It is ALL really big…

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ORIGINAL POST: 24 Jan 2008
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Athens is a big place.

It expands in every direction… just about as far as the eye can see…

Not only is the city itself huge… it tends to have rather huge things in it.

Huge…

And so, we had our official class at the Acropolis and throughout the Agora yesterday. And, yes, it was exhausting to do it for 7 hours…

This is Katarina, our extremely talented tour guide. We absorbed a few weeks worth of material in a few hours. She’s so good at what she does.

But, all that talking didn’t go to waste! For our classes, we had to take notes… yes… forced memory-making, said our teacher, “In 25 years, you will thank me for making you take all these notes.”

Maybe… maybe so…

Plenty of old stuff.

Did you know: the Parthenon would probably be in perfect condition if it wasn’t for the Ottomans during the 14th century using it for a garrison and armory – and it exploded. So… that sucks…

And a British guy in the early 19th century chiseled all the statues (officially called a “freize”) off the front and back of the Parthenon and took it to the British museum. Kinda sucks… but nothing is left on it now…

And the statues in the picture above are all replicas, too…

Could’a fooled me.

Mars Hill, the traditional location of Paul’s sermon to the elders of Athens, gathers pilgrims from all over the world. Read Acts 17:22 if you want to see what I’m talking about…

Granted, these are a few of my friends from the group, it is still a bit of a moving moment to walk in the footsteps of such world-changing men in the shadows of such world-changing structures.

No matter what your personal status on religion is, it is bizarre to see how this area of the world affected so much of the modern world so many millennia ago.

Did I mention this stuff is huge?

And there goes another dog in the bottom of the frame…

But, this building (the Stoa of Atalos) has been completely restored to its original glory… and a museum for the Agora has been installed in the interior where there used to be hundreds of merchants selling their wares… some items here may have even been sold in the original building 2000 years ago.

…and also see things like this:

These small shot-glass sized vessels were found near the prison in the vicinity of the little statuette… thought to be a part of a mini-shrine of Socrates. Yes, the prison where Socrates was executed. Yes, it could be that one of those little hemlock shot-glasses did him in.

Read Plato’s Phaedo if you don’t know what I’m talking about.

So, my experience in ancient Athens has been a rather good one.

And outside the ancient city, too.

And, the National Guard is out on the streets. Not for a demonstration this time… just some drills.

And quiet side-street life is almost so picturesque it’ll make you gag…

Athens is great… if you haven’t visited there, its definitely worth your time.

Even having to take notes on the sites, I accumulated 606 photos from the day. This was such a small portion, but I figured you wouldn’t really be that interested in seeing photos of stone foundations and other random ancient / classical stuff.

So, the Leica film is STILL not developed. It takes a bit longer to get it out to Athens these days. Soon, I promise…

Also, our first major trip is coming up next week. I’ll keep you all on pens and needles until a day or two before…

Beautiful city.

Goodnight, my friends.
~Noah D.