Day 4 - Athens, Greece

DAY 4 - Athens, Greece

For a majority of the day my husband kept offering me his geography humor. Sometimes he got the eye roll, sometimes I ignored him, sometimes I said "ENOUGH, please!", sometimes I looked at him blankly and asked, "really, are you kidding me?" and other times I just had to break down and laugh at his antics. I love how he can make me laugh. All morning long I heard things like the following phrases:

“I’m not very Hungary, this Turkey has a lot of Greece”

“Wow, for someone who used to have anorexia you’re handling all of this Greece really well”

We arrived at the main port of Athens this morning, Piraeus. Our day started with a metro ride into Athens and a visit to the Acropolis. The Acropolis consists of the Parthenon, Temple of Athena Nike, the Erchtheion and the Propylaea. The acropolis was built during the apex of Greek’s Golden Age in the 5^th century BC. Throughout history, it has served as a military fortress and a religious center.

the cafe where we had a delicious lunch

After the Acropolis, we had a wonderful Greek lunch. I had to laugh as I recalled the first time that I tried Greek food. I was in 6^th grade staying at my aunt Kim and uncle Mike’s house in Mounds View. We got takeout from a Greek restaurant they liked. I ended up eating pitta bread and a bit of hummus (probably eventually a peanutbutter sandwich). Now I could live on a Mediterranean diet: give me feta cheese, hummus and greek olives and I am SET. At lunch the bread was served with a really nice kalamata olive tapenade instead of any oil or butter. Why can all restaurants do that? I had a nice dish with tomatoes, pesto, feta, olives and basil oil. We really enjoyed people watching at the upscale (but surprisingly affordable) café. There was a table of 6 Ausies probably in their early 20s who didn’t seem to have any great cares or responsibilities. Philip and I wondered, “how can they afford to be here?” Like many of the young people (not acting like young, working adults) we’ve seen on this trip, we’re convinced it must be the Bank of Mom and Dad.

During our day of walking and climbing stairs in Athens, Philip commented on a statement that I had made in Messina. When reflecting about what I had learned in England, I had commented that I definitely don’t have a romanticized view of living in Europe. Don’t get me wrong – I love it. And who can complain about galavanting around Europe. HOWEVER to be honest, I’m glad that I’m going to be living a majority of my life in the US (well, I suppose that remains to be seen – but the US will always be “home”). I’d like to live on this side of the Atlantic again eventually – I think that being stationed in Germany would be great (especially a wonderful opportunity for when kids are growing up), however I’m glad I’m an American citizen. I think that a lot of Americans romanticize the idea of living in Europe. For instance, I’m a huge Friends fan. There were numerous references on that show about how great it would be to live in European cities, but really, I wouldn’t be real excited to live in Paris (ESPECIALLY if I didn’t have a commissary to buy American food in!!!!) for years and years and years.

After lunch we saw Hadrian’s Arch we took a few pictures at an ancient Panthinion Statium which was constructed in 1896 for the first modern Olympiad. Next, we headed to the Agora. The Agora was the administrative center and marketplace of Athens from the 6^th century BC to the 6^th century AD. I got super excited at the Agora because for the first time in my life I got to see a living olive tree. And most of you reading this know about my love of olives. . .

Okay Mum, here's your history lesson for the day. . .

Athens grew to a city of historic importance around the 8^th century BC when it became the artistic center of Greece. It continued to flourish and reached its zenith in the 5^th century BC. This period was known as the Golden Age of classical Greek culture and produced influential historical figures such as Sophocles, Euripides, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and Hippocrates.

The end of the Golden age began with the Peloponnesian War (431-414 BC) between Athens and Sparta. Athens continued to be a notable cultural center until the 2^nd c when the Roman Empire took control of Greece. The city remained the center of Greek education until the fall of Rome to the Byzantine Empire in 476 AD. Emperor Justinian closed Plato’s Academy and the dark ages (Medieval Era) prevailed for the next 500 years.

Athens experienced a pseudo-renaissance around the 12^th and 134^th centuries but then fell under Turkish rule for the next 400 years. The Greek War of Independence (1821 – 1829) brought the city out of cultural hibernation and in 1834 Athens was proclaimed the capital of the new, independent Greece.