Athens in the Afternoon

After visiting the Acropolis we went to the city center to enjoy some free time.  We walked down the hill and got to see some interesting things on the way. Like here was this guy dressed up like a Spartan selling jewelry and ancient-Greek-type gewgaws.

 

I caught up with him later near the park down below. I like this shot better because the helmet is down.

  

There were also these guys who did break dancing.

I sort of wish I had gone to the Plaka and some ancient sites on the far end of town, but instead I had decided I wanted to visit the Acropolis museum. (Μουσείο Ακρόπολη)

An interesting thing about the museum is that it is built over an archaeological site from 7th to 9th century AD/CE. 

Below is a hall tower from the seventh century for example.

 

Below you can see this tower at number one and the way the museum (dashed lines) fits over the rest of the site. 

The floor in the  museum has sections of glass (unfortunately with white dots all over it - hence no pictures) so you can look down at the rest of the site.

Before entering the museum, I wandered around a bit and drank in the ambiance of Athens.

Athens has its share of street performers like these living statues.

Evidence of the past is everywhere.

So is grafitti.

 

The museum itself was lovely, Of course there was one section where we were not allowed to take pictures and that had the objects that most interested me. (Like this owl that I found on Metron Ariston's website with other beautiful pictures from the museum.)

 I love these geometric pattern pots from the 8th century.  The large pot is a funerary urn.

Of course the most visited part of the museum is the part that contains images of the friezes and pediments from the Parthenon. (Remember that east pediment - Here you can see what those pieces look like again.)

Out the window there is a lovely view of the Acropolis.

The lion below caught my eye.

This was an exhibit on the colors that could be made from the local minerals. An artist had gone back and recreated the colors found in ancient Greek pottery and painting.

And this was a lego recreation of the Acropolis.

OUr agreed upon meeting point was the arch of Hadrian (Αψίδα του Αδριανού).

It stands over a road that leads at an angle to the Temple of Olympian Zeus and was purpotedly built to honor (Roman) Emperor Hadrian. There are inscriptions honoring both Hadrian and Theseus as founders of Athens. One incription says: ΑΙΔ' ΕΙΣΙΝ ΑΘΗΝΑΙ ΘΗΣΕΩΣ Η ΠΡΙΝ ΠΟΛΙΣ  (This is Athens the city of Theseus.) The second inscription on the reverse side of the arch says something similar: ΑΙΔ' ΕΙΣ' ΑΔΡΙΑΝΟΥ ΚΟΥΧΙ ΘΗΣΕΩΣ ΠΟΛΙΣ except Theseus' name is replaced with Hadrian's and the second part of the inscription adds "and not of Theseus."  Hmmm.

 

The temple complex stems from 131 or 132 AD/CE. It took more than 630 years to build the temple which was begun in the 6th century BC/E. In the third century AD/CE the temple was pillaged by "barbarians" (so-called because their language sounded like "babababa" to the "civilized" peoples of antiquity.) Unfortunately its fallen stones were used for other projects over the centruies, so there is a great amount of it missing.

 

I have a few favorite shots fromthis trip and this one below is one of them.

It was taken at the  Skalakia Restaurant where my roommate and I went for dinner. We quite enjoyed the food - fried zucchini, a Greeek tomato and cheese salad and some wonderful lamb.

The restaurant had an outdoor patio (where we ate) and an indoor room with these characteristic checked table cloths.

As with many Greek restaurants there is a pergola with  vines to give some shade and help keep the patio cool.

As we looked for the restaurant we were not sure we were in the right place - Would you recognize that there is a restaurant on this street? It looked like a residential area, and quite honestly, like a less than savory one!  Nonetheless our dining establishment was located up some steps beneath those luxuriatng vines.

After dinner we took a walk around the neighborhood. I had to laugh when I saw this sign for a "girly" club that had lost the first three letters of "welcome".

But from the mundane to the sacred - there was a lovely Greek Orthodox church around the corner.

It was locked, but the ceilings above the entry way had some interesting images.

Next door was a lovely little park, which hosted children, neighbors, mosquitos ...

some pretty blue flowers ....

and also a cat.

There was a little shrine midway up a hill, housing all kinds of treasures.

We took a leisurely stroll and enjoyed this bit of sylvan quiet in the middle of the busy city.

Our first full day was over and it had been lovely!