Tim & Gerri's Wild Ride
Email & Facebook Gerri:
  • Home
  • Worldwide Travel
    • Eastern Europe 2022 >
      • Eastern Europe 2022 Blog Summary
      • Eastern Europe 2022 Packing List
    • Narrowboat Holiday 2022 >
      • Narrowboat 2022 Blog
      • Narrowboat 2022 Packing List
    • Ireland & UK 2019 >
      • Ireland & UK Itineray
      • Ireland & UK Blog
      • Ireland & UK Blog Summary
      • Ireland & UK Packing List
    • France 2018 >
      • France Itinerary
      • France 2018 Blog
      • Blog Summary
    • European Tour 2017 >
      • European Vacation Blog
      • Blog Summary
    • Southeast Asia 2014-15 >
      • Southeast Asia Blog
      • Packing List
      • Blog Summary
    • Afghanistan 2011-12
  • United States Travel
    • Great Lakes Sail 2020 >
      • Great Lakes Sail 2020 Blog
      • Blog Summary
    • Trans-America Bicycle Ride >
      • Trans-America Bicycle Ride Blog
      • Blog Summary
      • Our Team
      • Equipment
      • Breweries Along Route
    • Pacific Crest Trail >
      • Pacific Crest Trail 2016 >
        • What is the PCT? - 2016
        • Why Hike the PCT? - 2016
        • Gear - 2016
        • Itinerary - 2016
        • Blog - 2016
        • PCT Blog Summary - 2016
        • Where are we now? - 2016
      • Pacific Crest Trail 2014 >
        • What is the PCT?
        • Why Hike the PCT?
        • Gear
        • Food
        • Itinerary
        • PCT Blog
        • Blog Summary
        • Where are we now?
    • Motorcycle Ride 2014 >
      • Motorcycle Blog
  • Brewery Visits
    • 2022 Breweries
    • 2021 Breweries
    • 2020 Breweries
    • 2019 Breweries
    • 2018 Breweries
    • 2017 Breweries
    • 2016 Breweries
    • 2015 Breweries
    • 2014 Breweries
    • 2013 Breweries
    • 2012 Breweries
    • 2011 Breweries
    • 2010 Breweries
    • 2009 Breweries
    • 2008 Breweries
    • 2007 Breweries
    • 2006 Breweries
    • 2005 Breweries
    • 2004 Breweries
    • 2003 Breweries
    • 2002 Breweries

Athens Day 3 - Acropolis Museum & National Archeology Museum

5/3/2022

1 Comment

 
After yesterday's somewhat day of rest, we were ready to get out and visit the two major museums in Athens, the Acropolis Museum and the National Archeology Museum.  Before heading out though, it was time to check out the roof of our AirBnB which many reviews said it was one of the highlights of the apartment.  Well, check it out...very cool view!
Picture
OK...time to visit the Acropolis Museum.  The museum is a beautiful building that just opened in 2009.  The first floor is displays of artifacts found on the grounds of the Acropolis and the second floor is the re-creates the exact dimensions and floor plan as the Parthenon.

Here is a great shot of one of the galleries on the first floor:
Picture
Here they are...the original Caryatids from the Erechtheion.  These five of the original six stood outside in their original location until the 1950's when they were finally brought inside after much weather and pollution damage.  It is pretty cool how these women are actual columns that held up the roof of a temple on the grounds of the Acropolis.
Picture
Here was an interesting relic.  Some sort of Magic Sphere.  We found the carvings interesting.  One side has what looks like the Statue of Liberty and the other side has some kind of alien hieroglyphics.  Quite odd.
Picture
Picture
Finally, we made it to the top floor to see what we came to see...the Parthenon Frieze.  As I mentioned earlier, this floor matches the dimensions of the actual Parthenon, so when you walk around, you can the location of the columns and frieze.  The frieze is along the wall, and what is left of the pediments, which are usually high up above the frieze and below the roof, are brought lower down so we could see it.

