The final leg of our trip was spent in Athens. We flew from Naxos to Athens and spent two nights in the city before returning to Milan to fly back home. We basically had a day and a half to explore Athens and that proved to be enough for our family. I booked a very affordable airbnb about 9 months prior and it did not disappoint. We were within walking distance of everything we wanted to see. The first night we arrived, we went to dinner and viewed the acropolis from a distance. The kids had fun pretending to "hold up the sun." Our waiter at dinner gave Abbie a dish of straight boba to eat!
The next day was a full one. We toured the Acropolis in the morning. We bought a "skip the line" pass and arrived at 8:30 am. I highly recommend going early before the heat and the crowds arrive. Seeing the Parthenon was definitely the highlight of the Acropolis for me. I was also amazed at how slick the rocks were surrounding the Parthenon and the other temples and sights. They were slick almost like they had been in a river. The reality, I'm sure, is that the rocks and so slick from millions of people walking over them for thousands of years.
Below is the Propylaea (the entrance to the Acropolis)
Below is the Temple of Athena Nike and below that is the Erechtheion
Below is the Theater of Dionysus which was in operation around 400s BC!
Below is the theater of Odeon of Herodes Atticus. This theater is actually from Roman times circa 161 AD.
After viewing the Acropolis and it's slopes, we walked over to Mars Hill also called the Areopagus. The Areopagus sits to the west of the Acropolis. It is where the apostle Paul preached his sermon to the Athenians...referring to their "unknown god" and telling them the truth about Christ, the one true God. We took pictures of Natalie and Coleman pretending to "preach" on the Areopagus rock. I also loved the view of the Acropolis from here.
After viewing the Acropolis and the Areopagus, we went souvenir shopping. Charlie gave each child 20 euros to spend in Greece, so some of them still had some money leftover from the islands. They were eager to shop! After shopping and lunch, we visited the Panathenaic Stadium. The stadium sits on the ancient site of a racecourse built in c 400 BC. The racecourse was built for the ancient Greek Panathenaic games. In 144 AD the stadium was rebuilt by Herodus Atticus (a Roman senator), and it was built entirely of marble! We did not want to pay for everyone to tour the stadium, but we at least wanted to walk to see it and take pictures from the outside.
Enjoy the below pic of me. Ha! Charlie snapped this one when I wasn't looking. I can't even tell you what sort of souvenir shop we were in or why in the world there was a jeep inside of it. However, this picture makes me laugh. I'm looking very touristy with my hat and dress and hiking backpack and dirty chacos. Hats and dresses are not normally my thing, but in Europe it seems that every lady wears a hat and a dress. I'm attempting to blend into the culture around me but at the same time everything about me screams tourist!
That is a wrap on our day in Athens. The below pictures are from a photo booth in the airport in Milan. That seemed like a good place to end with our photos seeing as how the Milan airport is where we started our big European adventure! And, when you get stuck in the Milan airport for over 5 hours due to flight delays, you need a way to entertain yourself!
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