The Acropolis and Parthenon

I don't know if you can go to Athens and NOT see the Acropolis, so we didn't risk it and went. 

We chose to go our first full day in Athens because it was March 31 and prices double to 20 Euro on April 1 for the summer season. It turned out though that Athens (and other parts of Greece) does something really neat and gives free admission to major sites to EU students, that is, anyone with an EU student ID. I am not an EU student, so we still had to pay the 10 Euro, but how great is that?

I didn't take pictures of every single one of them (I tried), but there were lots of dogs just hanging around near the ticket office and even closer to the Parthenon. They looked pretty sick and sad.

Theatre of Dionysus

We passed by the toilets and the rest of us took that opportunity to bask in the sunshine. We all had a goal of getting as much Vitamin D as possible and we were successful. Actually, you might be able to tell in some of the backgrounds from our trip, but we were some of the least bundled up people in Greece. It was in the mid-60s while we were there and people had on coats and scarves, while we who live in cold and wet Germany stripped down to as few layers as humanly possible to enjoy the warmth. I like taking warm weather for granted though!

Jaime's picture

Exploring the Cave of Pan

See what I mean about the dogs? What you don't see are hoards of loud people nearby.

Odeon of Herodes Atticus.

Family photo!

To the left of my head in the photo is the Areopagus (Mars Hill)

I feel like signs like this are just begging to get pictures like these.

Behind us here are the Philopappos Monument, which we'd walk up later (probably in another post because I'm sure this one is long)

Down below, you can see the Temple of Olympian Zeus (we would head there on Monday)

There's a similar picture of me in this spot (I think) 11 years ago. I don't have it with me, but once I locate my Greece 2006 pictures, I'll post a comparison.

 Hello, Parthenon! We visited the other Parthenon in Nashville (here), but that definitely didn't compare to the real thing!

It was SO WINDY and dust and dirt were flying everywhere.

Setting up for the group picture. We decided to recreate a picture from Bulgaria, and finding a place to put the camera was only half the battle. The first picture we tried was thwarted when a gust of wind came along and moved the lens so that the only picture captured was of the bright blue sky. Moments later, a kind lady came along and offered to take the picture, which was the best idea of all.

Here's the re-creation: Rila Mountains in Bulgaria and Parthenon in Greece. And wow, we were pale. Everyone else got sunburns this day and we were less pale from there on out, except for me, somehow escaping the wrath of the sun entirely.

Trying to be Greek gods and goddesses - super successful picture.

This was just the morning in a very full day!