{"id":14694,"date":"2019-07-16T09:06:12","date_gmt":"2019-07-16T15:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?p=14694"},"modified":"2019-07-15T09:06:48","modified_gmt":"2019-07-15T15:06:48","slug":"vacation-2019-part-three-athens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2019\/07\/vacation-2019-part-three-athens.html","title":{"rendered":"Vacation 2019, part three: Athens"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Day 7:\u00a0 Athens.<\/span><\/p>\n

So I\u2019ll start off with a couple planning mistakes:<\/span><\/p>\n

First, we had looked at maps and said, \u201cwe don\u2019t need no stinkin\u2019 tourist hop-on hop-off bus; we can walk to the metro stop at the port and exit at the Acropolis.\u201d\u00a0 But it turned out that this particular hop-on hop-off bus would have been a good idea because it would have come out as far as where our ship was docked and it was a longer walk to the metro and back than we had anticipated.<\/span><\/p>\n

And second, I had read that it\u2019s required to check \u201clarger\u201d bags when visiting the Acropolis, so I just brought my smaller purse-sized backpack with a single water bottle, and figured we would refill it as needed \u2014 but it wasn\u2019t so easy to find refill spots; had I realized this I would have crammed a second water bottle in.\u00a0 (And maybe that wasn\u2019t even true in the first place; I don\u2019t know.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Anyway, we docked there relatively early and we made an effort to get ready quickly so as to see the Acropolis before the huge crush of tourists, and the heat, set in.\u00a0 Did we succeed?\u00a0 Kinda-sorta; it was definitely more crowded on the way down than up and I\u2019ve no idea what it looked like in the afternoon.<\/span><\/p>\n

But here\u2019s the thing:<\/span><\/p>\n

I knew intellectually, of course, that the Parthenon was destroyed in 1687<\/a> when the Turks decided it would be a handy place to store gunpowder. \u00a0 You know that after the Greeks gained their independence, they reconstructed the scattered pieces-of-column using iron rods. \u00a0 But I didn\u2019t really expect that my primary reaction to the site would have been not \u201clook at the glories of Classical Greece,\u201d but \u201cthose damn Turks.\u201d\u00a0 I mean, after seeing the Colosseum and reading its descriptions of the way scavengers took what they could and medieval Romans repurposed what was left, just a few days before, it was genuinely affecting to think about the Parthenon having been relatively intact until relatively so much more recently.<\/span><\/p>\n

But in any event, it was also hot and crowded, and when we left the site (along with several stops at which I said, \u201cI just need to rest in the shade for a bit\u201d) we took a wrong turn initially and ended up to the south instead of the east or north, and I watched the Hop On Hop Off busses trundle by enviously.\u00a0 We found a place to get a bit of a snack, then ended up headed to the Plaka, the \u201cold town\u201d area to the east of the Acropolis, and, well, maybe we didn\u2019t find the right streets to wander down, but what we did find was fairly disappointing \u2013 mostly souvenir shops.\u00a0 And I was never able to really feel oriented, which was a source of frustration (partly the map had small print and I had to keep passing it to my husband to read, even though the streets in the areas we were at were all in both the Latin and Greek alphabet).\u00a0 I had had a list of other things I wanted to see \u2014 in particular, the Agora and the museum there included in our combo ticket, and I\u2019d read multiple times that the National Archeological Museum is more of a must-see than the Acropolis Museum.\u00a0 But nothing was quite working out, and I was still struggling with the heat, and we ended up at a metro stop square where we sat down at a ledge\/bench, and my husband\u2019s phone fell out of his pocket and the display got damaged, and we threw in the towel and came back to the ship for a late lunch.<\/span><\/p>\n

The day was definitely a disappointment.\u00a0 But at the same time, well, it\u2019s one of those things where the disappointments of the day soften with time.\u00a0 Yes, I would have liked to have spent more time, and have enjoyed myself more.\u00a0 But in a way, it\u2019s like a pilgrimage.\u00a0 I made it there.\u00a0 I paid my respect to Pericles, and to my Greek ancestors.\u00a0 And it did turn out that a couple days ago, my husband sent me a link that the Acropolis was being closed down temporarily<\/a> the following week because the heat wave had gotten so bad, so I didn\u2019t feel so bad.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"
the crowds!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
the crowds!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
the crowds!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\" \"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

And yes, this was where the phone broke!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

all images own work.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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