Day 5, Part 1: Live at the Acropolis!

Today we hit Athens’ most famous attraction. The Acropolis is the rocky hill overlooking Athens that’s had structures built on it since about 1200 BCE. By the time Pericles started to build the most famous “ancient” structures (most famously the Parthenon), the place was already around 800 years old. 2500 years later, the site has gone through several bouts of construction, lapses, destruction, desecration, religion changes, pillaging, restoration, restoration of the restorations, and now 16,000 tourists a day. If it was made of anything other than marble and limestone it would have disappeared centuries ago.

From random encyclopedic pictures, you see rock that’s been there for over two thousand years. When you’re at the site in person, you see how much of it is modern replacement and reconstruction, and/or being held up by metal scaffolding. But a trip to the Acropolis Museum (which we took) shows how much the site has changed over the years. This ancient place has been constantly evolving with the times. “Restoration” efforts alone have been going on for almost 200 years.

Now, with so many of those damn dirty tourists crossing the world to gawk and take photos (cough), most of the good bits are roped off; it’s hard to get in close to really get a good feel for the place. (And if you try, they’ll blow a whistle at you. This happens far too often.) But the Museum has a lot of the good bits (when they weren’t carried away by the British) stashed indoors where you can get a good look and some explanation. Both attractions are definitely worth it if you have the opportunity.