Our Final Destination
Trip Start
Sep 08, 2009
1
35
Trip End
Nov 24, 2009
Athens, Attica, Greece
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
One of the first ancient sites we saw was the Arch of Hadrian. It’s a big, monumental arch that once spanned an ancient road. (Now it sits alongside a busy, smog-filled four lane road with Greek people whizzing by while smoking cigarettes and honking uncontrollably.) It’s not known why the arch was built but many historians speculate that it was to commemorate Emperor Hadrian’s benefactions to the city. In a field next to the Arch of Hadrian is the Temple of Olympian Zeus, a colossal ancient temple built in the 6th century B.C. and dedicated to Zeus. Over the years the temple has been damaged and pillaged so what we see today are just fifteen of the original 104 columns. It’s still a magnificent sight. The columns were originally 55 feet high and the ones standing are still around that same height today. We got to walk around the temple and see its massiveness from all different angles. In the distant background you can even see the Acropolis with the Parthenon sitting high on the hill.
We spent a good amount of time just wandering around the main pedestrian areas in Athens. This included the Plaka- a big shop and restaurant area, Anafiotika- an un-Athens-like neighborhood at the base of the Acropolis, and the Monastiraki market area. We had fun souvenir shopping, people-watching, and eating good Greek food around these areas.
Like many of the places we’ve visited, Athens has a wild animal problem. Instead of there being hundreds of feral cats everywhere though, there are wild dogs everywhere. The interesting thing about these dogs is that they are all big and healthy-looking. They all look part German Shepherd for some reason and are all really friendly and mellow. We didn’t see or hear one dog fight. And every dog would walk right up to you to be pet. Even though it’s always sad to see wild animals that should have homes, it was nice to finally see healthy and happy looking animals. We made a friend or two whom we tried to feed whatever we had that they might have wanted.
The Ancient Agora is a hugely famous site in Athens. It’s the place where civilization flourished once upon a time. This was the old city in Athens- where laws were written, politics took place, and Socrates wrote his ideas about philosophy. Everything that happened here shaped the world as we know it. We got to walk along the Panatheniac Way where so many ancient events and parades took place. We got to see ancient assembly halls, temples, shrines, and other monuments. It was amazing to walk in the footsteps of ancient Greeks who shaped our lives in ways we don’t even realize.
The biggest thing we did in Athens (well, the biggest thing everybody does) is go up to the Acropolis to see the Parthenon. We could see the Parthenon sitting on top of the Acropolis from many different parts of Athens but it was so amazing to actually climb up to the top to see it close up. It was way more awesome than I thought it was going to be (plus it was right at sunset time). I’d always imagined the Parthenon to be an amazing ancient site but it was so indescribably breathtaking to be standing in front of it that I remember feeling chills. There’s nothing like being in the midst of something so ancient (2,500 years old!) and with so much history directly responsible for how our world and our societies work today.
A cool surprise we had on this trip was that Andre’s parents happened to be visiting Athens at the same time as us. We found out just a few days before the trip so it was exciting to meet up with them- on Mars Hill of all places (the famous rocky hill next to the Acropolis where Paul the Apostle spoke to the Athenians before heading to Corinth). We spent that evening with them and then the next day- which was our last day in Athens (and Europe). We all went to the National Archaeological Museum on our last day. This museum was by far the best archaeological museum we’ve ever been to. It has all the best ancient Greek artifacts from near and far. Among thousands of ancient weapons, jewelry, household items, gravestones, sculptures, and other artifacts, we finally got to see the Mask of Agamemnon, famous Greek god statues, and artifacts from Grave Circle A in Mycenae. It was so cool to see the Mycenaean artifacts after coming from Mycenae- where they were excavated. And seeing other famous artifacts in person- like the huge Bronze Poseidon- was amazing because we’ve all seen it before in history books or otherwise. It’s just a really cool feeling to see things you’ve learned about at some point in your life. That can be said for more than just this one museum- it goes for all of traveling around different countries.
Andre and I spent our last night in Europe by having a nice meal at a good, authentic Greek restaurant. I ordered the fish special and Andre had lamp chops. My dish was delivered with the full, head-to-tail fish, which I should have suspected. It was nice to wind down and reflect on the past 2 ½ months a little bit, while listening to a Greek band play. We chose our favorite places and talked about things that seemed like a lifetime ago (even though it was only a few weeks ago). Afterward, we headed back to our hostel, got packed up, and went to sleep for just a few hours before waking up again to head to the airport. It was such a weird feeling, having our trip be over and all. It went by so fast yet, like last year, it felt like a lifetime since we’d set out.
