Bristol - the old city

Bristol has a rich history that goes back to the Norman era. It became a city in 1542 and trade across the Atlantic developed. During the 17th and 18th centuries the transatlantic slave trade and the Industrial Revolution brought prosperity. Edmund Burke, MP for Bristol supported the American Revolution and free trade. Prominent reformers such as Mary Carpenter and Hannah More campaigned against the slave trade.

As the city expanded the city walls were demolished and new buildings replaced old. With the exception of the churches, most of the older buildings in the Old City are Georgian or Victorian. Many of these were banks and grand civic buildings such as the former Corn Exchange, now St Nicholas Market.

We loved walking around the Old City in Bristol. We started with the Christmas Steps as it was one of the sites I remembered from our previous visit.

Today, there are independent shops on either side of the steps as they climb higher and higher

Unfortunately, scaffolding on large parts of the steps ruined the effect of looking up or down at them

An old almshouse, founded in 1483, at the top of the steps

We went down a different set of steps

Street art

We walked through the arch of this church

on to Broad Street

A hotel

The Palestine Museum. We decided we would visit the next day, which was a mistake as the next day the museum was closed. 

The Bank of England and a unicorn

We then entered Corn Street and found ourselves in the middle of a market.

Today trade is still the key part of the Old City. The streets and alleys around this area hold a whole array of street markets and events, from a weekly farmers market, to book markets, arts markets.

We arrived at one of the many entrances to St Nicks market,

 a thriving market housing Bristol's largest collection of independent traders, named as one of the ten best markets in the UK.

 

Unfortunately I had an accident with some of the photographs and lost them in the process, and a lot of them included photos of the St Nicks market.

There are a lot of bars, cafes and restaurants around St Nicks market and generally around this area and they always seemed to be busy

This city is just so vibrant

Another street market here, a small one this time

Around Athens

We pretended we were tourists last week when friends were visiting and we showed them around.

We started outside the Acropolis Metro station which is by the Acropolis Museum, and this is the back of the modernist building.

another view of the side of the building. I could not take any photographs of the front as I was facing the sun which was very strong that day

A view of the Acropolis from the Irodou Attikou Avenue. Hardly any scaffolding from this side, phew!

One of the few remaining Art Nouveau buildings in Athens. The authorities wanted to demolish it so that there would be a straight view of the Acropolis from the Museum - typical shortsightedness of the Greek government, but there was too much opposition to the plan, so it was shelved

the entrance to the building - the graffitti is sheer vandalism.

We continued walking up the Avenue until we got to the Irodou Attikou Roman theatre, which is where we saw the performance of Mikis Theodorakis' Canto General last summer

and this is what the theatre looks like as seen from the Acropolis.

Limited visibility due to the smog created by the wood and other materials that people are burning in order to keep warm



 

A good view of the Iphaistion, also called Thesion, which is in the middle of the Ancient Agora and is one of the most well preserved temples - it was dedicated to Iphaistos, the god of fire.



About to enter the Propylae which is the entrance to the Acropolis on the west side. This building was the work of the architect Mnesikles and was erected in 437-432 BC. It consists of a central building and two wings. The north wing had frescos on its walls and is therefore known as the Pinakotheke.



The Erechtheion, built between 421 and 406 BC and the architect may have been Mnesikles. The sculptor and mason was Phidias. On the north side there is a porch with six Ionic columns while on the south is the 'Porch of the Maidens' with six draped female figures, the Karyates acting as supporting figures. The temple was dedidated to Athena and Poseidon. Within the foundations lived the sacred snake of the temple which represented the spirit of Cecrops and whose well-being was thought essential for the safety of the city. It was fed honey cakes by the priestesses of Athena. The snake's occasional refusal to eat the cakes was thought a disastrous omen.

In 1801 one of the Karyates was removed by Lord Elgin in order to decorate his Scottish mansion and later sold to the British Museum along with the pedimental and frieze sculpture taken from the Parthenon. Athenian legend had it that at night the remaining five Karyates could be heard wailing for their lost sister. Elgin attempted to remove a second Karyate; when technical difficulties arose he tried to have it sawn to pieces. The statue was smashed and its fragments were left behind. It was later reconstructed haphazardly with cement and iron rods. In 1979 the original five Karyates were removed to the Acropolis Museum and replaced in situ by exact replicas.

Lycabettus Hill in the distance

 



zooming in

The remains of the Temple of Olympian Zeus in the distance. A colossal ruined temple, its construction began in the 6th century BC, it was meant to be the biggest temple in the ancient world, but it was not completed until the 2nd century AD during the reign of Roman emperor Hadrian. During the Roman period it was renowned as the largest temple in Greece and housed one of the largest cult statues of the ancient world. The temple fell into disuse after being pillaged in a barbarian invasion in the 3rd century AD.

The Parthenon dedicated to Athena whom the people of Athens considered their patron. Its construction began in 447 BC and was completed in 438 BC. It is the most important building of classical Greece, generally considered the culmination of the Doric order. In 1806 Lord Elgin removed some of the sculptures with Ottoman permission. These sculptures, now known as the Elgin Marbles were later sold to the British Museum.

One more photograph of the Parthenon that I have downloaded from the internet - there is so much scaffolding at the moment that I could not take a further satisfactory photograph

Moving along around the Parthenon on the south slope of the Acropolis we can see the Theatre of Dionysus below as well as the Acropolis Museum in the distance.

We then walked down the hill and came to the Roman Forum, located near the Ancient Agora. The Ancient Agora, in the centre of the ancient city, is a large open area surrounded by buildings of various functions. It was utilised for commerce, political, religious and military activity. Meetings were held four times a month to enact legislation, to hear embassies, and deal with defence. The Winds Monument is on the right. This is an octagonal monument built with Pendelic marble featuring a combination of sundials, a water clock and wind vane. Below the frieze featuring the eight wind deities there are eight sundials. 

 We then walked through the flea market

and on to Adrianou Street which is full of restaurants, cafes and bars. It was a sunny day so everyone was sitting outside.

 We chose Kuzina as the place to have lunch

but, like everyone else, we sat outside where we could have a distant view of the Acropolis

 zooming in

 one more view of the Acropolis from Monastiraki Square seen as we were heading home.