Temperature: 36 degrees
Weather: Sunny - steaming!
After a sleep that the dead would have been pleased with we set out to see the new Acropolis Museum a short distance from our hotel. The construction is a concrete and glass modernist building over three levels. It was opened in 2009 and is housed just below the Acropolis. For only five euro the museum is really breathtaking from the glass floors that reveal a current excavation of an early Christian settlement occurring on the ground level to the life-size reconstruction of the Parthenon’s friezes on the top level. I was surprised to learn that the hand maidens I admired yesterday on the Erechtheion were actually copies and the real ones were being restored as a “hands on” exhibit in the museum.
We could have stayed many more hours but we had reached saturation point after more than two hours and knowing there was so much more to see we wandered through the increasing heat to purchase tickets on the Athens City Tour – a hop and stop bus. Our first stop was to visit the new Byzantine Museum. The icons on display ranged from the 10th century to the 18th century. The amount of icons, wall paintings and artefacts were stunning and at the same time staggering. When we didn’t think there could possibly be any more another packed room opened up. A lot of the icons were double sided and they had been arranged beautifully on glass which we could walk around.
We walked from a controlled 22 degree environment into the middle of a very hot day. We wended our way into the National Gardens and found a little café to have lunch – we sat under a vine covered trellis and ate our Greek salads.
We then took a wrong turn in the gardens and made a change of plans and headed to the Agora, the traditional market place of Greece for 1500 years. What a fantastic site made all the more special with the most intact temple we have seen: the Temple of Hephaistos and Athena.
Another bus trip and we visited the Parthenaic Stadium the home of the Olympics. It’s a very impressive site and we had fun taking photos on the track and seated in the thrones. We walked the tunnel where athletes made their way to compete and had fun on the dais with our ‘medals’.
Dinner was a great affair, a balmy summer night on a rooftop with magical views of the lit Acropolis. We were served complimentary grappa which seemed equivalent to pure alcohol at the rate it took my breath away. The usual beers followed for the boys whilst Desley and I moved onto rose. We toasted our newfound god: Dionysus, the god of wine, vegetation, inebriation and ecstatic dance!! Sounds like a fun guy!!
Another great day for us all.
Photos: The new Acropolis Museum; an icon from The Byzantine Museum; The Temple of Hephaistos and Athena at the Agora; The Olympic Stadium.
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