Athens, Greece

November 9th
2009
written by

Ben and I are fascinated by ancient history and have enjoyed seeing Roman ruins in Europe. We took a step even further back in time by traveling to Greece for a week, and we love it! We spent 2 full days in Athens, the birthplace of modern civilization. The Ancient Greeks made huge leaps in government, philosophy, science, and art.  It’s been amazing to see ruins and artifacts from this era and imagine all of this happening over 2000 years ago.

Athens is a huge sprawling city, but all of the tourist sites are concentrated near the Acropolis (a big rock in the center of the city with the Parthenon and other ancient temples). This area of Athens is really nice, with pretty pedestrian streets, shopping, cafe’s, museums, and ancient ruins sprinkled throughout. Most of the buildings in Athens are white or light-colored, giving the whole city a pretty Mediterranean look.  Overall we really loved Athens. Here’s some of our photos…

Acropolis from a nearby hill
The city of Athens
The Parthenon
Another temple on the Acropolis
Caryatids (columns that are statues of women)
Ben and the Parthenon
We hiked up that hill later
Parthenon
Ben and Alonna at the Parthenon
Ancient columns waiting to be put back together
Theater on the slope of the Acropolis
Theater of Dionysus
Ancient Agora (more Greek ruins)
The Acropolis
Temple at the Ancient Agora
Statue at the Ancient Agora
They loved double rows of columns
Ancient Roman ruins in Athens
Bronze statue from 460 BC
Greek Statue from 130 BC
Souvlaki (also known as Gyros or Kebabs)

11.04 - Greece, 2009

4 Comments

  1. Robin Scott
    11/09/2009

    I am so glad you got to Greece. How very great. I understand that the country side is absolutely awesome as well. Will you get to see of that?

    Thank you so for sharing all of your photos and adventures with all of us.

    Quick question: Do you have a FAVORITE photo of the two of you in a special European setting that perhaps captures your trip in one photo? If so, please send it — I would love to make an 8×10 to frame and hang.

    Thanks
    Mom S

  2. Alonna
    11/09/2009

    Right now we’re in Nafplio, Greece, which is about 2 hours drive from Athens. We rented a car to drive out here, so we’ve gotten to see the country side and a few of the different ancient ruins in the area. You heard right, the countryside here is gorgeous!

    p.s. we’ll work on choosing a photo for you

  3. Sandra
    11/09/2009

    I’ll say it again – I’m SOOOO Jealous!!! What a beautiful place!!

  4. Mom Albertus
    11/10/2009

    Very nice!! Looks like you had sunny and warm weather. Love looking at your pictures. I thought I heard that the ruins weren’t that great in Athens ~ but it looks very cool. The food looks yummy!!