The real start of our vacation. Sunday, March 31, 2019.
Jet lag meant that I was up at 5 or so in the morning. Greece also goes to Daylight Savings Time overnight.
Breakfast was sumptuous. Had my usual scrambled eggs as well as fried eggs with some sausage thrown in, just for fun.
We started the day by a short tour of the city by our tour bus, taking in the sights of temples of a variety of greek gods like Zeus, Athena, Apollo etc. There were so many that it was hard to keep track. We also glimpsed the parliament building. We would be back to watch the change of the guard in the evening.
We arrived at the Acropolis (meaning Acro — top, edge, high and Polis — City). The Acropolis houses the Parthenon a temple dedicated to Athena, the patron goddess of the city of Athens. There is an interesting myth about how Athena, also known as the goddess of Wisdom, got to be the patron of Athens. Zeus, here father wanted to leave the city to one of his heirs and Athena won the competition because she offered the Olive tree where as her competitor Poseidon (the god of water) offered water. But water was useless, because it was salty, whereas the Olive tree was useful. It produced wood, oil etc. So Athena won the competition!
Jet lag meant that I was up at 5 or so in the morning. Greece also goes to Daylight Savings Time overnight.
Breakfast was sumptuous. Had my usual scrambled eggs as well as fried eggs with some sausage thrown in, just for fun.
We started the day by a short tour of the city by our tour bus, taking in the sights of temples of a variety of greek gods like Zeus, Athena, Apollo etc. There were so many that it was hard to keep track. We also glimpsed the parliament building. We would be back to watch the change of the guard in the evening.
The City of Athena from atop the Acropolis
The Guards in front of the Greek Parliament
Temple dedicated to Athena
The Parthenon at the Acropolis
The Parthenon from the bottom of the Hill
We then headed over to the museum after a tour of the Parthenon. Interesting story about the meseum: when they started to dig the foundation, they discovered an entire city. They had to stop the digging and lay a glass ceiling on top of the digs. So while walking around in the ground floor of the museum you can see the archeological digs through the glass floor.
We ended the day with a walk around the city in the evening. We also witnessed the changing of the guard at the parliament.
Our guide took us to the Metro underground where you could see the archeological digs preserved behind a glass wall. They actually had to build the Metro carefully by routing them while preserving the archeological remains.
For dinner we got a Gyro (finally!) from a local eatery.
We are off to the next city tomorrow.
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