Fred’n’Sue’s Peregrinations

…… the subject is the light …..

Athens – Day 2 – Sunday 7 April 2024

What a contrast – writing this from Den Haag after a day out in Delft – 6 degrees and intermittent showers.
Today (7 April) was Acropolis day – Acropolis being the highest point in the city – well not really today but it would have been when the city state of Athens lay in its shadow. Even today it dominates the city – from every vantage point the Acropolis and the Parthenon are front and centre.

Panathenaic Stadium built for the first modern Olympic Games of 1896 on the site of the Panthenaic games of Greco-Roman times. Constructed entirely of marble with capacity of 80,000. This photo does it little justice!!
Ascending, or was it descending, the path made for us 70 year olds to reach the Acropolis

Before we go too much further it is useful to add a map of the Acropolis.

The fate of the Parthenon lay in the hands of the Ottoman occupiers.
In 1687 with the Venetians laying siege to the Acropolis the Ottomans first demolished the Temple of Athena for a cannon emplacement, while storing gunpowder and other ammunition in the Propylaea and the Parthenon. Cannon fire from the Venetian forces blew up both, with the Parthenon losing its roof and much of the walls.

Some of the hordes at the main (west) entrance from 3rdC CE in the Roman era fortifications
Temple and altar of Athena Nike
Half way in, with Temple of Athena Nike on the right and that hat in the bottom right – follows me everywhere!
The Propylaea
The Parthenon, from Athena Parthenos or Athena the Virgin, with a familiar hat bottom centre
And with the Temple of Rome and Augustus in the foreground
Erechtheion
And what remains of the old Temple of Athena in the foreground
The Caryatid porch – all replicas with the originals in the Acropolis Musuem and one nicked by Lord Elgin in the British Museum. Elgin’s contention was that he was preserving the artefacts – a deal was done with the Ottomans who had no interest in them.
Athens as far as the eye can see – Ancient Agora of Athens in the foreground with the Temple of Hephiastos and Stoa of Attalos
Odeon of Herodes Atticus – he who funded the construction of the Panathenaic stadium – with capacity for 5,000 bums
La Diva – Maria Callas
And the rest of the day was wandering and shopping in the Plaka district where we had wiled away our time yesterday. Athens Cathedral.

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