I woke up again at 10 am, and saw enough sunlight to convince me to give the Acropolis a second go. Many, many pictures resulted from this. As I went specifically for the pictures, it's easiest to just list them again:
The Sanctuary to Dionysus (what's left of it.)
The Theater of Dionysus
(Mom, Dad, I think these are the seats you saw. Unfortunately, they're roped off now, so I can't sit in them, but I could still sit in the plebeian seats. :-) )
Another unsuspecting scale model. He wasn't happy about his mom taking the picture he was posing for, so I decided not to enlighten him to the surplus of cameras around.
From above.
The Ancient Temple of Dionysus
The New Temple of Dionysus
Really love what they did with the place. :P
Scattered Ruins without name markers:
The Herod Atticus Odeum Theater (where we saw the Arisophanes play Friday night)
Or, what I could see of it. I'll try again later. Free admission = lots of visits.
The Temple of Athena Nike (We're back on top)
The Propylaea
The Erectheon
The Parthenon
I love how the marble tints orange in the sunlight. I took a total 109 and nine pictures today, and another 178 yesterday. I just can't stop when I'm up there. :-)
I was only on the Acropolis for about 20 minutes because I thought I would be trying to beat the rain, but I decided to risk going down the back way and trying to make it back to the apartment by going through the Ancient Agora site and the Temple of Hephaestos. I got a little lost a few times, but eventually found the entrance. The guard at the gate wasn't paying much attention and I'm pretty sure I could have just walked in without attempting to pay, but I walked up to her, showed my CYA card and got in for free anyway. The site is overgrown, but I think it's cultivated to look that way, because it really added to the surreal, antique quality of the place. I will have to go back and more thoroughly explore under blue skies and when I'm not afraid of getting stuck in the rain again.
Sites along the way
A good view of those two churches I keep seeing from the hill tops.
A couple of vases on just inside the gates to the Agora
Temple of Hephaestos
I think the reliefs here show (a few of) the 12 labours of Herakles, but I'm not entirely sure.
The Ancient Agora (in part and from above)
A limbless and headless statue of Emperor Hadrian
I'm pretty sure this was the entrance to a Gymnasium, but I couldn't quite tell.
The carving is so intricate and lovely.
After racing through the site, I made my way back to the apartment via Monastiraki. I suppose it never did rain, since - if it had - I certainly would have gotten caught in it. I kept getting lured into clothing and jewelry shops. The shop owners are complimentary in an almost creepy way. I can't tell you how many times I heard "Beautiful girl, you have such a lovely smile. Come, come, I give you best price." I did end up purchasing a small ring, but not from anyone who said those words. It was a good chance to practice some Greek, anyway.
So, several hours, lunch and a short nap later (while waiting for all these pictures to load on blogger), it's 6 pm on a Sunday and I really ought to do homework. Ah well, tomorrow I don't have class until 12:20. It will get done. I'll start in a little while and work on the balcony. I want to go back to the Agora soon to more fully explore. The area was quite large and I could easily have gotten lost if I weren't making such a bee line through to the other side. There is time for getting lost in ruins later. Possible Wednesday morning. :-)
No plans yet for birthday celebrations tomorrow. I'm hoping for a quiet dinner, and maybe some backgammon lessons from SE and K. Oh, and probably a treat from the bakery. :-)
Kαληνύχτα!
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