Enough of Athens

After biking in Croatia and spending a day at sea, we arrived at our second of four ports, Athens, Greece. Once again, we had pre-booked an excursion, this time for a trip to the Acropolis. Prior to our arrival in port, some fellow passengers expressed concerns about the current events in Athens. While we did see the square in which most of the protests were taking place, the scene didn't seem particularly frighting.

Protests

The combination of banners, activists passing around petitions, and people sleeping in tents was reminiscent of demonstrations I've seen in Austin, Texas. Unfortunately, a few days after we left, the protests did turn violent. Even with this turn of events, however, I don't think tourists would be in any danger, as the demonstrations seemed pretty localized.

One effect of these protests was that we had to see the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from the bus, as the area in which to observe the ceremony was fenced off.

Changing of the Guard - Athens

This small change in plans didn't seem to affect the tour too much, though, since we saw all of the sites on the way to the Acropolis from the comfort of the tour bus. These included the Arch of Hadrian, the Temple of Zeus, and the first modern Olympic stadium. 

Arch of Hadrian

Temple of Zeus

Stadium from the 1896 Olympics

During the bus ride, our guide, Calliope, not only pointed out the above sites, but also told us a little about the Acropolis, itself. In Greek, the word acropolis actually means "high city", and so there are actually several "acropolises" around Greece. However, the most famous one, often just referred to as "the Acropolis", is the one in Athens.

When we arrived at the parking lot for the Acropolis, we climbed about halfway up the hill before we saw that we had to wait in an enormous line to get inside the gates. During this time, people shoved and cut in line, as Calliope tried to keep our group together. Once inside the gates, we still had a bit of a climb, once again through a crowd of not-so-polite people, before we could finally see the buildings of the Acropolis.

Of course the most famous temple located at the Acropolis is the Parthenon. 

Parthenon

The scaffolding, on the building as part of the reconstruction efforts, prevented us from seeing some of the main reliefs at the top of the temple, but with high winds and a pushy crowd, the scaffolding seemed like the least in a series of annoyances. (I was a little surprised the government was still shelling out money for reconstruction efforts. I guess that when tourism is your only thriving industry, you better work to preserve tourist destinations at all costs.)

While several other temples occupy the top of the hill, each with their unique architectural characteristics, I had trouble appreciating the differences. It was also hard to focus very much on anything with the dirt blowing into my eyes, the heat, and the endless crowds of people.

As a side note, we noticed that the city seemed to have a large stray dog problem as several strays made themselves comfortable around the Acropolis. (I wonder if tourists are more generous with handouts than locals who are used to the problem.)

Strays

On the way back to the ship, I commented to Mr. Traveler that I was glad we had chosen to visit the Acropolis on the bus tour. We saw the main sites of the city without having to navigate on our own. In addition, between the traffic (and motorcycles zooming between cars), the general big city grime, and the deteriorating buildings, Athens didn't seem to have much to offer outside of our brief sightseeing tour. More than anything, it just seemed like a huge city without a huge amount of money, which shouldn't have been much of a surprise after the news reports of the last few months.

Traffic from the Bus