Athens to Kalambaka

Insight is all over the danger of being out in the heat. As bad as it sounds, we had a 5:45am wake up call to be on the bus by 7:15am. Breaky was awesome, and we are fully recharged and ready to go.

The Acropolis is closed today from 11am until 5pm so our plan is simply to beat the crowd and get out of town. It works like a charm. We are at the front of the queue so much so that we have to wait for the military to unveil their flag.

We came here about 10 years ago and it has changed a lot. The steps up are better, but you are no longer allowed to walk amongst the pillars of the Pantheon. As you would expect the visit is a bit of a history lesson.

The Acropolis of Athens or The Sacred Rock, is thought to be the symbol of the ancient Greek culture.

It is also considered to be one of the most significant ancient monuments in Europe.

Both the Acropolis and the Parthenon, the imposing temple that was dedicated to the goddess Athenas, are visible from almost every part of Athens. She was the daughter of Zeus. He had a headache, and she was born from his head. I thought daughters caused headaches after they were born!

The Acropolis in Athens was a fortress and military base during the Neolithic period, due to its position which offers a great view of the land and the sea.

The three temples of major importance, the Parthenon, the Erechteion and the Temple of Nike, were erected during the classical period (450-330 B.C.) on the remains of earlier temples.

All three of them are dedicated to different aspects of the Goddess Athena. One has six female statues that have been replaced with replicas. Five are in the museum here but the sixth one is in the museum in London, and they will not return it.

The Persians destroyed some parts the Acropolis during the battle of Salamina in 480 B.C. But this did not cause it to be a ruin. It was the Otterman's who thought it was a good spot to store munitions and guess what boom💥

In fact, there have been many times the Acropolis has been attacked but thankfully today it is being restored. You may not agree with this, but the Pantheon will eventually be fully restored as a replica. The amount of original stonework will be minimal, but it will look amazing.

We walked out and the queue down the hill was ridiculous. Our plan worked so now we went to the relatively new museum at the foot of the site.

The Acropolis Museum holds 55,000 ancient pieces and is really where you learn about the gods and the history. As you walk in you are stepping on a glass walkway revealing the ancient city below. Whilst disconcerting it is brilliant. The museum is precisely the same size of the pantheon so walking around you see the artifacts and remaining pieces of the pantheon in the place they would have existed up at the site. It is clever and a great way to understand the history of Greece.

Before we can leave Athens, we have one more stop at the first stadium of the modern Panathenaic Olympics. The stadium holds 65,000 people and these days is used for music performances, and it is the finishing line of the annual running marathon held each November.

With the temperature climbing we are at last heading out of Athens. Our journey now is north to explore a part of Greece we have never been to before.

We enter an area rich in agriculture and stop where a famous battle occurred between Spartacus and the Persians. The Greeks were totally outnumbered and got slaughtered but the battle galvanized the Greeks to form one country and fight the invaders. It worked.

By 6pm we arrived at Kalambaka. We only had time for a quick dip and then dinner. We enjoyed a walk into town. From what we can see from here we are in for an amazing day tomorrow.Read more