Back to the beginning

Wednesday September 28, 2011

As a teenager I dreamed of being an archeologist and studying history by going back in time through my research. Today was a fulfilled dream as we went back to the start of so much of history, civilization's roots!

Maneuvering through the crowd reminded me of the Expo 86. There were tour guides speaking a myriad of languages. Luckily we were some of the first wave of the throng so we did actually get pictures and see what we wanted to. The remains are impressively huge. The guide said even back in 400 BC they built cranes much like the one helping with the repair but slave powered. The Parthenon is completely under restoration so it was filled with scaffolding. I guess this has been going on for years and will continue for another 40 years or so. We took pictures of Mars hill but did not have time to go climb on it so that is saved for another day. You may see on the news tonight pictures of the protests of the striking transportation workers. We could hear their speeches on top the Acropolis. I was amazed at how well sound carried. I was disappointed not to be able to see any of the protest march or peaceful demonstration and by the time we were in the downtown district for lunch everything was quiet, no sign of anything. The only noticeable thing was not one yellow taxi but instead everyone had brought their car to work so the streets were busy but no worse than Deerfoot at 4:30. We then went to see the Pantheanic Stadium built in the fourth century BC, then restored by the Romans in 200 AD and the restored again for the first modern Olympics in 1896. In 2004 it was the stadium used for the grand finish of the Marathon. The guide said 60,000 people can fit in the stands – the book claimed they packed 80,000 in. It was huge! We then went to see the temple of Zeus. It must have been an amazingly enormous and unbelievable in its day, The foundation is huge and our guide Dora said there were 104 pillars the original temple. Only 15 still standing and one laying on the ground. We had a driving tour of the downtown area where we saw the first library and university.Both very neat columned buildings. After a wonderful lunch of stuffed tomatoes and briam, we took a bus tour along the coast for a 65 km trip to the temple of Poseidon. It is a very beautiful ancient structure on a high rise of land overlooking the Aegean sea. We saw the summer homes of the wealthy Athenians and drove through several small tourist towns. It was breathtaking and I just wanted to stop and explore each of the little coves with clear turquoise water. Fabulous day ended by a wonderful 5 course Grecian meal in a little taverna in the Plaka. Just a Grecian Dream.