ATHENS, GREECE

April 23 (Sunday), 2023

Sunny, High 67 deg F

Our ship docked at the Port of Piraeus which is about 8 miles from Athens City Center.   It is the largest passenger port in Europe.  Piraeus has three distinct harbors that each serve different purposes.   Looking at the geography of the port and its location on the Mediterranean one can see why Athens has been such a strategically important city throughout history.  It seems like everyone wanted to own Athens including the Persians, Egyptians, Turks and Romans.   Athens changed rulers several times over its long history.


Athens has a recorded history of more than 3,400 years and there is evidence that humans lived there since at least 7,000 years BC.   One of our lecturers pointed out that the society in Athens established the first government that focused on the rights of the individual.   In other established civilizations like that of the Egyptians during the rule of the pharaohs, the focus was on the ruling class with everyone else being subservient.   Hence, Athens is regarded as the cradle of democracy, greatly influenced by notables including Socrates, Plato, Hippocrates and Aristotle.   


Greece became an independent country and Athens its capital in 1934 after a 9 year war of independence with the Ottoman Empire.   Athens held the first Olympic competition in 1896 and the marathon race was introduced then.   The race gets its name from an ancient city (Marathon) where Athens once defeated the Persians, and so the story goes, an Athenian soldier ran all the way to Athens to announce the victory, a distance of 26.2 miles.   Also, according to the story, once he announced "Victory" he dropped dead.


Today Athens is a flourishing city with a population in greater Athens of more than 3 million.   As we had visited Athens in 2012 and took in the popular sites of the Acropolis, Parthenon and Parthenon Museum, we elected to go the Museum of Greece Antiquities this time.   This museum has a treasure trove of artifacts some of which date back to 1200 BC.   Our guide walked us through the museum in chronological order.  The museum is well worth a visit.   The ancient Athenians really embraced sculptures and other forms of art.   


After the tour we walked along the base of the Acropolis on a street lined with shops and restaurants.   We hoped to find the perfect gyro, but were disappointed.  The gyro we had was OK, but it couldn’t beat the ones made in the little hole-in-the wall on Harbor Bay Isle in Alameda, CA. 


                    Partial view of Athens skyline


Another view of city skyline and harbor - There is a building ordinance that limits the height of buildings to be less than that of the Acropolis



                                     Athens as shown on Google Maps


                 The only stadium in the world built entirely of marble, the 

                 Panathenaic Stadium opened in 566 BC.   


Dromeas -The Runner (tribute to marathoners).   Statue made with shards of glass.   

 

Museum of Greek Antiquities - wall coverings: about 1000 BC


             Gold vases recovered from excavations - dated about 800 BC


 Gold masks taken from burial excavations - dated about 800 BC.   They had access to a lot of gold


Large Urn dated about 600 BC.   Note the inscriptions

Ornaments made from ostrich eggs - 500 BC


    They liked their guys in the buff...must have been 
100s of nude male statues in the museum


                              Zeus in bronze


                               Poseidon - God of the Sea


     Caesar Augustus in bronze during the Roman occupation of Athens


   Parthenon built on top of the Acropolis - the highest point in the city


         Shops and Restaurants in the vicinity of the Acropolis/Parthenon


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