Athens

On the last day of our holiday in Greece, we left our fabulous floating home in Mykonos with a final view of the island from the top deck:

A beautiful view of the windmills, one of the most recognized landmarks in Mykonos. Because of its geographic position, Mykonos has historically been situated on a major sea route which at one time joined Venice with Asia. These windmills were powered by the northern wind off the island and were used until the the first decades of the 20th century to grind the local wheat. The need to refine grain and transport it around the world made Mykonos the perfect location for these:

We flew to Athens that morning and our first stop was the Acropolis. What would a trip to Greece be without a visit to the Parthenon? And let me just tell you, it did not disappoint!

This is the entrance, the Propylaea, which was built by Pericles and completed in 432 just before the outbreak of the Peloponnesian wars:

Here is the Parthenon, probably the most recognized structure in the world, truly amazing and even more magnificent than I imagined! It was constructed between 447 and 438 BC and was dedicated to the goddess of Athena. The main purpose of the temple was to protect the statue of Athena that was made by Pheidias out of gold and ivory.

All temples in Greece were to be seen only from the outside. Those that visited never entered the temple and could only catch a glimpse of what was inside through the open doors. The master planners of the Parthenon constructed the temple with the observations and movements of the viewer in mind and thought of it as a sort of theatrical event. This planning and attention to detail proved more than awe inspiring for this humble visitor:

This is the Erechtheion, the most sacred site of the Acropolis. This is where Poseidon and Athena had their contest over who would be the Patron of the city, Athena being the victor and the city of Athens being named after her.

On the right you can see the Caryatid Porch, or "porch of the maidens," with six draped female figures (Caryatids) as supporting columns. One of the Caryatids was removed by Lord Elgin to decorate his Scottish mansion and was later sold to the British Museum:

This is the theatre of Dionysus, the oldest and most prolific theatre in Greece as most Greek tragedies were written for performances here and was home to Sophocles, Aeschylus, Euripides and Aristophanes:

The small temple in the foreground of this photo is Thission. It was built in 449 BC and was a church dedicated to Saint George. It is virtually intact and as such, it serves as the best preserved ancient Greek temple:

This is a photo of the Temple of Olympian Zeus. The building was started in the 6th century BC to be the greatest temple in the ancient world, but was not finished until the 2nd century AD. There were originally 104 columns and now only 15 remain standing:

This is Filopappos Hill known to the Ancient Greeks as the Hill of Muses. The structure at the top is the remaining fragment of the Monument of Philopappus:

In this photo, the Theatre of Herodes Atticus, built by the Romans between 161 and 174 AD and still in use today for classical concerts, the ballet and such:

Loved our time in Athens, a truly spectacular place to visit. What a blessing it is to enjoy the freedoms and liberties of our great democratic nation, as well as the amazing opportunity to see where it all started some 8000 years ago!