Athens 500-350 BCE

A day exploring Athens, we visited 2 of the seven attractions on the Acropolis inclusive ticket: Karameikos and the Acropolis itself.

Karameikos was a very cool Pompeii like ruin, which is famous for having a preserved bit of ancient city wall and the cemetery (see the photos of pots and gold faces that were found in graves).
At one point in history, the cemetery and the city walls even became one and the same. In 478 BC, under threat of Spartan invasion and having only just got the city back from Persians, the Athenians needed to make some rapid defensive upgrades. Pushed for time and able bodies they mortared together head stones and sarcophagi, genius really.

After siesta, we went and saw the Parthenon at the Acropolis. This is a great relique that everyone has had a go at using as a place of worship (Greeks, Romans, Christians, and Muslims) until Venetians blew it up on purpose in the 17th century.Read more