Ancient wonders in Athens

Elena in front of the Theatre of Dionysius
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Athens is the home of some of the oldest human structures still around and it's definitely not a place we wanted to pass up. We had heard so much about Athens, mainly along the lines of "see the Acropolis and get out", but I'd have to disagree with them: Athens is not nearly as bad as people say.

We were only there for 2 nights, but that was easily enough time to see all the ruins. The Acropolis was pretty amazing but, like a lot of Europe's monuments, covered in scaffolding for restoration. While the walk up the Acropolis is not nearly as bad as it appears in photos, the heat made things very uncomfortable. I definitely recommend carrying a large bottle of water around.

Athens is not nearly as bad as people say

Richard on the side of the Acropolis overlooking Athens
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While most people associate the Acropolis with "that building on the hill" (the Parthenon), there are a lot of other buildings there too, including the Temple of Athena Nike and the Erechtheum (which features the famous 'porch of the maidens' columns). The surrounding area includes many ancient ruins as well - including the Theatre of Dionysius and Ancient Agora.

Other sites we saw were the Roman Agora, Tower of the Winds, the Arch of Hadrian and the Temple of Olympian Zeus. One of the columns at the Temple of Olympian Zeus was toppled by a storm in the 1850's and now lies across the remains of the temple, looking like a sliced carrot.

The Parthenon
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At that we had to bid Greece farewell (pending a brief stopover in Thessaloniki), and begin our 15 hour train trip to Bulgaria.