I spent a few days in Athens. We started at Hadrian’s library and got an Athens museum pass that let us into the major archaeological sites. From there we went to the Acropolis, saw the Parthenon, Ancient Temple of Athena, Temple of Athena Nike, Odeon of Herodes Atticus, etc. From there went to Aeropagus (Mars’ Hill) and read Acts 17. Saw the sights at the ancient Agora, such as the Temple of Haphaestus, the Stoa of Attalos. Then went to the lower Acropolis, including the Theater of Dionysus.
The Parthenon
Hadrian’s Library at the base of the Acropolis
Amphitheater–The “Odeion of Herodes Atticus.” They still do concerts here.
Parthenon
Ancient Agora and Temple of Hephaistos
We saw several more ruins and an open air museum.
The Acropolis Museum is a new museum that featured lots of antiquities associated with the Acropolis. A standout feature of the museum is a full-size layout of the Parthenon, with recovered stones and carvings in their correct positions. for many of the replicas, they listed which museums in which countries currently possess the original, perhaps to put pressure on those museums to return the artifacts.
Lego model
A few blocks away is the Arch of Hadrian.
National Archaeological Museum with the Antikythera Mechanism, a 150 BC astronomical device that many call the world’s first analog computer.
We took an Uber to get to the top of Mount Lycabettus–the highest point in Athens and provides great views of the city.
We hiked down the mountain and went to the Byzantine and Christian Museum. These pieces reminded me of Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.
We went to an ancient cemetery called Keramikos.
Church was great. It was a little tricky to find because there’s only a tiny plaque in gold with the name of the church next to the graffiti covered roll-down screens. On Sunday morning they opened one of the screens to reveal the entrance to the building. Apparently they had repainted the panels a month earlier and within two weeks it was covered again with graffiti.
These nice missionaries translated the sacrament meeting from Greek for us. Here’s a photo of the sacrament hymn.
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