Up we go!

We set off with a guide today up the Acropolis,the hill, to see the Parthenon and other buildings above. I was a little worried about climbing ALL THE WAY UP THERE but we used an entrance that was not crowded and had a path with a slight incline and some steps. Our guide stopped along the way to talk about remnants of buildings of long ago. There was not much left to them. He was a wealth of info. A bit too much for my brain to retain the facts/dates/names/etc but it was interesting to here at the time. Tons of people up top. The Parthenon is currently under construction. It took 9yrs to build but will take 50 yes to repair because they are taking it apart piece by piece to fix and then reassemble. Learned that at some time in history it looked like a castle, was used as a church and then a mosque. Pretty amazing to be standing among that iconic piece of history. Next we went down to the Agora. It's at the foot of the Acropolis. It used to be a large open square where people could gather for various things. Over time it was all covered up and houses were built on top of it. Our guide said that pretty much anywhere in Athens has layers of the past buried under the modern streets and buildings.  Archeologists from the US got funding to excavate it the area of the Agora. Not much from the original remains. Then we had a group lunch and had the rest of the afternoon to ourselves. This could be a dangerous tend because it leads to much shopping. ;)

The view from the hotel roof restaurant with the lit up Parthenon is AMAZING. Unfortunately the wifi at the hotel is LESS than amazing and it won't upload any pics. I'll have to do it in the next hotel (hopefully their wifi allows it)

Trying to learn a word in Greek a day. I failed miserably. It's hard!! Need to read something? Forget about it! They have a triangle as a letter/sound/something. No guessing what the words mean here!!

 

Breakfast with a view.