Athens, Friday

Yesterday, I finally laid eyes on the ancient ruins of the Acropolis. I must admit I was somewhat disappointed. I suppose I was looking forward to seeing what was left, complete with missing chunks of marble and rock, but what I saw was a restoration in progress. They are working to fill in the missing pieces with white marble, making it obvious what is new v. what is old, but I think the phots are much less pleasing as a result, and will be for many generations to come. And then there is the scaffolding.

The highlight of the ruins tour today was the Temple of Hephaestus in Agora Park. For such an ancient building, it is in remarkably good shape. Apparently, when Greece was in the process of being Christianized, the Greeks destroyed all of their pagan temples... except for this one, which was converted into a church, perhaps because it was (at least near) the site where Paul spoke about the unknown god.

What is amazing about this temple to me is imagining the amount of work, both engineering and slave labor, involved in creating so much architecture. The few pieces that remain are quite simply amazing. I look forward to seeing more!

Today, we toured the archaeological museum in Athens, which is an amazing collection of what has been found all over Greece. There is one piece that really spoke to me, I could have stared at her all day. And then of course, there were the statues.

While touring, there was a guide leading a group of his own who seemed very knowledgeable of the subject matter. It was unclear as to whether he worked for the museum or was leading a group of students or tourists not unlike us, but it was apparent how passionate he felt about the pieces and the era they represent.

Favorite pieces: the bronze of the African child riding the frightened horse in the red room, and the figure of Aphrodite which the horse was facing in the room.

Flickr: Athens | Greece