Split-Level Temple and Oh, That Thing

We finally climbed the Acropolis—good thing, by this point I’d only gotten 18 different angles of the thing (mostly of the Parthenon, of course); oh noes, we didn’t visit the 2nd-century (C.E.) Odeion of Herodes Atticus! And I so wanted to see it by daylight, too.

But anyway, good stuff—you have to go there real early in the hopes of avoiding tourists; I somehow managed to get at least one clean shot of the Erechtheion (which by the way has the most amazing door…this is another point where I should definitely add some photos) and even the Parthenon; all the way around, unfortunately it’s covered in a fair amount of scaffolding and is, of course, rather destroyed. I’ve noticed that an excuse for the marbles as well as a Caryatid from the Erechtheion to remain at the British Museum is that they’re so well-preserved there…well, at the least, how about some damn replicas?? I guess it would be a bit ruinous to see the Parthenon half in its original, stained marble and half in brand new white, but I do want to see it complete. Guess I’ll have to go to Tennessee after all…and here I was, all planning to basically never go to the South (the Midwest is bad enough, as far as boredom’s concerned).

Umm…one point about the Acropolis: walk around it! And also realize that the Parthenon is not the only monument on it! We saw the sacred caves of Pan (which had some pretty deep passages), Zeus, and Apollo, as well as a shrine to Aphrodite and Eros where neo-pagans (whom I hear are now acknowledged by the Greek government) have been leaving tea candles, that sort of thing. Oh, and some neat walls from the Turkish period; a view of the top; the theatre of Dionysus below—even the lift for handicapped to the top; the mechanism next to the stair looked like a piece of modern art (and, of course, could easily be called so…god I hate modern art, even when I understand the motives behind it). The one frustration was that we had to backtrack at one point as the exit was closed.

So yeah, good stuff. Please note that I’ve finally done the one thing that’s been expected of me in Athens.