A short walk from where the bus drops us off, and we arrive at the Acropolis Museum - this is the old building
and cafeterias and restaurants on the other
We turn left onto Dionysou Aeropagitou, a pedestrianised avenue, and there's the Acropolis
I've never seen so many people queuing to get into the Acropolis. Athens is becoming a major tourist destination (we noticed this in the winter as well). It used to be that people came to Athens for a day on their way to the islands, but now they stay and sightsee. It's becoming too crowded and it's a worry for all of us.
A busker.
A better view from here
This is one of my favourite houses
We continue on our way
The Spanish Embassy
We arrive at the Odeon of Herodotus Atticus, a stone Roman theatre, built in 161 AD and renovated in 1950. It was a steep-sloped theatre with a three-story stone front wall and a wooden roof made of expensive cedar of Lebanon timber. It had 33 rows of marble seats in addition to scenery structures 28 metres high. It was used as a venue for music concerts with a capacity of 5,000 and was the largest of its time. It lasted intact until it was destroyed and left in ruins by the Heruli in AD 267.
The audience stands and the stage were restored using Pentelic marble in the 1950s.
Since then it has been the main venue for the Athens Festival which runs every summer. Maria Callas, Frank Sinatra, Elton John, Andrea Bocelli, Cold Play and of course, Mikis Theodorakis, are just a few of the people who have performed here.
I used to come here almost every week when I was a child. My father was an archaeologist and he used to get complimentary tickets for the best seats (second row). So my mother and I used to come all the time, to listen to classical music or to see ancient Greek tragedies. I have been here quite often as an adult. For the next post, I will re-post one of the performances I have been to.
A statue of Maria Callas opposite the steps that lead to the theatre
On our left the Kallirroe Fountain. During the reign of the tyrant Peisistratos (6th BC) the growth of the city's population necessitated the construction of a well organised system of fresh water to supply the city's needs. An extremely complex water-providing net was opened, subterrainean to a great extent, divided into several branches, covering a distance of more than 9,000 metres. The fresh water was sourced from the Hymettus mountain and run through sealed clay pipes into the town.
On our left, an excavation site. Excavations here revealed a rock-cut, underground chamber, accessible through a door-shaped opening. Inside the chamber a relief was uncovered, chiselled directly on the bedrock, presenting Pan, a naked Nymph and a dog. The presence of this relief led to the identification of this monument as a sanctuary of Pan.
showing films that are decades apart - On the Waterfront, 1954, and the Odyssey, 1926
looking closer
an imposing church and the Observatory next to it, seen on our left
a nice park on our left
typical of the area
past Kuzina, one of our favourite restaurants, and the only one that Greek people favour along here
which has views of the Acropolis
The Stoa of Attalos, which was a stoa (covered walkway or portico) inside the Agora, and was built between 159 and 138 BC. The building was reconstructed in the middle 50s and currently houses the Museum of the Ancient Agora.
the Athens/Piraeus train that runs on the edge of the Ancient Agora
on our right, a long string of tavernas
with the odd house in between
On our right we can see Philopapou Hill again, and the people at the top - so, we have come full circle in our circling of the Acropolis
at the end of Adrianou, the Roman Agora
Aerides, the Tower of the Winds, also known as the Orologio of Kyristos, is an octagonal Pendelic marble tower in the Roman Agora. It's named after the eight large reliefs of wind gods around its top. It was completed by about 50 BC. It's one of the very small number of buildings from classical antiquity that still stands virtually intact as it has been continuously occupied for a series of different functions.
Formerly topped by a wind vane, it is the only surviving horologium or clock tower from classical antiquity. It also housed a large waterclock and incorporated sundials placed prominently on its exterior faces - people were thus able by using this building to orient themselves in space and time. Architecture, sculpture and the new science were perfectly integrated. It was considered a marvel of technology.
There is so much more to say about this building, so I think that at some stage I will do a separate post on it.
Across the road from Aerides is this old door - I always wonder what it used to be. A church?
a neo-classical building
We are right in the centre of Plaka now
Popularly known as the Lantern of Demosthenes or Lantern of Diogenes, the Choradig Monument of Lysicrates stands under the Acropolis. It's known as the first use of the Corinthian order on the exterior of a building.
It has been reproduced widely in modern monuments across the world: the Burns' Monument on Carlton Hill in Edinburgh, on the towers of the North Kirk in Aberdeen, St Giles Church in Elgin, the Huskisson Memorial st St James Cemetery in Liverpool, the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, the Merchants' Exchange in Philadelphia, to name only a few.
We reach the Arch of Hadrian, most commonly known as Hadrian's Gate, the monumental gateway that spanned an ancient road from the center of Athens, to the complex of structures that include the Temple of Olympian Zeus, which is right behind it.
