235.✓Greece–See the Acropolis (Akropolis)
The Acropolis is one of the world’s most famous archaeological sites as well as one of the most famous religious and cultural sights.
I have known about the Acropolis for many years, since I was very young and have always wanted to go.
Just the idea of walking through the ancient ruins of a vast Empire is quite striking, and it is one of those places where I think if you get a chance to go you should, because it is historically speaking very important.
The ancient Acropolis of Athens is not just one thing but many. It has several ancient buildings, with the most famous being the pantheon (that’s the big one in the middle). There is evidence that it has been inhabited as far back as the 4th millennia BC, older than Western Canada itself.
The pantheon was destroyed in the 1687 siege by the Venetians during the Morean war, when a cache of gunpowder being stored in the pantheon was hit by a cannon ball and exploded. Whoever had the idea of putting it there was probably not the smartest person in the world…
For many years now they have been trying to restore the pantheon. When we were there huge portions of it were covered in scaffolding, something that you come to get used to when you travel around old cities.
It was early in the morning as Rachael and I were hiking up a steep hill to eventually reach the summit of where the Acropolis sits.
As we trudged uphill we forgot to get a drink so we were both quite thirsty. We eventually made it to the front gate of the Acropolis where a nice gentleman offered to be our guide.
We politely said no because we want to go slow and do our own thing, but also most of the information we were truly interested in we could find on Google. We are taken aback by the beauty of what we’re looking at – ancient columns stand everywhere next to giant scaffolding and archaeological equipment, it seems as if they’re still digging it up to this day which I think it’s quite interesting and beautiful.
We wander around the Acropolis trying to look at all the buildings and trying to follow the lines to make sure that we don’t get to close anyone, but to be fair there’s almost no one here today because of Corona virus.
We feel very lucky to be here in such a beautiful time. By this time the sun is hitting as directly in the face and after a couple hours of wandering around we eventually find the main building – the pantheon, the one where a giant golden statue of Athena is said to have stood.
It’s quite interesting and beautiful to imagine something so majestic be destroyed. The history of it also is incredibly beautiful and makes you wonder what it looked like when it was fully constructed. I imagine it’s a similar feeling to see the great pyramids – another thing that’s on my bucket list.
Finally after hours and hours of walking in the hot sun we start to get a headache because we forget to have a drink, so we eventually finish up our walk after looking at the famous theatre said to be where the sphere of Helios was found (another thing on my bucket list) then we quickly get out of the Acropolis and go try and find a place where we can have a refreshing cafe Freddo.
We sit down and discuss the beauty of what we saw, and agree that we both feel very lucky, but very hot and very thirsty. What a beautiful time to be alive and what a beautiful time to see what we’re doing.
I hope you guys enjoy this quick little post, I love you all and I’ll see you in the next one.
