Introduction
Flight and Athens
The Acropolis
Athens Protest 2011 and Mount Lycabettus
Acropolis Museum
Trip to Gythio, Mystras, and Ouzo
Monemvasia – a fortress you can live in
Diros Caves near Gythio and Night-Before Dinner/Antics
Back to Athens and homeward bound

July 2011:

To take a break from the tear gas (saving some for the next day), I went around the Parliament to the Acropolis Museum. I think i was close to walking about 10 miles at that point.

A well in front of the entrance

After a quick security check, you walk into the entrance. There were three floors with some escalators in another corridor.

Grand entrance

On the second floor, there is a terrace cafe that has a view of the Acropolis.

Cafe on top of the Museum with a great view of the Acropolis.

Acropolis (Parthenon)

There was an entire floor devoted to the top stone pieces of the Parthenon on display there. They were giant sections. The pillars and structure of the Parthenon had to be made meticulously sculpted both inside and out so everything was finely detailed fitting for the Greek gods. It was also filled with many statues that were looted and/or destroyed by wars (mainly looted though).

Most of the statues were looted by Britain’s Lord Elgin in the 1800s when it was part of the Ottoman Empire. It was then sold to the British Museum. The Acropolis Museum in Athens was built to convince the UK to give back many of the 2500 year old sculptures as the common excuse was that Greece didn’t have an appropriate location to house the collection.

In addition to the “missing sculptures,” there were a series of exhibits that shows the history of the Acropolis (1200BC):

Acropolis in 480BC:

Acropolis in 5th BC:

The Acropolis in 2AD. There was some major development in the past few years. Also a model of the surrounding city built around the Acropolis

Acropolis in 2-3rd AD.

Acropolis in 1500 AD