Athens, Corinth, Mycenae

Sunrise in Athens from our balcony

Our day started early.  Mark had outlined a very ambitious tour for us to take at this stop.  Some tour operators said that it couldn't be done, that it was too far to go in one day and too many stops.  However, Mark was able to find a guide that said he could do it all.  Another couple, Steve and Barbara Garber, joined us.  We weren't sure if the guide would truly be able to deliver, but Stelios met us at the dock at 7:45 am with a master plan.  And boy did he deliver!

Mark, Barbara Garber, Stelios, Wanda, Steve Garber

The Garbers had been to Athens before and seen the Acropolis, so Stelios drove directly to the base of the Acropolis and dropped Mark and me off about 8:10 am.  We agreed to meet back at that spot in one hour and Stelios then took Steve and Barb to the nearby Acropolis museum.

The word acropolis comes from two Greek words, "akros" meaning uppermost or edge and "polis" meaning city.  On this day we would see The Acropolis, meaning the one in Athens, but also the Acrocorinth, the remains of the citadel high above Corinth.

On our little climb to the top, we saw a theater:

and when we got to the top, we were pleased to see that we had it almost to ourselves.

 Front steps leading to the temples & Propylaea

To the right of the steps is the temple of Athena Nike

 The front of Parthenon (but not the side you see first)

Closeup of the top of the Parthenon

 The Erectheion

These young men were being put through their drills

Looking down on the Temple of Olympian Zeus and the Arch of Hadrian (lower left of picture)

Leaving through the Propylaea as the tour groups start coming

On our way out just after 9:00 am, Mark and I noticed that large tour groups were starting to arrive and the ticket booth now had a Disneyland-type line.  Classes of school children were also congregating (can you imagine taking a field trip to the Acropolis?)  We high-fived each other that we'd been able to see it all without hordes of people.

Back in the car, Stelios picked up Steve & Barb and whisked us away to see a few places in Athens before heading for Corinth.

Our first stop was the Temple of Olympian Zeus and the Arch of Hadrian that we had seen from the Acropolis.  This temple was began in the 6th century BC, but wasn't completed until the Roman Emperor Hadrian took it up as a project some 638 years after the project was begun (2nd century AD). The temple's glory didn't last as it fell into disuse after an invasion and destruction by barbarians in the 3rd century AD.

Notice the Acropolis in the background

From there we stopped at the Panathenaic Stadium which was the site of the first modern Olympic games held in 1896.  It is constructed on the remains of an ancient Greek stadium and built entirely of white marble.  Originally, it had an 80,000 seat capacity.  Today it holds 45,000.

The University of Athens was beautiful, styled after some of the ancient buildings.

The Parthenon and other Greek and Roman ruins were actually painted when they were first built and a closeup of this column at the University gives an idea of how those ancient ones might have looked.

Nearby was this graffiti that I couldn't resist taking a picture of.  I swear I didn't do it.

Before leaving Athens, Stelios took us up a long twisty road, telling us that the tour busses couldn't come up this way for the fabulous view he was about to present us with.  We were really pleased to be able to see Athens from this perspective:

We left Athens and started the drive to Corinth.  Soon it started to pour rain and we were worried about the rest of the day being spoiled.  It rained on us in Corinth a little bit, but after that the day was beautiful.  The Romans destroyed much of Corinth (the first major conquest in Greece) early in the first century B.C.  When Paul arrived in 51-52, Corinth had been rebuilt and was a bustling city 5 times as large as Athens.  There were still some interesting ruins to see, including the Bema, a kind of city hall where Paul was brought to answer before the Roman proconsul who was trying to pacify the angry local Jews (have you heard this story before?).  After questioning Paul, the proconsul said he couldn’t find any fault with the guy and let him go (and, at least to that point, the story turned out better for Paul than it did for Christ).

Lechaion Road with the Acrocorinth in the background

 Peirene Fountain (inside those arches)

Just an interesting tree framing some columns

 The Bema.  Paul was brought before the Roman proconsul, Gallio, here and accused of heresy by the local Jews.

 Remains of the Temple of Apollo

We visited the museum there that was filled with artifacts.

We had a delicious giro for lunch and it was interesting to watch the cook shaving the pork off of the rotisserie.

We continued up to the mountain and saw the fortress remains on the Acrocorinth

and had a beautiful view of the Corinth Gulf.

In ancient times, large sailing vessels would be pulled out of the water and towed across the Isthmus of Corinth as a shorter way from the Ionian Sea to the Aegean Sea.  It was better than having to sail the very dangerous route around the Peloponnesian peninsula.  Many rulers dreamed of digging a waterway and some even tried, but it wasn't until 1893 that a canal without locks was completed.  It is 4 miles in length and 70 ft wide at its base.  Smaller cruise ships can fit through!

It is hard to show just how deep this cut through the rock is.  There is a building on the upper left of the picture that will help a little.

Stelios pressed on, herding us into the car and off to Mycenae.  In 2000 BC, Mycenae was one of the major centers of Greek civilization.  

Lion Gate

Mycenae was presided over by a series of famous Greek kings, the most famous of which was Agamemnon whose brother, Menelaus, lost his wife, Helen, to Paris, a prince of Troy and wanted her back.  Agamemnon brought together the many kings of lesser regions in Greece and they sent off hundreds of ships to attack Troy.  Although the Homeric myth of the Trojan War is certainly that, most archaeologists in the area now believe the myth has considerable basis in fact.  We stood in the palace council room (the highest spot in the large fortress) where plans for the war were supposedly made. (below)

 We visited the tomb where Agamemnon’s family was buried.

Tomb from the inside

 This is another burial site -- it had double walls for extra protection from the dead

Just a random tree that looked cool!

We returned to Athens about 4:15 pm.  Stelios had completed everything on Mark's must see list and even threw in some extra sites.  And they said it couldn't be done!