I have seen, climbed, and spent time at the Acropolis and Parthenon in Athens, Greece and I am in awe! The beauty, massiveness, and history of the Acropolis and Parthenon were mind-blowing and I am so blessed to be having this experience. These Acropolis pictures are kind of out of order and I can't get the cut and paste key to work...sorry about that.
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| Me in front of the Parthenon |
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| Heading up the stairs of the Acropolis |
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| The Greece Flag blowing in the wind on top of the Acropolis |
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| The Sanctuary of Athena |
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| The side of the Parthenon - 17 columns. I know LOTS about columns after this trip and today! |
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| The "back" side and other side of the Parthenon |
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| Mars Hills where the Apostle Paul taught at while visiting Athens. |
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| The 16 of us! |
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| This is the Temple of Dionysos - it's actually on the other side of the Acropolis as you are coming down toward the new Acropolis Museum. |
After our hike up one side and back down the other, we went to the 2-year old Acropolis Museum where we met with the Education Director who gave us each a mavelous presentation and generous gift of a museum kit focusing on the Twelve Olympica gods. I can't wait to share this with my students as well as sixth grade social studies teachers. We all struggled to stay awake, though, through the presentation, because it was in a dark room in comfy chairs, and despite how interesting her program was we were all exhausted because walking up and around the Acropolis is not for the faint of heart and it is hot, hot, hot here. (Think Arizona in August kind of heat and humidity.) Again, though, we were blessed with a wonderful breeze which was so nice and made our trip much more bearable. However, it still wore us all out. So, they let us have our lunch break a little early and we enjoyed eating at the Acropolis cafe overlooking the Parthenon. Amazing!
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| Katie (Boston), Melissa (Houston), Amy (Knoxville), and Me at lunch over looking the Parthenon. I know...our life is hard! |
After lunch, we spent time touring the Acroplios Museum, we all split up and do our own thing. Melissa and I walked through the Plaka (a shopping district) and then made our way to The Melissisnos Poet Sandal Making Shop. We met up with several of our fellow Fulbright-Hays travelers there and then I had the tremendous task of deciding which sandals I wanted custom made for my feet! The whole process took just about two hours, and while Melissa didn't have any sandals made, she stuck alongside me in the process and we enjoyed people-watching while we were there.
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| The outside of the shop - many famous people have come and gotten hand-made, custom leather sandals made here. John Lennon, The Prince of Spain, and the dad from the Full House show! :-) And...now me. |
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| Getting fit for my Cycplodes style sandals that I added a little white flower to the top of. |
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| The owner and son of the original Poet Sandal Maker |
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| My two pairs of custom-leather sandals from the Poet Maker. I usually buy an original piece of art from countries that I visit...and in Greece I went for an alternative art form - wearable art! I LOVE them! |
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| Me and Melissa - my walking and shopping buddy today. |
After dinner at the hotel, Melissa, Liza (San Franisco), Katie (Boston), and Stephanie (Salt Lake City), and I caught a taxi (harder than we thought) to a traditional folk music and dance show at the Dor Stratou Theatre that Diane Godfrey (6th grade teacher at Pueblo who went on a Fulbright-Hays trip to Greece and Cyprus a few years ago) and Rick Steve's (travel expert and author) both HIGHLY reommended. We are so glad that we went. The msuic, singing, and dancing were amazing. Several others in our group are planning on going tomorrow night.
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| Stephanie, Katie, Liza, and Melissa squashed in the back of the taxi! |
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| The Five of Us posing on stage after the show. Stephanie, Katie, Melissa, Liza, and Me! |
Tomorrow we are going to be outside in the hot sun again, but it will be worth checking out more archeological sites and learning more history. Tomorrow is our last day in Athens before we head to the island of Aegina on Saturday morning.
3 comments:
Your blog continues to blow me away! What it must feel like to walk the paths you are walking. I know how I felt in Bulgaria last year, but to think you were standing on Mars Hill where Paul stood is goosebump worthy! Love the sandals. I can't wait to see them! Continue safe travels.
Glad you enjoyed the Dora Strata Dance Show. Isn't wonderful to be so thoroughly exhausted and be happy about it? Love the sandals. Have you had any issues with protest events around Athens?
Thanks, Diane, for the recommendation. It was quite lovely. As far as protests, the main protest area in Athens is literally right outside our hotel door steps at Constitution Square in front of the Parliament building and McDonald's. It's really quite "peaceful" - more of a gathering showing their voice of government. It's actually seems to all of us more like a young adult party every night. Several have walked among the crowds. Tomorrow, Tuesday, there is a planned boycott that may mess with our Turkey departure, but really it hasn't effected us much at all. Exciting to see the "new" Greek democracy in action.
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