Athens (day 2)

On the 1st full day in Athens we had a delicious breakfast, after that we hit the city. Today was mainly about the Acropolis. We took the subway to that place and from here we walked upstairs. The Acropolis is the name of the fortress / terrain. On this area you can find the Parthenon. This formerly temple is actually a lot bigger then I had Imagined. Furthermore there are some ruins scattered around and you have a beautifully 360° view over the city!

When we saw enough of the city we went back downstairs, to the Acropolis museum. This museum lays on top of the ruins (the building has a glass floor, so you can look down). In this museum you can find all sorts of artefacts and statues which once were part of the Parthenon (or anoter building from the Acropolis, this building has some some of balcony with a roofconstruction which are supported by pillars in the shape of proud and strong women). The Acropolis was once conquered by both the Persians and the Ottomans hereby a lot of artworks got destroyed. The Parthenon was once also on fire. Here as well  there was a lot lost in the fire. Many of the original parts are now in the museum with texts, images and explanations about how it supposedly should have looked like in the old days. This was quite interesting to see. There are also maquettes which shows how the Acropolis looked like in different eras. For example you could see that when the Ottomans had conquered the Acropolis, they had made the Parthenon into a mosque. Or earlier when (I don't know for sure anymore, but I thought it was) the Teutons ruled over the Acropolis that they made the Parthenon into a Latin church. So far the history about the Acropolis... back to our tour. After seeing the museum (which is a big and beautiful building by the way), we went to the theater of Dionysos. This was once a amphitheatre and is located at the foot of the Acropolis, nowadays it's just visible ruins. But it's right away clearly this was once very gigantic. A few hundred meters away lies another amphitheatre, named Odeon of Herodes. This is still an amphitheatre, only fully restaurated and modernized. But it gives you a good idea about how it looked like a long time ago. After seeing this we walked around a bit before deciding to go back to the hotel, it was already late in the afternoon now and we were exhausted. In the hotel we freshed up and had a short siesta, after waking up again we took the subway again back to the Acropolis area to find a restaurant to have dinner. Quickly we found a restaurant, where we had a delicious mixed grill plate. After dinner we took a stroll aimlessly around the block (but it's good for digesetion). Finally we walked back to the hotel for a good and well deserved nightrest. Tomorrow we're already leaving Athens (aawhh...), but then our grand tour finally starts! We'll be driving via Peloponnesus, Istmhia and Epidaurus towards Tolo. This is a 170 km drive over the Greek highway. In Tolo we'll be spending 2 nights as well. But first still a night in Athens to go, see you tomorrow!

Day 1

Travel overview

Day 3