Day 1: Acropolis

March 04, 2023

Arrived Friday afternoon to a meal of chicken kebab and washed it down with some cocktails at the hotel bar after a long exhausting flight and a connection in Serbia. Thankfully my only plan was to sleep like the dead, for Athens awaited!

With a forecast of a rainy afternoon, I decided to head out early to try and beat any crowds. After a yogurt breakfast, and some Greek coffee I'm reasonably positive is the same as Turkish coffee, I began my day walking the windey streets and alleys that make up Athens.

The view of the sacred rock, with the Acropolis on top draws you in like a magnet. I can't even imagine how it might have looked in its glory days. Its history is long and well celebrated, its one of the most instantly recognizable monuments in the world and has been for more than 2 thousand years. The Acropolis is why you travel to Athens and it's every bit worth that status.

Its a nice exhilarating climb, as you make the procession up. My preference in travel has always been to travel in the off-season to avoid crowds, and arrive at the Acropolis just after it opened magnifyied that. I wasn't the only one there, but there were no lines and no tour groups yet, they were all arriving by the bus load as I left 2 hours later. Go early, enjoy the brisk morning air and look out on the Aegean from atop the sacred rock of the Acropolis.

I'm still in awe hours later, of the massive columns of marble, the sheer height and size of the buildings. Its hard to imagine the effort it must have taken to build, maintain and now restore. The area is covered in temple after temple andghe remains of support buildings. From the Propylia entrance way with it's huge stairs and massive columns, to the temple of the Athena Nike and the mythical origins of theErechthieon, any one of which would be an impressive visit on their own. Which made my next stop at the Acropolis museum an obvious choice.

I chatted with an archeologist from Norway visiting Athens while buying tickets to the museum, who was appalled by the seeming lack of care at some of the sights. Particularly at Hadrian's Library, which has pieces of pot fragments along the walking path for tourists to walk over (or steal). I have to imagine though that these sites open to the public have mostly been picked over by legions of archeologists already.

The Acropolis museum is a world class museum, dedicated to the sole purpose of the Acropolis. It sticks to that mandate, and is all the strongest for it. From exhibits showing the offerings left behind there both by the poor and the nobility, to the history of the building as a pagen temple, town center, Christian church, mosque, armory. Half of the first floor was dedicated to pigments and their use on statues in the ancient world, and was the only room where photography was not allowed.

The top floor is the standout, with huge windows letting natural light in on many of the original and repaired or meticulously replaced pieces of the decorations that went along the Parthenon.

Set up exactly like how they were on the building itself, which you can see through the window. Walking along the statues and sculpture, which would have been hundreds of feet in the air is fascinating. Its a magnificent exhibit, that shows the story of what the Parthenon meant to the ancient Athenians. What story's and myths were central to how they lived, and the unthinkable effort that went into carving those giant marble blocks and then lifting them up in the air for display.

Hilariously they even include notes of where the statues and other decorations are missing, usually because they were stolen by the British and are in the British museum. As someone who loves museums it's a poignant reminder that they can often be tools of imperialism and Western-centrism. Its a hard balance between returning items to the countries to which they belong, and keeping them preserved and safe. Ultimately though I think I side with the Greeks on this one. The Parthenon and all its pieces belong in Athens.

I spent hours in the museum, which is where I ran into the negative side of traveling in the off-season. Everything closed at 3pm. After a rest at my hotel, I headed to an interesting restaurant I had walked past earlier: Mironi. Set in the metaxourgeio district just north of the Acropolis, I think what caught my eye about the place was its traditional Greek menu, without the touristy trappings. After the ton of walking today, a delicious smorgasbord was exactly what I was craving. Fresh grilled Sardines straight out of the Aegean. Hot layered moussaka, a new favorite of mine, made of Eggplant, potatoes and a sort of lamb Bolognese, topped with decedent bechamel. The single best baklava I've ever had, absolutely drowned in Greek honey.

After a free shot of the Anise flavored Ouzo and a pana cotta drizzled in caramel as a goodbye, I was stuffed to the brim and ready to crash. For tomorrow I head to the mystical city of Delphi, around 100 miles to the west. Its a 10 hour tour, the only one of my trip, and I'm excited to see what else Greece has in store.

Here's a brief selection of some of the 300 photos I took today. I can't wait to dig into those back home and print some out for my albums.

5000 seat amphitheater, odeon of herodes Atticus