An interesting thing about the Parthenon Frieze is that most of the original frieze is located in the British Museum in London.  Between 1801 and 1812, Thomas Bryce, 7th Earl of Elgin, took the frieze and most of the pediments and brought them to England.  Greece hopes to have the pieces returned, but England has so far refused.  Anyway, the panels that are in London are reproductions and clearly marked.
Picture
What makes this display so cool is that right out the window is the Parthenon in all its glory.
Picture
We left the Acropolis Museum after about 1.5 hours.  We were tired, but we still have another museum to tackle.  We took the bus with a bit of issues (got on in the wrong direction, got off, and got back on in the correct direction) and made it to the National Archeology Museum by around 3 PM. 

Here we learned all about the four stages of Greek sculpture (Archaic (700-480 BC), Severe (480-460 BC), Classical (460-323 BC), and Hellenistic (323-30 BC).

There were many Archaic Kore (female) and Kouros (male) statues...very stiff and stoic with obvious Egyptian influence.
Picture
Kore, 650 BC
Picture
Kouros, 600 BC
After many, many Kore and Kouros sculptures, we were finally seeing the more realistic ones.

Zeus or Poseidon was found in a shipwreck north of Athens in 1928.  Because he is missing whatever he was holding, it could be Zeus if he was holding a thunderbolt, or Poseidon if he was holding a trident.

Tim liked the little Athena (one-twelfth-size replica) of what stood inside the Parthenon.

The jockey was also found in the same shipwreck as Zeus / Poseidon.

I really liked Statue of Aphrodite, Pan, and Eros.  It is playful and fun.
Picture
Zeus or Posideon, 460 BC
Picture
Bronze Jockey, 140 BC
Picture
The Athena Varvakeion, 450 AD
Picture
Statue of Aphrodite, Pan, and Eros, 100 BC
Hello back to you Bronze Statue of a Youth who could be Perseus holding up Medusa's head or Paris awarding an apple to the winner of a beauty contest between goddesses.  Either way, this is typical of us walking around museums with me reading out loud the descriptions as Tim (and others standing around us) listen in.
Picture
We saw so, so many Grecian urns, vases, cups, plates, bowls, etc.  This is room 3 or 4 or 5 of many.
Picture
Well...we did it.  two large museums in one day.  This was not the original plan, but since everything was closed yesterday for May Day, we had to get it done in one day.  It was exhausting, but so worth it.  We learned about and saw so many amazing pieces of art.  By the way, we spent 3.5 hours in the National Archeology Museum...WOW!

After all that walking and standing all day, we definitely earned dinner.  Yesterday, when we went to Blame the Sun Brewery, Angelo (one of the owners) told us that we needed to eat at Ο Λόλος.  He started to tell us what we need to order.  Instead, I told him to write it down.  He wrote down four dishes and didn't tell us what they were.  Today, we stopped by the brewery for a pint before dinner and he added another dish making it 5 dishes to order.  Luckily we are starving after today.

When we arrived at the restaurant, we just handed the list to the waitress.  We had no idea what we ordered, so it was fun to see what was appearing on our table.  Here was our meal and what I think we got based on looking at the menu:  smoked herring fillet, marinated anchovies, fried blue whiting, grilled squid stuffed with feta, and mussels that were not even on the menu.  We also brought a basket of bread and we ordered 500ml of house white wine.  The mussels took a long time, so they brought us another 500ml of wine.  All of this cost around $50.  So delicious and so worth it.
Picture
Smoked herring fillet & marinated anchovies
Picture
Grilled squid stuffed with feta
Picture
Fried blue whiting
Picture
Mussels
We walked back to our AirBnB and decided to check out the roof at night.  Look what we saw...so amazing.  Also on the roof was two women from California.  They just finished their drive around Greece, so it was interesting to compare notes of where they went and were we plan on going.
Picture
Tomorrow we take a ferry from Athens to Hydra.  Our ferry is at 10 AM, so we have to get an Uber before 8:30 AM.  It will be an early morning, but should be another amazing day.
1 Comment
Mary
5/11/2022 11:43:24 am

Hey! You're getting a bit behind on your blogging.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Eastern Europe Home
    Blog Summary

    Archives

    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.