Athens: Acropolis

The day that we decided to trek up to the Acropolis, it happened to be 42 degree weather. It was also the day that some clever person decided that it would be a good idea to let 12 000 people into the Acropolis. Problem? Why, yes. We had to stand in loooooong queues that would come to a complete standstill. And once you got to a certain point, you couldn't go down without avoiding the queue. Not that I would have wanted to go down though. Waiting in the heat was worth it. The view of Athens from the top of the Acropolis was something else. People aren't all that fond of Athens, but I liked it quite a bit. It's like antiquity and the contemporary met one day and decided that they would be very good friends. I would even go as far as to say that I could live in Athens. I also have to mention the New Acropolis Museum. It's a magnificent cultural dream, a truly state of the art museum. I really wish that we could have such amazing museums in South Africa. Our lack thereof made me a little bit sad. I guess the problem in such a heterogeneous society is that it's hard to decide who's culture to exhibit without stepping on someone's toes. I refuse to believe that there isn't some way around the problem though. 

The Theatre of Dionysus. It was here that the works of great ancient dramatists like Sophocles and Euripides were performed for the first time. 

The so-called 'tribune' of Phaedrus from the skene (stage) of the Theatre of Dionysus. It was added in the third centuary AD and has relief depicitions of scenes from the life of Dionysus. 

The Parthenon. 

View of Athens from the Acropolis. 

View of the Temple of Olympian Zeus from the Acropolis.

That huge rocky thingy is where Saint Paul spoke to the people of Athens in 51 AD.

I like watching movies outside

My favourite night in Athens has to be when we went to Cine Paris, a lovely little open-air cinema in Plaka. The story goes that the man who built the cinema in the early 20s was a Greek hairdresser who used to live in Paris. Just in case you were wondering about the name, because I definitely was. The best part about the cinema was that we had a stunning view of the Acropolis, which really was quite awe-inspiring at night. It was a very surreal experience indeed. An open-air cinema is definitely on my list of things that I will one day introduce to South Africa when I am ruler of the universe. Ha.

Here is Cine Paris' website if you would like to take a squizz.

 

Image from Cine Paris' website.