Last night we left Santorini and sailed through the Aegean
Sea to the port city of Pitaeus, which is the gateway to Athens. In the Aegean Sea there are more than twenty-eight hundred islands
of which only about three hundred of them are inhabited.
It was hilarious this morning in the port. The main gate to the port must not open until
6:00am. I looked out the window of our
cabin at that time, just in time to see about fifty yellow Skoda cabs racing down
the main drag trying to get a prime spot to pick up passengers from the cruise
ships.
In the morning we had a tour of Athens. It is one of the world's oldest cities with recorded history going back three thousand years. A centre for the arts, learning and philosophy, it is widely regarded as the cradle of Western civilization and the birthplace of democracy. This was largely due to the impact of its cultural and political achievements during the 5th and 4th century BC on the rest of Europe.
The current city is home to about three million people. Unfortunately it has a very high unemployment rate as the Greek economy is the worst in Europe.
The highlight of the tour was a visit to the Acropolis. The Acropolis, which roughly translates to “Top of the City,” is a high hill in the middle of Athens. It is an ancient citadel located on a high rocky outcrop above the city of Athens and containing the remains of several ancient buildings of great architectural and historic significance, the most famous being the Parthenon.
The current city is home to about three million people. Unfortunately it has a very high unemployment rate as the Greek economy is the worst in Europe.
The highlight of the tour was a visit to the Acropolis. The Acropolis, which roughly translates to “Top of the City,” is a high hill in the middle of Athens. It is an ancient citadel located on a high rocky outcrop above the city of Athens and containing the remains of several ancient buildings of great architectural and historic significance, the most famous being the Parthenon.
The Parthenon is an ancient temple dedicated to Athena. It was built twenty-five hundred years ago. The mythology
of this site says that Zeus had to decide between Poseidon and Athena to
determine who would have their temple on top this hill. Athena won and Poseidon was given a temple on
Cape Sounion.
Work began on the Parthenon in 447 BC to replace an existing temple which was destroyed by the Persians. The work began under the orders of Pericles to show the wealth and power of Athens. This magnificent structure was built of ivory and gold and was sculptured by the renowned sculptor Phidias in what is now known as Doric Order. The most outstanding remaining visual feature of the temple are the fifty Doric marble columns.
The Parthenon has been a temple of Athena, a Christian church, a mosque and ammunition dump. When the Ottomans occupied Athens it was attacked by the Venetians, who blow up the ammunition dump and destroyed the roof of the Parthenon.
Work began on the Parthenon in 447 BC to replace an existing temple which was destroyed by the Persians. The work began under the orders of Pericles to show the wealth and power of Athens. This magnificent structure was built of ivory and gold and was sculptured by the renowned sculptor Phidias in what is now known as Doric Order. The most outstanding remaining visual feature of the temple are the fifty Doric marble columns.
The Parthenon has been a temple of Athena, a Christian church, a mosque and ammunition dump. When the Ottomans occupied Athens it was attacked by the Venetians, who blow up the ammunition dump and destroyed the roof of the Parthenon.
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| Parthenon |
There is an outdoor theatre at the base of the Acropolis,
the Odeum of Herodes Attius, which is still used for concerts.
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| Odeum of Herodes Attius |
Below the Acropolis is the Pnyx Hill, an open air forum, where
philosophers such as Plato, Socrates and Aristotle discussed the meaning of
civil government, law and society and developed the model of government that became
democracy. All this took place twenty-five hundred years ago and it gives me shivers just thinking about the importance of this
site to our western society.
After visiting the Acropolis, we went to the original
Olympic stadium from 1896. The Panathinalkon stadium was renovated for the centennial Olympics in
Athens, held in 2004.
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| Olympic stadium |
We then had a Greek lunch at the Metropolitan Hotel. Usually a buffet dinner at a hotel is a
disaster, but this was good and very tasty. It had lots of fresh authentic Greek food, such as Dolmadakia, Moussaka and many other dishes too numerous to mention.
In the afternoon, we took a trip down the Attica coast,
where there were many coves and bays.
Because it was a sunny and warm Sunday afternoon, all the
beaches were packed with swimmers and sun bathers.
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| Attica Coast |
After about an hour we reached Sounion Cape, where there is a
temple dedicated to the Greek God Poseidon. This is a
smaller version of the Parthenon, with 38 Iconic columns. In one of the columns, Lord Byron had carved
his name.
Alexander the Great occupied this cape and he had his troops build a protective wall that made the temple into a fort to protect Athens.
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| Poseidon's Temple in Cape Sounion |
Our guide was amazing.
She was very knowledgeable and had the perfect mix of history,
mythology, and Greek social life in her talk.
One of the most fascinating aspects of her lecture was the fact that a
lot of residences of Athens still consider themselves members of their home
village and vote in the elections for the village instead of their residence in
the city. It extends into their home
life, so that a lot of vacations take place in their home village.
She also told us a tale of how the Aegean Sea got its name. According to legend, Cape Sounion is the spot where Aegeus, king of Athens, leapt to his death off the cliff, thus giving his name to the Aegean Sea. The story goes that Aegeus, anxiously looking out from Sounion, despaired when he saw a black sail on his son Theseus's ship, returning from Crete. This led him to believe that his son had been killed in his contest with the dreaded Minotaur, a monster that was half man and half bull. The Minotaur was confined by its owner, King Minos of Crete, in a specially designed labyrinth. Every year, the Athenians were forced to send seven men and seven women to Minos as tribute. These youths were placed in the labyrinth to be devoured by the Minotaur. Theseus had volunteered to go with the third tribute and attempt to slay the beast. He had agreed with his father that if he survived the contest, he would hoist a white sail. In fact, Theseus had overcome and slain the Minotaur, but tragically had simply forgotten about the white sail.
Before supper we called Jase to wish him a happy ninth
birthday. It was a rushed call because it costs seven dollars a minute to use the satellite phone system on the boat to call North America. It was worth it though.
Tonight’s entertainment was a British duo known as Journey South. They were finalists in the UK’s
X-Factor. They've released two CDs and
have had a couple of number one hits in England in the past few years. It was nice to watch a show where simple talent trumps formalistic show business production.
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