The day started with another run, this time further than the last one, and expanded to include loops of the National Gardens.
Feeling quite tired we limited our sightseeing today, and were lucky because on the first Sunday of every month most of the ancient sites are free to enter.
We started with the Agora, which was the ancient marketplace.
It was the political heart of Athens from about 600 BC, and elegant residents shopped among the marble pillars. It all became ruined 2,000 years ago but was restored in the 1950's.
Most of the rest of the area is still ruined, apart from the Temple of Hephaestus which is the best preserved classical temple in Greece.
It looks very good from a distance, but the pillars are a bit out of line and could do with being pushed up straight.
After a quick stop for a gorgeous dark chocolate orange ice cream, we reached the Temple of Zeus. This was the largest temple on mainland Greece and 16 of its magnificent columns survive out of the original 104.
Unfortunately it was disappointingly mostly covered with scaffolding, and one of its columns was lying along the ground looking like a giant caterpillar.
We also popped into Hadrian's library, which required a lot of imagination, but we managed to line up a shot of the Acropolis in the background.
No comments:
Post a Comment