What a glorious day in Athens! We've finally found the sun and clear blue skies, with a temperature of 76 degrees. We're no longer wet and cold.
The hotel in Athens is a clean no frills place, with a perfect location only two blocks from the metro and about as far to the Hop on Hop off bus tour stop. Our breakfast at the hotel had local Greek breakfast items as well as a traditional meat and eggs. I tried a couple of things that were definitely different and will do so again tomorrow.
Just to capture our mood, we took 120 pictures today. I think the blue sky and sunshine provided the perfect backdrop and we went a little digital happy. Our tour day started out with purchasing Athens Open Tour tickets which allow you access to a double decker open top bus. We went to the Acropolis and I can say the place is way cool, and exceeded my expectations for a bucket list item. Built in the fifth century BC, it is amazing how the Greeks were intelligent enough to construct and left us wondering how such knowledge can get lost. The Acropolis has the Temple of Athena Nike, Parthenon, and several sanctuaries. It is mind boggling how the Greeks built the Doric peristyle temple with eight Ionic columns on the ends and seventeen columns on the sides. Then the carvings on the upper tiers were interesting as well considering when they were done and what we had just seen in Rome.
Next we Hopped on to see the temple of the Olympian Zeus which is the largest of the ancient temples of Athens. The temple was finished by the Roman Emperor Hadrian in about 125 AD after over 300 years of various groups working on the building. There were two rows of 20 Corinthian columns for a total of 140 columns. Of course there aren't all standing and it was easy to see how the columns were constructed because there were numerous parts laying on the ground.
The Ancient Agora has both a Greek site and Roman site. The Greek section was the center of Athenian democracy and the place where Pericles and Socrates walked. The Roman site was built as a commercial center of the city and is adjacent to the Greek center. The Romans built a Tower of Winds that had a weather vane that indicated the direction of the wind, as well as being constructed on a north south orientation that was for time. Roger checked the building's orientation with his compass on his watch and the Romans were right on the N/S.
We then went to what our Athens book said was the Sunday Flee Market. Once there we found out that the market is every day, not just Sunday. It was interesting wandering through the kitsch of the market, lots of junk but it seemed like business was OK. From there we hopped on the bus and finished the route around the city. We saw a couple of places we'll check out tomorrow, but Roger and I didn't want to over do the sun, so we called it a day.
Right now we're sitting at the Athens Sports Bar, which is two doors down from the Laundromat. A load costs e5 to wash and e4 to dry. We had two loads. People on the bus tour asked us how we could pack "just one suitcase" and the answer is figure out where the laundromats are. Roger is happy with a beer and I have a glass of wine, so this has to be the best place we've every done laundry. Tomorrow promises to be the same weather-wise, but I doubt we can take as many pictures.
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