The Beauty of the Parthenon, the Delight of Revisiting Athens

 After we returned home, I read that the Parthenon was totally free of scaffolding for the first time in 200 years. Obviously, that happened after we left, and the article mentioned that in a few weeks more scaffolding would be erected. So the attempt to keep it upright continues. When we visited in 1984, the scaffolding was at the back, so it's unfortunate that on this visit, it was in the front.

It's so sad that while the Parthenon, built in the 5th Century BCE as a temple for the Greek goddess Athena, survived unscathed until 1687, but during a Venetian siege, the Ottoman Turks used it as an ammunition magazine, and an explosion blew out the roof and walls. Over the years it has been reconstructed, sometimes badly. For example, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, the restoration involved using iron clamps to hold the marble together--but the restorers failed to put lead on the iron, and thus, over time the iron rusted and, once again, the Parthenon was in danger of falling apart.

Fortunately, it was saved. It is still a hallmark of beauty. (Though, truth be told, in the 5th Century BCE, it was brightly colored, and I think most of us would agree that while white enhances its elegance, bright colors would not help.) The Parthenon was also built using the "golden ratio" of 4:9, or close to it, even in the separation of the columns. 

It did make us a little disappointed because marble blocks now block the front steps, but when we first visited in 1984, you could go right up to them. At that time, Kevin took a photo bending down by the steps to show the optical illusion produced by curvature on the sides of the steps. For the steps are not straight, as they appear. The architects knew that at a distance, perfectly straight steps would not appear that way, so the curve was added to make them look straight from afar. It's amazing what architects knew back in the 5th Century B.C.!

Also on the Acropolis hill is the Erectheion, which contains the female statues called the caryatids. Today, the originals are in the Acropolis Museum below, and the statues that appear are copies. (There is also an original caryatid in the British Museum in London. Greece has understandably been lobbying for the return of all the Parthenon sculptures that Lord Elgin took in the early 1800s.)

Kevin's photo of the Erectheion

Kevin standing down the hill from the Propylaea, the gateway to the Acropolis.

(It seems that every time I took Kevin's photo he was wearing a red t-shirt or other red top. But I assure you, he did bring other shirts with him.)

We visited the Parthenon and Athens Archeological Museum during our first few days, and when we returned to Athens after our visit to Crete, I wanted to go again to the Tower of the Winds and the Temple of Hephaestus, which are ancient gems themselves.

The Tower of the Winds is another creative construction. It was built during the Roman occupation of Greece, but it is Greek in its architecture. It was built sometime between 50 BCE and 37 BCE. It's octagonal shape is decorated at its faces with representations of eight wind gods. It once had a wind vane on top, and in its day had a water clock inside, which measured time by the flow of water from one vessel to another. It also had sundials on it, so Athenians could tell the time that way as well. In a sense it's the high-tech of its age.

Eight wind gods are depicted on the octagonal tower.

I wanted to re-visit the Temple of Hephaestus because I remembered that it was built about the same time as the Parthenon. (Hephaestus was the god of craftsmanship and of fire.) 

The Tower of the Winds is in the Roman Agora, but the Temple of Hephaestus is in the older Greek Agora. The Athenian Agora is definitely worth visiting if you've never been to Athens, especially the museum the Stoa of Attalos, with many everyday items of ancient Greece, but time was limited. So I looked forward to going to the temple again, the oldest and most well-preserved building of the 5th Century B.C., and I remembered we saw a tortoise on the grounds there in 1984.

Alas, the entrance where you could once go into the temple without going through the rest of the agora, was blocked by construction. We had a good time walking around the area and took a photo of the temple, but the heat, the cost to go to the entire agora, and waiting in line just seemed too much. Though it is an incredible building.

The Temple of Hephaestus is the best preserved building of ancient Athens.

The warm weather made it pleasant, if at times a bit sticky, to walk around the area, which had a flea market going on that day, with objects of all kinds for sale. Unfortunately, there was nothing there that intrigued us enough to buy. I took a photo of the graffito about Gaza, since it was before the recent cease fire. (Let's hope that terrible war is truly over.) We saw the signs throughout Greece, in English, and obviously intended for Americans or Israelis, not Greeks.

It was Sunday, and music was coming from a nearby church. I looked into a side door, not where the service was, to view the beautiful interior, as other tourists also got a glimpse.

We had not visited the rooftop of our hotel on our first stay there, a location where guests are encouraged to go up to see the Acropolis and look out across the city. So one night we took a bottle of wine and glasses to the rooftop, embraced by warm air and savoring the view. (Not the wine! We have yet to find a Greek wine we really like, although I know they do have some with high ratings.) 

What we could not believe is that we were up there all alone, with the Acropolis shining above and the city spread out below us. Here, in Athens, where buildings are crammed together, and you can almost never find a place that is not jam-packed with people, we were sitting and toasting each other and drinking in the sights along with our wine, while muffled sounds from the Plaka drifted up to us. Mount Lycabettus appeared on one horizon, and the lights of buildings near the Plaka beamed, while a nearby rooftop garden glowed with green light.

It was an experience we won't soon forget.

Then, on our last night in Athens, we set off for the Plaka Steps, an area where we had gone on our first trip. "Steps" is a good description, for there are restaurant tables set up on all levels, and Greek music blares out into the night. Sometimes the musicians songs overlap those of the nearby performers, and you wonder if they ever get upset at that.

The full moon lit the sky behind us.

The area was packed with people when we arrived, so we were not able to get a seat inside, or even near the inside, of the eating establishments. But one restaurant had a rooftop next door where you could hear the music of its nearby indoor area and catch glimpses of the dancers in Greek costumes. 

With the joyful sound of Greek music permeating the air, it was a perfect way to say goodbye to Athens.