Athens

Athens
October 18 - 21

We spent day 1 sorting out or bikes and taking them to a bike shop to pack them into boxes ready for our flight home and to store them until Nov 5.  We also packed away 12kg of luggage to post home.  $150 and the box will be there in a week.

Taking the panniers off our bikes in the AirBnB

Then we were ready for the touristing.
First off was the Acropolis.  Amazing to see this place that was inhabited so long ago.  It stretches my imagination to think what it would have been like.

Theatre of Dionysus with Athens in the background.  The important people had their name engraved on their seat

The Odeon Theatre - upgraded seats to use the venue today

Entrance to the Propylaea 

The Parthenon

A view of Athens and the location of our AirBnB.  Near the church to the right of the dark building in the distance

Looking down on the Temple of Olympian and Zeus and the Gates of Hadrian

The Acropolis at night

Next day we went to the Acropolis Museum - set in a beautiful building, with lots of information about Lord Elgin's plunder of Greek relics and how they can be viewed in the British Museum.  The Greeks aren't too happy about it and would like their stuff back.

Coins from 300BC

The bronze eyelashes have bled into the marble

The Caryatid holding up the Erechtheion

A leggo model of the Acropolis

I woke up one morning from our AirBnb to find a market had sprung up outside overnight.

Lots of varieties of olives

Loads of eggplants

These are all beans of various varieties

We spent some time exploring the area below the Acropolis, including the Roman Agora and the Gates of Hadrian and the Temple of Olympian and Zeus

Totally unprotected from people and the elements.  Probably a couple of thousand years old!

The Temple of Olympian and Zeus

The Tower of Winds in the Roman Agora

The ceiling on the Tower of Winds

The floor - a water clock??

Ancient toilet block

A ballot box to decide who was on jury duty

And our last stop was checking out the changing of the Guards at the Greek Parliament in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  We didn't actually see the guards change - just do their hourly routine.

He slammed his gun down when I went to put my hand on his shoulder!! I got the message.

In the middle of all this on the last day in Athens, Dermot had his wallet pinched from his pocket on the Metro.  It took about 3 hours to cancel the credit cards, then we had to find the tourist police to report it for insurance.  I think it was about the 25th report they'd had that day for pick pocketing!  At least we didn't lose his passport like happened to some.