( I Would Walk) 500 Miles (08/06/11)

Its hard not to be awed by the history on display here. We walked around a lot again today, but at least we weren't so jet lagged and coped with the heat better. After our customary fetta pastry for breakfast, we trekked off to visit more sites on our Historical Pass- for 12 Euro you get entry to the Acropolis and six other sites, so we were determined to visit as many as we could. First stop was Hadrian's library, built in AD 132 - a huge site that housed (not suprisingly) a library as well as a church and other buildings. After exploring the area we were off the to The Agora, a large area holding ruins of the business area of ancient Athens, as well as dwellings and temples, including the impressive Temple of Hephaistos. On site the museum of the Ancient Agora in the reconstructed Stoa of Attalos also contained artefacts from the area. It was amazing to see the craftsmanship and detail in pottery, reliefs and carvings dating back to 500BC ; there was even the remains from a child burial from the same period - teeth still identifiable in the jaw. We spent at least an hour and a half in this fascinating site, then walked to the next site, the Roman Agora. This was a single building built later to house offices for commerce that couldn't be accommodated in the Agora. It also houses the Temple of the Winds, that served as a meteorological station as well as keeping time with a water clock. With the nearby bells signalling midday we moved on to the Theatre of Dionysus on the slopes of the Acropolis , where drama as we know it began in ancient times. You can still sit on the same stone seats that the ancient Athenians sat on for the plays and poetry from those early times, which was rather cool. The rest of the afternoon was spent in the Acropolis Museum, that houses all the artefacts from the Acropolis - again it was amazing seeing the expertise of sculpture and carvings dating back to 2500 years ago. We have definitely gained a real appreciation of the history of ancient Athens. Tomorrow we head to Delphi, to what should be equally impressive scenery and sites. We have enjoyed our time in Athens, and will be looking forward to returning here for the conference in a week.