April 2, 2012
We got up at 6:00 a.m. this morning, got ready for the day, packed up our luggage, and went to breakfast at 7:00 a.m. in the hotel dining room. It was just a continental breakfast because we needed to leave before their hot breakfast began.
We flew back to Athens today from Thessiloniki. Our flight was at 9:10 a.m. and was about 45 minutes long. After arriving back in Athens, we got a new bus driver (our tour guide flew back with us) and started our tour of Athens.
Our first stop was the first olympic stadium of the modern games. It hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. Reconstructed from the remains of an ancient Greek stadium, the Panathenaic is the only major stadium in the world built entirely of white marble (from Mount Penteli) and is one of the oldest in the world.
View of the Parthenon:
Marathon Man: famous stacked-glass sculpture of the "Running Man" commemorates the finish line of the first marathon.
The Arch of Hadrian is a monumental gateway resembling a Roman triumphal arch. It spanned an ancient road from the center of Athens, Greece, to the complex of structures on the eastern side of the city that included the Temple of Olympian Zeus. It has been propsed that the arch was built to celeberate the arrival of the Roman Emperor Hadrian and to honor him for his many benefactions to the city, on the occasion of the dedication of the nearby temple complex in 131 or 132 A.C. (wikipedia)
Mars Hill: The Areopagusis the "Rock of Ares", northwest of the Acropolis, which in classical times functioned as the high court of appeal for criminal and civil cases in Athens. It was from this location, drawing from the potential significance of the Athenian altar to the Unknown God, that the Apostle Paul is said to have delivered the famous speech, "Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands." (Acts 17:24) (wikipedia)
Views from Mars Hill:
Stoa of Attalos in the Agora area. It was built by and named after King Attalos II of Pergamon (ruled 159-138 B.C.)
Temple of Hephaestus: (patron-god of metal working) Construction started in 449 B.C., but the temple was not completed until 415 B.C.
I believe these are Greek Orthodox churches
Theater of Herod Atticus built by the Romans in 161 A.D.
We then climbed up the acropolis and viewed the Parthenon and the Temple of Athena
Our fearless leader, Brother David and his wife Linda
View of the Temple of Zeus from the acropolis
They were doing some restoration work on the Parthenon
lazy dogs up on the Acropolis!!!
It seems the rules of the road are different for motorcycles; they just went where ever they wanted. You had to be careful if you were trying to cross the street...
Athens has a Tomb of the Unknown Soldier - we saw the changing of the guard as we drove by.
After our morning tour of Athens, we went and checked into our hotel. We stayed at the same hotel as we did the first night here. Then six of us decided we would walk over and go to the Greek Archeological Museum. We stopped and had a quick lunch first. It was kind of sad that we were the only ones going to the museum - most of the others in our group wanted to go shopping!
The National Archaeological Museum of Athens is the largest archaeological museum in Greece and one of the most important museums in the world devoted to ancient Greek art. It was founded at the end of the 19th century to house and protect antiquities from all over Greece, thus displaying their historical, cultural and artistic value.
Gold items used in burials
Pottery vessels from the Mycenea; 16th - early 15th century B.C.
Another gold burial item
Bronze vessels and tools from Mycenea; 16th century B.C.
Bronze tools and weapons from 2800-2300 B.C.
Pillar from the Tomb of Agamemnon that we saw a few days ago.
Minoan ritual vessels- 1650-1550 B.C.
Group of Aphrodite, Pan, Eros - 100 B.C.
Statue of Poseidon (he would have held his trident in right hand) - 125-100 B.C.
Statue of Hermes - 2nd Century A.D. (copy of a late 5th Century B.C.)
Statue of Apollo - 2nd Century A.D. (copy of bronze original from 450 B.C.)
Bronze Statue of Zeus or Poseidon - 460 B.C.
Brenda along side a Monumental Attic grave-amphora - 750-760 B.C. 
Statue of Siren - mythical winged woman with the legs and tail of a bird laments the dead man whose tomb she adored; 330 B.C.
We really enjoyed the museum and spent several hours there. It contained some pretty cool stuff. Hard to believe some of the things were so old- some from as far back as 2800 B.C.!!
On our walk back to the hotel, we stopped at a museum gift shop to look around. We also stopped at a pastry shop and I got this yummy pastry that reminded me of a boston cream pie- it was heavenly!!!
Once we got back to the hotel, we went back to our room to clean up a bit and get our things repacked. Dinner was at 7:30 p.m. but when we got there, we found out they were not expecting us until 8:30 p.m. The hotel decided to have us eat at another of their restaurants. It was on the top floor of the hotel and had unbelievable views!!! The table that Brenda and I sat at was great - we faced out the window with a direct view of the acropolis and the Parthenon! Wow! We were up there eating as the sun set and they lit up the Parthenon. What a way to end the trip!
Dinner and dessert was fabulous as always!! After dinner, we headed back to our room to get to bed early. We have to get up at 2:30 a.m. to head out in the morning!!
