Our second day in Athens was met with glorious blue skies and sunshine. So we hopped out of bed, got ready, and made our trek to the Acropolis. We walked along the foothills past our favorite restaurant Scholarhio and down these narrow streets (one of my favorite things about Europe).
We passed Hadrian's Arch that we had visited the day before.
Walking toward the Acropolis you are met with groves of Olive trees along the walkway.
There are a lot of stray dogs around Greece. They are pretty sweet, mostly following you around and sunning themselves.
A view of the Temple of Athena Nike
Herod Atticus theatre
The Propalyia: The entrance to the Acropolis.
The amazing view of Athens from the Propylaea
Columns up close are a beautiful sight. They are ancient and a sign of the genius of the Greeks. They are perfectly imperfect.
My handsome husband :)
If you look closely you will see some of the new marble they are fitting into the columns as part of a renovation.
Here is the Erechtheum. It has already undergone a lot of restoration as you can see by the difference in color of the marble blocks. The beautiful porch of the Caryatids (statues of women) on the side are copies while the originals are being restored in the newly built Acropolis museum that we saw the day before.
View of Athens from the Erechtheum. It is beyond breathtaking
I took this photo through a crack in the surrounding walls and got a glimpse of the city.
Another view of the Erechtheum.
Close up of the Porch of Caryatids
We wanted to see everything else before the glorious Parthenon. They did a huge renovation in 2004 in anticipation of the Olympic games but the renovation only got so far and it is still on going. The Parthenon is the biggest renovation project because of all the destruction and incomplete restoration it endured over the centuries. The white marble are the new parts they fit into the columns.
These blocks are part of the Cella (the inner wall of the Parthenon) and are located labeled all over the Acropolis.
Although there is a substantial amount of scaffolding up around the Parthenon they leave one side of it bare so you can enjoy the columns unobstructed.
The clear blue skies only added to the beauty of seeing the Parthenon up close. There are really no words when you see this. We just stood there in awe taking it all in.
The pediment and roof is missing on the Parthenon but they are being restored and can be seen on the Parthenon terrace at the Acropolis museum. There are still parts that can be seen attached like this corner there is a horse head not really visible in this picture.
It was so nice out we decided to forgo our coats and it was a great idea since we were over our coats by this point of the trip.
The Greek flag flying over the city.
Top view of the city and of our favorite restaurant
Temple of Zeus ruins
Here are piles of pieces of the Parthenon.
Fisheye of Parthenon
We were up there for a couple of hours and in that time menacing clouds started to roll in on the right. If you remember we don't have our coats up there but we didn't want to leave so as we were making our way down the Acropolis to seek shelter Wela was busy snapping photos.
Theatre of Dionysis
The other side of the Parthenon completely scaffolded.
Part of the Pediment taken down
In the next few pictures you'll see the storm clouds rolling in over the Acropolis. You can also see a glimpse of me making my hasty way down the hill.
Bottom view of the Propylaea
We found shelter at our favorite restaurant in the foothills and luckily we made it there before the rain really came down. (Pictures of that meal will be on Athens Food Edition).
We had a glorious two hour long lunch and when we were done the sun was out again but so was the wind so we made our way back to our apartment to get covered up a little more before taking in more sights.
We walked to Monastriki square to get some souvenirs and take in the Greek life.
There is a gorgeous view of the Acropolis from there too.
Look past Starbucks Coffee
Our second and last full day in Athens was amazing. We had great weather visiting the Acropolis, an amazing lunch at Scholarhio, and a good time wandering Plaka and Monastriki. Our host made dinner reservations for us at Strofi restaurant under the view of the Parthenon this night but those pictures will come in the Food Edition.
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