Friday, March 27 -- the first full day in the city

Started the day with what was to have been a three-hour walking tour (shades of "Gilligan's Island) of the central part of Old Athens that ended up being more than five hours. The first part was a tour given by a guide who said his name was Aristotle (maybe yes, maybe no; I think on the next Greeter Service tour I give I'll adopt the name Harold Washington) who took a group of seven Americans through the city.

The first stop was outside the Parliament Building in Syntagma Square (the central area of the city) and Greece's Tomb of the Unknown Solder. We happened to arrive just in time for the ceremonial changing of the guard, which occurs every four hours.

















The soldiers performed a sort of native dance when changing the guard. Another Greek army officer was always around to move along aggressive sightseers who moved within six inches of the guards. The guide said that if a guard feels as if someone is acting disrespectful, all he has to do is hit his gun's butt on the ground and the other office removes the offender.




We then went through the adjacent National Gardens, which began in 1839 as the Royal Gardens, initially contained over 15,000 exotic plants. A row of royal palm trees were the gift of the United States just after World War II when the gardens were opened to the public and almost totally replanted.










Our ultimate destination was the top of the Acropolis, but that entailed walking through the city's oldest neighborhood, the Plaka, which is now the city's tourist center with lots of restaurants (think Navy Pier plus Old Town plus River North, all in blue and white). The tiny St. Catherine Church still stands near the base of the Acropolis and is -- wouldn't you know -- popular for lots of upscale weddings.









We then tackled the ascent to the Acropolis (note to self: contact Disney people to develop an easier way to reach the top with stops along the way). In our group were two early-twenty somethings from Indiana University who were studying business this semester at college in Florence (did I miss the memo about Florence being a hotbed of business expertise?) and seemed only interested in having their pictures taken and the guide's narration seemed as much a real inconvenience to them as did their choice of heeled footwear.
















We went up the path with stops for panoramic views of the city and at the Dionysus Theatre where the first Greek plays were presented at festivals.











Finally, at the top of the Acropolis was the famed Parthenon which has been undergoing almost constant repair in the last decades, principally because of the effect of Athens' air quality. Every homeowner can relate to 'always something to do,' especially every couple of thousand years.

View of the Temple of Zeus which is..............Perspective from the top of the
about a mile away from Acropolis. ...............Acropolis toward the Aegean.















The emblematic Parthenon is the most familiar feature on the Acropolis and its history is fascinating. It was so painstakingly designed by what today would be called primitive means, but the blocks fit together so well that even today the seams between them are invisible (reminds me of the seams in the Cloud Gate -- "the Bean" -- in Millennium Park) and that the Parthenon is not constructed of straight lines, but instead is significantly bowed in two directions so as to APPEAR perfectly straight. While earthquakes, invaders, and vandals have done their share of damage, the most severe damage which entailed the entire roof collapsing and much of the interior disintegrated occured during a war with Venice. Seems that some Athenian genius thought that the west side of the Parthenon would be a good place to store explosives and powder as they defended the Acropolis from Ventian shelling; you can picture the rest. Remind anyone of "Good job, Brownie!"?














The tour ended at the Parthenon where we could stay for as long as we wanted; considering the steep walk up the Acropolis, I was fairly confident this would be my ONLY time there this trip so I stayed for more than an hour.


Unfortunately, all the museums and historical sites close at 3pm since high tourist season doesn't begin until April 1. Our guide indicated that the tourist office had just released a study that showed hotel reservations down thirty percent this year compared with last and that the Greek government hinted that these restricted hours might be extended through the usually busy summer and early fall.


I spent the rest of the day exploring the Plaka area around the Acropolis which has numbers of casual restaurants and a wide variety of shops (most overpriced, according to the guide).


Dinner was a chicken gyro and a Greek salad (lacking lettuce, interestingly) at a takeaway and ate in one of the city square parks.



Small Russian Orthodox Church in the busy shopping/nightlife area is an example of the hundreds of parish churches which at one time dotted central Athens; because of the damage from the Greek War of Independence in 1821 against Turkey and population boom following World War II, only about forty of these remain in this area.