The BibFem Four's Perfect Day

Trip Start Sep 07, 2008
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Trip End Dec 09, 2008


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Flag of Greece  , Attica,
Saturday, October 11, 2008

Dutch, Chaplain, Nurse Cubby, Gramma, and I all walked up to the Acropolis today. What a difference one month makes. First of all, the weather was beautifully breezy instead of blow-torch hot, we got to walk at our own pace instead of leaving me in the dust as always happens with the student group, and I have finally achieved some familiarity with the area so I didn't get us lost once. I felt proud at each site along the way to be able to rattle off for my friends all I've learned from my books and Indy's lectures.

First we stopped at Kalimarmara ("beautiful marble") Stadium. This is a site where ancient athletic games were held in honor of the gods. The stadium was refinished in an ocean of marble, so it was once again ready to host athletic games in the 1800s when the modern Olympics began, and in the 2004 Olympics. Since we've been here, Madonna, R.E.M., and an environmental benefit concert have been staged at the Kalimarmara Stadium Ancient Olympic stadium
Ancient Olympic stadium
 .

The next stop was the Zappeion, a gorgeous creamy yellow mansion given to the city by the wealthy Zappas family. Although the mansion is only open for special events, the grounds outside are for everyone to enjoy. This building too was used in the modern Olympic games in Athens.

Beside the Zappeion are the National Gardens, the only really green space in the heart of Athens. A monarchy was installed in Greece in the nineteenth century, and the gardens were created beside the palace as a royal refuge by Queen Amalia (who was Bavarian). The monarchy was eventually run out of Greece, and the Royal Gardens became the National Gardens, and the Royal Palace became the Parliament House.

We took lots of pictures at Hadrian's Arch and the Temple of Olympian Zeus, and then it was on to the touristy Plaka district and up to the Big Attractions: the Theatre of Dionysos, the Temple of Aesclepius, the Odeon of Herodius Atticus, the Propylaea, the Parthenon, and my favorite, the Erechtheion with the Caryatid Porch of Maidens.

I have convinced the BibFem Four that tavernas are very good things, better than fast food but also not as expensive as a restaurant. We ate dinner at a taverna in Plaka, and I got to put my nose in Chaplain's glass of ouzo, a nasty liqueur that smells like black jelly beans.
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