Today was the first of two official class days in Athens and so we had to wake up early to be to our first site on time. We met our friends around 7:50 and went to the same small shop for breakfast, having frappes and Greek breakfast treats. Since it was so close to where our hotel and breakfast place were, we walked to the entrance of the Acropolis Museum (our first meeting spot) and ate our breakfast on the steps while waiting for everyone else to arrive. It was a very interesting museum experience, as it attempts to recreate the Classical Acropolis, but leaves out the parts of the structures that have been exported to museums elsewhere (mainly the British Museum)...name tags describe what is where throughout the globe...it is quite a statement to be sure, and it was interesting to have British students and professors along with us as the Brits are the most notorious 'obtainer of antiquities' from Greece. Also, pictures were not allowed in the museum, for no apparent reason, so that was additionally unfortunate. Allison gave a presentation on korai (Greek statues) in the museum and we were given about an hour to walk around it before meeting to head up to the Acropolis itself. Meeting around 10:00 we began our trek to the top in the hot sun which was getting hotter by the minute. Walking up to the Acropolis was very reminiscent as we took the exact path we took last time and stopped under some of the same trees and heard talks on the same things. First we passed through and climbed around the Theatre of Dionysus and then made our way and stopped at the Odeon Theatre. The one nice contrast to last time we were in Athens is that the crowds were much less, as most schools weren't out yet...unfortunately that also meant that there was a plethora of school groups accompanying us throughout our two class days in Athens. It was just as exciting as last time to get to the top of the Acropolis and see the Parthenon and the spectacular view of the city. I gave a presentation at the Erechtheion (the other major temple on the Acropolis) before we heard a talk from our professor (who, by the way, is the co-author of the Oxford Archaeological Guide to Greece and therefore is insanely knowledgeable about everything we were seeing). We spent a lot of time up there trying to avoid the intense sunlight, though there were only a handful of shady spots. Around 12:00 we made our way down, stopping at Mars Hill to wander around before heading to get lunch in the Plaka (pork pita gyros). We brought our lunch back to the hotel, which was nearby, before taking a quick siesta.
Our next group meeting place was the Kerameikos Museum and archaeological site, and it was quite a walk from the hotel. We set off quite early, trying to give ourselves enough time to find a site we hadn't yet visited in Athens. However, we ended up under-budgeting on time and getting fairly lost on the way and we arrived 20 minutes late. To make matters worse, the museum had changed their hours and it was closing 10 minutes after we arrived, so we did a whirlwind tour of the museum and also a quick walk around the site, which was largely a Classical cemetery and many elaborate gravestones remained. The Kerameikos area was also not the nicest area in Athens, especially in comparison with where our hotel was, and it made us glad we were staying where we were. Since the museum closed 2 hours before we had hoped it would, we had a good deal of free time and so the professors decided to lead us up a hill to the Philopappos Monument, from which a great view of the harbor and the Acropolis could be had. It was also a very steep and hot walk in the Athenian afternoon, but the view from the top was well worth it. We stayed at the top of the hill for 20 minutes or so before heading down to get to walk around the Acropolis and get to our last official site of the day. On the way we acquired some furry walking companions (two dogs) who followed us for a good 20 minutes until we arrived at the Little Mitropolis church...there are always so many friendly (and probably disease-ridden) stray cats and dogs in Athens! We heard a very interesting talk on the Little Mitropolis church, an early modern building that contained pieces of Byzantine, Roman and Greek monuments and inscriptions. Apparently it was built by the Greeks during the early Turkish occupation of Greece as some sort of statement about how awesome and historically-rich Greece is. After hearing the talk on the church, we headed back to the hotel, where we enjoyed a Mythos on the roof and relaxed after a long day of walking. Following a bit of a recharge we met with the group for dinner at a different place. I had moussaka while Allison had spanikotiropita and we all enjoyed wine on the house (Greek restaurants like big groups). Being much tireder than previous days, we headed back to the hotel for an early night (early in relative terms as the dinner was on Greek time, meaning about 8:00-9:30).
Acropolis Museum and the walk up to the Acropolis
Mars Hill (above) and the Kerameikos site (below)
Walking up to the Philoppapos Monument and the views from the top
The Little Mitropolis Church
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