Camino Frances

I've made it to Greece and back to Athens, home of philosophy, theatre, architecture and democracy, just to name a few. While the ruins in Rome were over 1000 years old, in Athens the ruins are 2600 years old. Prior to that there were even older ruins but the Persians sacked the place about 2800 years ago and flattened every building on Acropolis Hill. Although the Athenians won the war it took them a while to rebuild. The whole of Athens was flattened once again about 2000 years ago with everything destroyed except the hill. The Romans also had control of Athens for a while but didn't destroy it because they thought highly of Greek history and decided to leave the hill untouched.

Athena, goddess of war and wisdom, is the protector of Athens and the Parthenon on the Acropolis is dedicated to her. The Acropolis Museum is full of statues of her in battle gear. The sacred olive tree on the Acropolis is also dedicated to her and her symbols include the olive and the owl.

The Acropolis is in a constant state of repair. I'm pretty sure there was scaffolding on it somewhere last time I was here. The preservation and restoration work has been ongoing since the late 1800's although much of today's work includes fixing earlier renovation attempts. Most of the remaining artworks from the sanctuary are protected within the modern Acropolis Museum with replicas on the actual hill itself.

The Acropolis Museum ranks as one of the top ten museums in the world and the modern building opened in 2009. It sits on a site overlooking part of Athens on one side and the Acropolis on the other. It has been built over the top of a part of ancient Athens so underneath the museum is an archeological site you can walk through and you can also see some of this as you walk over the glass floors inside the museum. The Parthenon plinths and artwork are displayed inside in their authentic size and placement so that the museum itself is larger the Parthenon.

The significance of Greek culture on modern life cannot be underestimated and it is clear I am in one of the cradles of civilisation. It is unfortunate that it seems such cradles of civilisation found it necessary to revere cruel gods and that humankind found it necessary to build grand temples and artworks to idolise and appease. These grand places I was privileged to see today only exist thanks to many thousands of slaves, most whom probably gave their lives to the task. True civilisation was and still is a long time in the making.

I've taken quite a liking to Athens today. I don't remember being as taken with it last time. While I've walked extensively today including the top of the Acropolis, the slopes, several surrounding parks including never ending relics and ruins such as the Ancient Greek Agora, the Roman Agora and many other Roman era ruins, there has been something interesting around every corner and parks and view points everywhere.

And the food is great. Moussaka, lamb stews, pastries that aren't all sweet such as the veggie pie I had for breakfast, kebabs and gyros, souvlaki, etc. My stomach is very content with more red meat than its seen in a while. I've eaten lots of tuna, chicken and ham while I've been away but rarely any lamb or beef. But the €6 I spent on a glass of red wine wasn't as nice as the reds I had nearly everyday in Spain that were never more than €1.50.

The reason I'm in Athens at all is because of the very cheap Scoot flights Mel-Singapore-Athens. My flight home cost me $550. So if Athens is on your bucket list I recommend keeping an eye on those Scoot flights. I guess I booked this flight about 5 months ago now. I missed getting the cheap flight to Athens as well as I was a bit slow booking and missed the chance.

I also recommend Athens in November (and Rome too for that matter). No queues or crowds at the sites, Acropolis entry is half price or less if you pay for crowd jumping privileges. This year at least it's still tshirt weather during the day though cooler at night and I suspect accommodation is much cheaper now too.Read more