Greece - Part I - The Acropolis

The Winters family just finished our 10 day trip to Greece. What an amazing trip full of once-in -a-lifetime memories! We took a few hundred pictures so I am going to break our blog entry up into three parts.

Seeing the Acropolis was a dream of mine so I thought the first post would be all about our climb up.

Did you know that most ancient Greek cities had an acropolis or hilltop citadel? The Acropolis in Athens is a 2400 year old temple to the city's patron saint, Athena, goddess of war and wisdom.

We started our journey to the Acropolis by walking down the Grande Promenade, a lovely cobblestone walkway that connects the ancient sites and monuments in the historic center.

Our first photo opt was in front of the Theatre of Herodes Atticus which in the day was used for festivals and plays and today still holds outdoor concerts.

Grayson, thanks to his Habu training, was able to walk the whole way.

B was happy to be in the Ergo. If you look closely, you can see him in the pictures.

About halfway to the top, there was a huge rock formation that you could climb and take pictures on. I'm not sure what it was called because the sign was all in Greek, but we got some great shots of the Acropolis behind us.

It was at this point that Grayson made it his week's mission to pick up as many random rocks as possible.

He even managed to get a piece of marble from the Acropolis, but it was taken away from him later when we used the restroom at a museum and they took it for a weapon.

The rock we are standing on also had a great view of the city below.

Continuing on, the Temple of Athena Nike. The first of three temples dedicated to her. This one was built to commemorate the Athenians victory over the Persians and was a place where people went to pray for success.

To show you how far we've come so far, here is a look down into the Theatre of Herodes Atticus. You can see some of the stadium seating that continued into a semicircle.

The first entrance, The Beule Gate, was built by the Romans.

The second entranceway was called the Propylaia.

These three pictures are all of the Temple of Athena the Virgin which is also the tomb of a legendary king. Apparently, the British stole some of the carvings and statues and have them on display in London which is still being appealed by the Greeks.

Time to stop and give the boys a snack in the shade of this tree by the Parthenon.

World traveler at one!

There was a viewing tower on the edge that we were able to get this shot of the Parthenon to the left and the Temple of Athena the Virgin on the right.

We also got this shot of the Temple of Zeus, king of the gods, down below.

A close up of the Parthenon! Originally built to house a 40 ft high gold and ivory statue of Athena, the Parthenon has been used as an arsenal, a church and a mosque over the centuries.

Good-bye Acropolis. Next post, the City of Athens!