3 Kids, 2 Parents, 1 Month in Europe: Conquering Athens Part I

Monday June 1, 2015

We were up bright and early and off to meet our guide. There was only moderate groaning from the ranks and we managed to find a good cup of coffee and breakfast just around the corner which always brightens any travel day. We started with an obligatory stop at Syntagma (Constitution) Square and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and then hit various Athens sites.

You can stand next to the guards but you cannot touch them.

The Tomb is immediately in front of the Greek Parliament building. There is a ceremonial changing of the guard once an hour.

These purple flowering trees are all around town.

There are quite a few turtles in Athens. A packed city of 5 million....who would have thought.

Outside Kallimarmaro Stadium. This ancient stadium was rebuilt and used in the 1896 and 2004 Olympic Games and is the finish for the Athens Marathon run every fall.

The Temple of Zeus

MARS HILL

Our whole lives we have heard reference to Mars Hill and Paul's speech there. We were excited to see it...although it was in the company of 400 of our closest friends.

ACTS 17

16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.18 A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. 19 Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.” 21 (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’[b] As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’[c]29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed.He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
32 When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” 33 At that, Paul left the Council. 34 Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.

On Mars Hill

You have a great view of the city and the adjacent marketplace from Mars Hill.

THE ANCIENT AGORA (MARKETPLACE)

Somebody built something here at some point.

A tribute to Civil Engineers the world over--the father of all drainage ditches.

...and it still works!

Inside the dome of a Byzantine Church from 1000 AD. The dome in all these churches always has a picture of Jesus looking down on the gathered congregation. It's kind of like he's saying: "Hey! You there! I'm watching you!"

Emperor Hadrian. For an emperor with no arms, legs or head he accomplished a great deal.

Another Urban Turtle.

LUNCH BREAK

We bought 2 kilos of strawberries, 2 kilos of apricots and 1 kilo of cherries for 8 euro. All melt in your mouth ripe. Poli Oreo! (Very Good!).

The streetside tourist taverna--because they make it so easy.

We followed a Greek custom and headed in for an afternoon siesta. We forced the children to take a nap, because they sorely needed it. In the evening we headed out. Everlie had come across a free service called "This Is My Athens" that connects free local guides with visitors interested in seeing the city. This turned out to be a great experience as our guide, Iannis ("Yannis"), a retired Greek Army Colonel, took us through some of the more colorful "leftist" parts of the city--think something along the lines of the East Village. We certainly weren't in the tourist sections anymore! We ended up spending over two hours together and left feeling like we'd made a new friend in Athens.