Visiting the Antiquities

The traffic was worse today, Friday than yesterday, and the streets more crowded, I guess as we approach the weekend we can expect crowds to grow. And we chose yesterday and today to start our exploring  on foot.

The hotel we booked, a mighty fine one and reasonable too, is about thirty minutes from the sights and shopping areas. But in the absence of Malls and Shopping Centres/Supermarkets the neighbourhood stores flourish. Too many coffee shops to count and mini-marts abound.

Yesterday we chose to walk to Monstiriki Square (the starting point for many City walks), the large square that is the hub of the City on Athinas St. A kilometre of a wide Avenue lined with stores and cafes but stretches have lost their storefronts die to urban decay. Arriving there we went to the Roman relics, the Romans didn't adopt the Greek areas but chose to replace them, but as the Greek Agora was next to the Roman Agora we saw them both. 

But first up was Hadrians Library, a huge place that in its day housed all of his donated artifacts. The pic on the left is a reconstruction and the one on the right is a shot of what's left - the entrance and a few columns.

It should be noted that we were doing these relics in one shot because the Museum ticket - 30 euros each had an expiry date of five days.

The Roman Agora (meeting place and shopping areas) was next. This site also had a Roman structure called the Tower of the Winds. An early weather station and waterclock. As well we had a public bath house complete with ablutions and latrines. Picture on right shows a "two-holer"

 


Now comes the biggie - the Greek Agora,  only because of its size and a reconstructed Stoa (Mall/Market)

This site was interesting because it still had a Temple - the Thession, still standing (because it became the Church of St George and lasted until the 19 Century) and almost complete. But it was an uphill climb to get there. Another curious site was an original well, and notice the years of use had worn grooves in the stone from the lifting ropes.

Only one more Antiquity on the Museum ticket that we wanted to see so we nipped over there today. The Panathenic Stadium was built by the Greeks in 330-329 BC the Romans in 139-144AD changed the shape of the arena from rectangular to horseshoe. Over the following centuries it became severely neglected and some of the marble was relocated but in 1870 Baron Pierre de Courbertin revived the place and it was used to host the first Modern Games in 1896. The enormous expense of renovation was borne by Georgios Averoff.