After three
weeks in Norway and a week in Athens, I am back in Copenhagen, almost ready to
start the fourth semester of my bachelors degree. The trip to Greece has been
amazing, and as this is mainly a travel blog, I thought I would share some of
my experiences in the beautiful mediterranean country. Most trips to capital or big
cities are just weekend trips, but this time we were so lucky to spend a whole
week in the capital of Greece, which gave us a lot of time to experience all
parts of the city and also some of the area around.
The trip to
Greece was planned some months in advance, and what we discovered quite early
was how cheap and how easy it was to get there (at least from Copenhagen). We
booked the plane circa three months before, and the SAS tickets were quite cheap. (This probably also has to do with the fact that we traveled off-season.) Also the times for travelling were suitable, we left
Copenhagen at 9 in the morning, and landed in Athens at 1 in the afternoon,
local time. So we had the whole afternoon of the first day to experience
some of the city.
The Greek
history is very important to the Greeks, and you will discover that quite
quickly. There are historical monuments and names of historical people or
happenings all over the place. What surprised me was how little there was about
the old philosophers like Socrates and Platoo, and how much there was to hear
about the old Greek Gods and Mythology. The city Athens it self is of course
named after the Greek Goddess Athene, the Goddess of war. And all we ever heard
about was that this and that name and building and quarter were named after
some Greek God. The philosophers were not mentioned in that kind of scale, not
even in the Agora area could we find out a lot about Socrates and his squad.
But with that mentioned, the Greek Mythology is of course very interesting, and
I loved hearing about how the old Greeks used to pray for the different Gods in
different ways, and how their lives were circled around the Myths.
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| In front of the Athenian Treasury at Delphi |
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| The Academy of Athens. The architect of this building was a Dane: Theophil Hansen. |
Acropolis
This is the
“Old city” of Athens; Acro, meaning
old, and Polis, meaning city. It is
placed in the center of Athens, and from any place in Athens you have a view of
the beautiful ruins of Parthenon. To get into Acropolis you have to pay an
entrance fee, but for students at European universities it is free. This counts
for almost all of the touristic places in Athens: either free, or reduced
tickets for students.
The walk up
to the Acropolis is beautiful, and includes a lot of different ruins of old
temples and theatres. The world’s oldest theatre is located there, and as we
know, the Greeks love drama. Also on the way up, the old Herodion stadium is
located, a big stadium that used to have a roof back in the old days, which
made the acoustics better. The area is actually still in use, and both Frank
Sinatra and Elton John have held concerts there.
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| Herodion Stadium, on the way up to Acropolis. |
At the
top of Acropolis you get a beautiful sight of Athens, and you can even see to
Pyreus and the ocean. You won’t even believe what all the ruins on top of
Acropolis have lived through: wars, the Christianisation, the Ottoman times,
and the Parthenon was said to have been used both as a temple for the Greek
Gods, a Christian Church, a Mosque and now, in ruins, it is being renovated,
and will hopefully in a couple of years look almost the same as it did
thousands of years ago.
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| The Parthenon |
On the way
down from the Acropolis, you can walk down on the north-eastern side and pass
the rock where Paul held his speeches when he first came to Athens. He was
there around 50 AD, but Greece did not become Christian until approxiamtely 400
AD. After passing the rock, or maybe even climbing it, you will enter the
Agora, the old trading and market-place.
Agora
The Agora
was the old trading and meeting place, where history tells us the philosophers
often met up to talk to people about their opinions and thoughts. We had some
trouble finding the entrance to the Agora, as the whole area was caged in, but
entering from the Monastraki site, close to the Stoa of Attalos, turned out to
be a good idea. The Agora is a big area, with an interesting history. What we
ended up looking at was the Stoa, which had a little museum inside, and the Temple
of Hephaestus on the other side of the area.
The Oracle of Delphi
During our
week-long stay in Athens we also took one day trip to Delphi, the place known for
the Oracle that used to live there. People used to go to Delphi to ask the
Oracle for advice, and she was known to give strange or double meaning answers,
but still people continued to go to her for advice. The place was beautifully
located on a mountain hill, and the temple where the Oracle used to stay was
surrounded by small temples where people kept their offerings to the Gods and
other valuable objects. The Oracle of Delphi used to smoke in some
hallucinating gasses that leaked from the ground up at Delphi, and that was why
she was always giving those strange answers to people who came to her for
advice. Delphi was beautiful, and is worth a visit, but only if you have the
time for a day-trip, because it is a 3-hour drive from Athens to Delphi.
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| The Temple of Apollo at Delphi, where the Oracle used to give advise. |
The Panathenaic Stadium (Olympic Stadium of
1896)
The
location for the Olympic Games of 1896 is located in central Athens and is
worth a visit. The whole stadium is built of marble stone, and is just
beautiful. The stadium seats almost 70 000 spectators, but I guess that would
be a very crowded experience. The stadium is open for visitors (in exchange for
a little entrance fee) and you can walk all over the place, both the tribunes
and the running area.
The National Garden
The
location of both the Temple of Olympian Zeus and the beautiful building
Zappeion, as well as stretching all the way up to the Syntagma square, the
national garden is a huge and refreshing lung in the middle of the crowded city
of Athens. It is nice for just taking a walk or a run, or for taking a detour
from one place to another when the city gets just a little too noisy. Athens
and the area around have 4 million inhabitants, and can be quite noisy, so
taking a walk in the park is always a good idea.
The Presidential Guard – The Evzoni
One thing I
would not let anyone miss when going to Athens, is the Evzoni – the
presidential guard, standing in front of the Greek Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Their uniforms are not like the traditional western European army uniforms, and
their way of marching is probably the best thing you will ever see. I asked a
lot of different people in Athens about their untraditional way of marching,
but did not get the answer from anyone about the history and meaning behind it.
Just take a look at them, aren’t they just the funniest?
It was a great trip to Athens, and I highly recommend it to others. The next time I'm in Greece, I hope to see some of the islands that I heard are oh, so beautiful. Until then, I will be dreaming of olive trees, tzatziki and hummus.
