Aegean Cruise

We had wanted to see a bit more of the Greek islands and to mix some island-hopping with our archaeological interests. Our first choice would have been Santorini (aka Thera) and its Akrotiri archaeological site. Santorini is in the Cyclades island group and is itself the remains of a volcanic cone that blew off some 3600 years ago in one of the largest known volcanic explosions. What is of archaeological interest is the relatively recently discovered town of Akrotiri, buried in cinders sometime around 1628 BCE; sort of like Pompeii, only 1600 years older, and Minoan, not Roman. And in many ways, all the more remarkable. But the Santorini site has been closed for several years and remains closed (another long story).

We ended up choosing Mykonos, also in the Cyclades, and its site on the nearby island of Delos, said by some to be the second most important religious site for the Greeks, after Delphi; and also associated with Apollo. We conferred with several travel agents in Athens, about the ferries, Mykonos, and Delos, received appropriate assurances, and then proceeded to free-lance the trip, stuffing overnight gear into a day-pack and showing up at the dock very early the next morning. We should have consulted the Oracle at Delphi, too, but that's part of a larger story. To be continued.

We took the bus to Piraeus and arrived well before dawn's

rosy fingers touched the wine dark sea; cast-off was at 7:35

AM

Leaving Piraeus

Looking back toward Athens

At least on our little five hour voyage, islands were always

in view, sometimes quite large, sometimes small, sometimes

inhabited, sometimes not

Typical scenery; beautiful clear day



Landing at Syros

More Syros; we also stopped at Dinos

Our ship, the Good Ferry Ithaki; wait, wasn't that Odysseus'

ship's name?

Aegean sunset the next day

Athens Miscellaneous

Our campsite, among the olive and orange trees, at Camping

Athens, a bit pricey, but nice



View of the Acropolis from the Museum





Looking across the Agora and the Temple of Hephaestus at

a small bit of Athens--4 million people


















Ruins of the Temple of Zeus, under the Acropolis

















Looking toward Piraeus, Athens' port



In the meat market, silly wabbits

Absolutely best sign store yet; "and in English, too"

Greek Parliament

Guards strutting their stuff

Cute skirts and goose steps

Athens is the most tagged city we have seen yet



Agora

After the Acropolis we walked down to the ancient Agora, which has been under excavation since the 1930s by the American School of Classical Studies.

A view of the Agora, and the Temple of Hephaestus, from

the Acropolis



In the American School of Classical Studies Agora

Museum, "ballots" for ostracism

An ostracism ballot for Arissteides

Speaking of ballots, here's the Stele of

Democracy

Athenian BBQ grill



The label said this was a toy; OK...



Portico of the Stoa of Attalos, recreated by the American

School



View from the Agora back to the Acropolis



Thought to be the House of Simon, an associate of

Socrates, who, like Plato, took notes on Socrates' dialogues

Looking back across the Agora to the Stoa of Attalos

The Temple of Hephaestus, in the Agora; perhaps the best-

preserved of all such temples; had it been on the Acropolis,

someone would have used it for target practice...

In the vicinity of the various civic buildings in the Agora,

near where, we were told, would have been the jail where

Socrates drank his hemlock cocktail

A block away from the excavated Agora, the remains of the

Library of Hadrian

A nice lunch in the souvlaki alley

And everywhere around, more ruins, more excavation

Acropolis

After settling in at Camping Athens, we took the bus and then Athens' new metro into the centrum to see first the Acropolis and then the Agora and environs. It was a beautiful autumn Sunday, and, with an early start, we avoided the heaviest crowds.

The Odeon,  just below the Acropolis

The Propylaea, entrance to the Acropolis

Not biggest, nor best, nor best-preserved, but probably the

most famous of all the Greek temples, the Parthenon; it's all

about location; undergoing massive restoration (since 1984)



The Erechtheum

With its famous porch of the Caryatids

Full frontal view of the Parthenon

Below, one of many spare parts yards; they are really

serious about putting this thing back together...

Looking out to several notable sites: the new Acropolis

Museum, the theatre and sanctuary of Dionysys, remains

of the Temple of Zeus, and the Olympic stadium, built into

the original stadium (right to left...)

Indeed a re-construction site

Us on the Acropolis

The beautiful little Ionic temple of Athena Nike

We spent the rest of the day looking at the Agora and

environs, and then visited the impressive new Acropolis

Museum; sadly, the Museum is mostly a reminder of just

how much of the Parthenon was looted and now resides

in London

We had to stick around until after dark to see it all lit up

Delphian Outtakes

Doric rubbish bin



Disability ramp to Temple of Apollo



Oracle's emergency exit



 

Collapsed column, not convincingly re-arranged



Me, at a fissure in the rock, hoping for a wisp of the winning

numbers in the Florida lottery, c. December 20th...5, 11, 17,

23, 29...wait! those are just prime numbers!

They really are put together just like Legos



The sacred spring, now off-limits due to

rock-fall from the cliffs above

The sacred spring now..sic transit, Gloria

We drove on, through this little mountain town, where we

encountered no less than 12 tour buses on its tiny streets;

the mountain town of Vicki's nightmares; but we made it and

drove on to Athens and Camping Athens, and a week's

adventures and misadventures in another great city