated to the god of the sea atop a cliff 60 meters high, with the deep blue Aegean sea forming the backdrop. Now imagine a beautiful sunset! This is a sight not to be missed.
For the history buffs – this is not the original Temple of Poseidon. The original was destroyed by the Persians, and it was rebuilt in the same place in 444-440 B.C. Also, legend has it this is the cliff that Athenian King Aegeus jumped to his death to. The king was anxiously awaiting the return of his son – Theseus’ from Crete. Theseus was in Crete to fight the Minotaur. From Greek mythology, the Minotaur is a creature that had the head of a bull and the body of a man. King Aegeus was grief stricken when he saw his son’s ship with black sails (he assumed that the Minotaur had killed Theseus) and jumped to his death. Tragically, young Theseus was victorious against the Minotaur, but had forgotten to replace the black sails with white ones to symbolize victory. In commemoration of the tragic death, the sea was called the Aegean Sea.
Lykavittos Hill
At 277 meters, Lykavittos Hill is the tallest point in Athens, and is a perfect spot to catch a sunset, and take in a panoramic view of the entire city. You can either do a challenging walk up the stairs to the top of hill, or take a funicular to the top.
There is a restaurant on top for you to get some refreshments and take in the view.
Dining with locals
For our first night in Athens, we decided to try a home cooked authentic Greek dinner with local athenian Lena through Alternative Athens. Lena put out quite a spread for us and it was a great way to kick off our Greek Adventure. She was happy to customize the meal when she learned we were vegetarians, and regaled us about Greek life, travel, Athens and current affairs over delicious food and wine. If you have the time, do try to add this experience to your itinerary. For those who are vegetarian, we thought it would be helpful to list out the food so you know what to expect:
- Tzatziki for starters – traditional Greek yogurt based dip flavored with vinegar, lots of garlic and cucumbers.
- Strapatsada to whet the appetite – scrambled egg with grated tomatoes, olive oil & feta cheese.
- Classic Greek Salad with cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, thinly sliced red onion, bell peppers, feta cheese & Greek olives with olive oil/oregano dressing.
- Main course of Gemista – delicious assortment of roasted vegetables – tomatoes, zucchini, and bell peppers stuffed with aromatic rice, Greek herbs, served with roasted potatoes.
- Greek dessert Ypovryxio – a nugget of mastic and vanilla flavored sugar paste dipped in a glass of ice cold water. This one is a bit of an acquired taste. For those who don’t know, mastic is a resin obtained from the mastic tree traditionally cultivated in the Greek island of Chios. It has medicinal, dental hygiene, and culinary uses, and has a distinctive smell. It is also called Arabica Gum or the Tears of Chios. Our host was kind enough to give us a small vial of mastic as well.
Graffiti everywhere
As you walk around the Plaka and other neighborhoods in Athens, you cannot help but notice the graffiti – they are everywhere! I don’t think we’ve seen this much graffiti anywhere else.
We heard from multiple people that the financial crisis has led to a proliferation of street art and graffiti especially among youth frustrated with the political situation. We found some of the graffiti to be very interesting:
