Athens Day Two

August 4

I’m sorry my blogs have become a little less informative as of late…sometimes its so difficult to retain all the information we learn and more than that, to find the time to write everything down. I’ve decided to stay in once again tonight and get a good night’s rest. We have four channels on our television which play movies…usually they are movies for classes and the four films of the day play over and over again…toady one of the channels is playing the older version of The Diary of Anne Frank and after visiting the annex, I’ve been desperate to reread the book…so instead, tonight, I’ll enjoy the movie. Today we woke up for breakfast and spent another leisurely day in Athens. We once again got off at Monastiraki and our group decided to split off. Two of my friends, Ryan and Matt, came along with me to see the Agora. I think everyone reading this should check out Ryan’s version of Semester at Sea, at http://ryanleavy.blogspot.com. We tag along a lot on our trips so it might be interesting reading a different perspective!

Anyhow, the three of us walked the short distance to the Agora, where I went in without paying, again! Yesterday, at the top of the Acropolis, I saw the beautiful Thesion (Temple of Hephaistos and Athena) below and looked forward to visiting. Now, the Agora is an area that not only has the Thesion but also the Stoa of Attalos, a 2nd century building which was reconstructed in the mid 20th century. There is now a small museum on the bottom floor, which has various artifacts. The coolest piece had to be an old, Spartan shield…it was huge! I can’t imagine how heavy it must have been! Whenever I go to museums, I feel bad because I’ve attained a sort of nonchalance towards the various pieces…I’ve seen so many of the same things over and over and over again…everything is beautiful, naturally, and I’m happy to see it…but I don’t spend as much time perusing the museums as I would in the states. But then again, I don’t have as much time. There’s always something more to see. After seeing the Stoa of Attalos, we went back towards the Temple to have a closer look. The Thesion was constructed in the 5th century BC and is absolutely beautiful. From the top of the Acropolis, it looked like true sanctuary. In its time, the Agora was the commercial center of the city and the birthplace of democracy. According to the museum in the Stoa of Attalos, the Agora was the seat of administrative officials and the judiciary, home to a number of social and cultural activities, as well as the religious and cult center. The Panathenaic Way ran through the area, a road that connected the main gate of Athens to the Acropolis. Also was the West road where many important public buildings stood. Several other roads once existed and now the Agora is full of a mishmash of ruins. It was hard to picture how important this place used to be…how different it was then! And yet, if I stood still for a moment, the atmosphere changed from touristy to sacred, mysterious, and mystical. Something deeper existed in these ruins and the more I stayed, the more I felt the presence of the past alongside me. But alas, we had to meet up with some friends for a lunch so we continued on. For a little bit, the three of us wandered and found a beautiful church to sit near, underneath some shade. For about 20 minutes, we relaxed and listened to some music, just enjoying the breeze. After, we made our way back to meet the friends. Throughout the past two days, we walked several times through the Plaka, perhaps the most well known district of Athens. This seems to be where all the touristy action takes place, and is on the eastern side of the Acropolis. Since its thought of to be a historical district, few cars pass on the streets, which makes for a nice walk! The streets are lined with restaurants, shops, cafes, etc. We had lunch at a place called Savas and my souvlaki platter took me right to heaven! We had planned to go take the tram up Mount Lycabettus, a rather large hill in the northeast part of the city that supposedly has great views and also the Chapel of St. George. But, after lunch, we got caught up with shopping and after buying some delicate souvenirs, decided it would be best to take them back to the ship. That’s about it for today. Tomorrow I’m going on a SAS trip to the islands of Poros, Hydra, and Aegina. I’m so excited! Hopefully I’ll be able to update tomorrow!