Corinth and Athens

Our day in Athens became longer when our stop in Olympia the day before got canceled.  There was a medical emergency on the boat with a passenger, so we missed Olympia all together!  We were really disappointed about this, but got a bonus stop in Greece: Corinth. 

We met Faye, our Rick Steve’s recommended tour guide, that we had hired for the day, and our rented tour bus at the cruise ship terminal in Piraeus which is the port of Athens.  We headed for a 50 minute drive out to Corinth crossing this famous canal which separates the Peloponnese Peninsula from the one that Athens is located on.  It has made travel through Greece much more feasible for boats.  Instead of having to go all the way around the Peloponnese Peninsula.  

Corinth was like a lot of ancient sites….with ruins piled here and there that they have tried to salvage and piece together an ancient culture.  Its bits and pieces were fascinating! 

The statues were made and used for years….they would simply change out the heads for the next ruler or person of importance! 

 

The pottery was exquisite and made me think of Hercules the Disney movie and how they must have got some of their inspiration for the show right here! 

Faye who is very educated and experienced with Greek culture, taught us about the economic disintegration of modern day Greece, about the Government that isn’t helping their situation, and how the people are very disheartened in Greece currently.  Unemployment rates are through the roof.  She also taught us about architecture and ancient Greece.  Below are examples of the different styles of Columns so abundant in Grecian Architecture:  The Doric column, Ionic, and Corinthian. (As they got more decorative, they added syllables to their names!)  Doric being the simple ones on the left and Corinthian being the more decorative and detailed on the right. 

Cole’s favorite place to land his long and lingering endearing kisses:

So these little boys spent a lot of time making up games together and hanging out while the rest of the group huddled around Faye to hear all about ancient Corinth. 

Below: Where the visiting Apostle Paul was tried:  Paul lived and worked in Corinth while he taught the Corinthians.  He made and sold fishing nets right here in this market. When he was brought before the city for his trial he stood in the clearing in this picture while his judges sat up on top of the raised platform.  AMAZING to walk and stand where Paul had.

Were you paying attention up earlier?  Is this a Doric, Ionic, or Corinthian top of a column? 

Wow!  The Van De Graaffs definitely ate their Wheaties this morning……look at the air they got!

Below right:  Hadrian’s Arch below was built in A.D. 132 to celebrate the completion of the Temple of Olympian Zeus (just beyond the arch), It represented the dividing line between the ancient city and Hadrian’s new “Roman” city.  The Romans preferred the Corinthian style Greek columns as seen on the top of the arch. 

 

Next stop was back to Athens for some amazing lunch.  The food was really good!  Greek olives and feta salad, cucumber dip, flat bread, doner meat shishkabobs etc.  It was a VERY hot day in Greece.  We were all feeling a bit sluggish and sweaty already and it was only mid day….

After lunch we were dropped off at the bottom of the Acropolis Hill by our driver and we headed into the Acropolis Museum.  We passed by this cutie Grecian boy only a little older than Cole, playing his mini Accordion.  I snapped a quick photo and then was immediately yelled at by him for not putting in some coins.  Chastised by the little performer, I quickly found some coins in my bag and made it right! 

The Acropolis Museum only completed in 2009, is an amazing structure of lots of windows that lets in lots of natural light.  Housing several relics from the famous Acropolis Hill, one could spend hours pouring over all it has to offer.  We only were there for a little over an hour and hit a few highlights. 

 

The more they start to build new structures in Athens, the more artifacts they run into…..so there are constantly digs going on in this city.  The whole Museum is on cement column “stilts” to allow the dig underneath to continue onward. 

 

The floor inside showing the underground digs: 

The views of Acropolis Hill from the museum…..we were getting antsy at this point to get up there and see it!  

The pedestrian walk way up…..

By 450 B.C, Athens was at its peak of power and was very wealthy.  Pericles,  Athens’ leader at the time, put the money to good use in a massive rebuilding program.  The Acropolis was transformed into a complex of ornate temples worthy of the city’s protector, Athena. 

Odeon of Herodes Atticus (used for music rather than theatrical performances) 

Yes…. emotions were getting raw as the day wore on in the unbearable heat:

The Propylaea Grand entrance Gate to Acropolis Hill: 

The Temple of Erechtheion with the famous Caryatids statues: 

 

And the magnificent Parthenon!!!!  Wow it is spectacular even with restoration projects afoot. 

In its hay day, the temple was decorated with statues and carved reliefs, all painted in vivid colors.  It’s considered Greece’s greatest Doric temple.  The truly exceptional feature of the Parthenon is that the architects used a lot of optical illusions to give the building an ever-so–subtle feeling of balance, strength, and harmonious beauty.  The base of the Parthenon actually arches several inches upward in the middle to counteract the “sagging” illusion and to drain rain water.  The columns tilt ever so slightly inward (one reason it has withstood earthquakes), and the corner columns are thicker to make them appear the same size as the rest.  The Columns also bulge halfway up giving the impression of stout, barrel-chested men bearing the weight of the roof. 

 

Such an amazing night!!

   

The view of the Olympian Zeus Temple. It took almost 700 years to complete…It lay abandoned half built for centuries until emperor Hadrian finished it. Only 15 of the 104 original columns remain standing. The temple once housed an enormous statue of Zeus.

On our way back to the boat, we swung by the Olympic Stadium :  Restored to its Roman condition in 1896 for the first modern Olympics and then redone for the 2004 Olympic Games. 

Saying good bye to Faye and our wonderful day in Athens and Corinth.  We headed straight for the showers once on board!