Athens/Athinai, The Erectheum, The Parthenon, Aristophenes, Lord, Byron, The Acropolis, The Plaka, and The Phaedra Hotel

The family, minus Keelin at The Parthenon


Keelin at the Erectheum - click to enlarge



Jack in front of The Parthenon-click to enlarge




The family, minus Del, at the foot of the Parthenon. Click to enlarge.


I loved this advertisement for absinthe in a liquor store window. It kind of captures both the spirit of Van Gogn AND absinthe. Click to enlarge.

We are staying in a wonderful hotel--The Phaedra--in the heart of the Plaka, just down the hill from the Acropolis, in the middle of Athens.

Since it was going to be around 104 fahrenheit today, we got a fairly early start, walking up the hill to the Acropolis, and stopping to gaze at a few other monuments along the way. As it turns out, one of my very favorite 19th Century poets, Lord Byron a/k/a George Gordon, made a big splash in Athens, and The Plaka. There are monuments to him, numerous plaques, and even a street named after him. He may have been a scandalous libertine, but the Hellenikis love him!

One monument commemorating Lord Byron lies in the very same plot of land near the plaka where the tomato was first introduced and grown in Greece! Wow. Considering how great and totally ubiquitous the tomato is here, it's amazing.

Since our 1982 visit, The Acropolis has been greatly enhanced, opened up, restored, with new buildings and areas opened up to the public. When we came here in '82, there was one way in, and a lot of closed off areas that have been excavated and restored in the ensuing years, The Acropolis, and particuarly The Parthenon and The Erectheum, with its wonderful Catydid (msp?) statues are even more impressive than before. The theatre is in the middle of restoration, and like all the many theatres we've seen, awe-inspiring.

I love this place! It's so great to walk around the Acropolis again, and see where all those great things happened and all those great works of art were made, and all those great thoughts were thought. Thank you Socrates!


The Odeon theatre, on The Acropolis, where we will watch an Aristophenes play in Greek tomorrow night--click to enlarge

Tomorrow, we check out some more ruins, monuments, and go to the fantastic and huge museum here. And even better, perhaps, tomorrow night we are attending a performance of an Aristophenes play in the ancient Odeon theatre, at sunset. Is this cool, or what? And the next morning at 5 AM we begin the long journey home, first to London, then to Vancouver, B.C., and finally Seattle Thursday night.
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