23 September 2010

Visit to Greece – Athens and the Parthenon

This holiday we decided to visit Greece. Our main interests were:

  • the Acropolis
  • Delphi
  • Meteora monasteries
  • the island of Naxos
  • the island of Santorini

In a series of blog posts I will tell you more about the interesting things we saw. First stop: Athens

Athens
We flew with Olympic Airways from Schiphol to Athens airport. The flight takes about three hours. Olympic Airways did not provide on board entertainment, but they did serve a free lunch! We stayed at Arion Athens City Hotel, located right in the old center of Athens.

A few minutes walk from the hotel is Monastiraki Square. Here you can see Hadrian’s library, the Roman Agora and the Tower of the Winds – but more on that later.

Our first visit was The Acropolis. We made sure we were there when it opens: 8 o’clock in the morning. The light is right (not too harsh) and more importantly the busloads of tourists have not been dropped off yet.

First you have to climb the steps at the entrance of the Acropolis – the Propylaea.

Acropolis - Entry / Propylaea

Don’t forget to look up when you walk through the entrance.

Acropolis - Entry / Propylaea

Acropolis

And after a few steps you have your first view of the Parthenon.

Acropolis - Parthenon

We were lucky that most of the scaffolding was taken away. For the first time you could see the side of the Acropolis without any obstruction.

Acropolis

Next to the Acropolis you can see the Erectheum and it’s porch of maidens.

 Acropolis

Some wise guy decided to set up his office there.

Acropolis - Erecthion

Note that these ladies are copies of the original. The originals are in the New Acropolis Museum.

The columns of the Acropolis are very special. Notice the sides run not parallel to each other, but they are slightly curved. One wonders how they have carved it like this out of marble.

Acropolis

Here are some details of the upper part of the Parthenon.

Acropolis - Parthenon Acropolis

A side view of the Acropolis

Acropolis

We had the place for ourselves until about 9.00. After that it becomes more and more crowded. This is what you get if you visit the Acropolis later in the day. We are going down, the busloads are climbing the entrance.

Acropolis


4 comments:

  1. wow Marc, you are so detailed...it feels like I'm on this trip with you and your camera : )

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  2. Wonderful photography, really capturing the Parthenon and I love the side view of the Acropolis.

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  3. Thanks for the post! Now I've seen the Acropolis without the crowds and in nice light!
    In the last picture, showing the crowd come in, there are 2 people in the upper left facing a wall. Are they doing restoration work? It looks dangerous working on this ledge!

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  4. Joy: the 2 persons in the top left corner are Acropolis staff. They are restoring the place so I guess they know what they are doing.

    Peggy: thank you for your compliment! I have some more photos to explain, so please visit my blog again, or better yet take an e-mail subscription on http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=blogspot/mchangsp

    Marios: Thank you!

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