Athens, Greece - March 2008
Stray dog sleeping on the Propylaea; a large army of stray dogs and cats are present pretty much everywhere in Athens. Always surprisingly friendly and nonchalant, too.
More of the Propylaea. I had hoped that the couple in the lower right would be more prominent in this photo, but it didn't really come out the way I saw it in my head. I think I needed a lens wider than what I had (28mm) and to get closer to them. Oh well.
The view into the Odeon from the outside, though it wasn't open to visitors when we were there. Apparently they do put on shows and events here during the summer. Like, um, Yanni.
"If you can read this, you don't need Greek lessons."
I'm not sure if the diagonal grey bit is the result of restoration, or what - the rectangular cutouts on the left side certainly are curious.
Though this is the first trip we took with the new digital camera, there's still no substitute for slide film. Probably about 2/3 of the shots on this page are on film of some sort, and shots like this are the reason why. Ahhhhhh.
I can't decide if the lens flare helps or hurts this one. Hurts, I think. That's what I get for forsaking my lens hood (which is pesty and always in the way, and therefore lives at the bottom of a camera bag somewhere).
Ever notice how certain words sound really funny when you say them over and over? Propylaea Propylaea Propylaea Propylaea.
Most of the open space around the Parthenon is used as a staging area for reconstruction - this is a huge field of relics along the west side.
These are, for the most part, out in the open - either thieves and vandals leave them alone, or they're well-guarded, I don't know.
Kinda hard to tell from this shot, but those gutter-like slabs in the front are the original roofing tiles of the Parthenon.
I'm not sure if this pillar counts as an antiquity or if it's a modern addition. The fellow is a contemporary piece, at least by archaeological standards. The peak in the background is Lykavittos.
So I stopped to change the film in M's camera, and then ran off to take more pictures. About 15 minutes later I had killed the film in my own camera too, so I went to change that out and discovered that the whole Ziploc of film was missing. Went back to the spot where I'd changed her film, and sure enough, there is was. I guess it's a good thing nobody else uses film any more, because about a thousand people must has passed it by and decided to leave it be.
One of the pillars of the Erechtheion - I'm told that these are unusually elaborate by the standards of their era.
The frieze in the center of this shot looks like a traditional Greek goddess, and off to the right is another frieze with a what sure looks like a Christian cross on it. I'd be curious to know how much time elapsed between the creation of these two bits, and whether they originally inhabited the same space. The Acropolis is, as far as I can tell, an archaeological palimpsest, with continuous construction and deconstruction over several millenia.
Yes, so, yours truly has a habit of photographing his watch in front of famous places. You got a problem with that?
Another self-portrait. Amazing how possession of a digital camera makes you willing to take grab-shots like this without being concerned about wasting film (and consequently money).
Lykavittos Hill, the highest point in Athens. This shot is actually from the way down, but, well, we didn't get a good shot on the way up.
The name "Lykavittos" supposedly refers to the wolves that once inhabited the hillside - apparently this was once the boonies of Athens. These fellows followed us part of the way up the hill - very friendly but very smelly.
I suppose there's some sort of Life Affirming Message in the fact that all the stray animals we encountered (and there were many) seemed shabby but exceedingly happy and sociable - whatever it is remains abstract in my mind, though.
Travel half way around the world, climb to the top of the tallest hill in one of the most important cities in the ancient Western world, and you find... Guns N' Roses graffiti.
Some unfortunate lady had lost (or abandoned) a particularly nice scarf in a particularly photogenic location. I swear I didn't pose this or anything.
The Chapel was beautiful inside - very small and dark but richly decorated. I didn't feel right about taking photos inside, though, so you'll have to go see it yourself.
Later in the week (I'll funny admit to being a little fuzzy on the chronology after the fact) we visited the Temple of Zeus. These column chunks were off to the side, surrounded by wildflowers.
I kept waiting for just the right light on these, but it never quite came (or rather I lacked the patience to wait sufficiently long).
More Zeus Temple columns. I'll refrain from commenting for a while here, because we took a lot of shots of these columns, and frankly, further commentary might get tedious.
That's the Acropolis in the background - it really is a pretty formidable outcropping, and dominates the view from most parts of the city.
I didn't realize this, but columns (some of them, at least) are made of stacked slices, not one huge piece. This shot nicely shows what happens when one of them topples. (Historical preservation aside, I bet that must have been cool to watch.)
Orange trees in the National Gardens. These gardens were once the private estate of the royal family, but are now open to the public.
Changing of the Guard at the Parliament building, near the National Gardens. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which is what they're guarding, was shrouded in scaffolding while we were there.
As with most Changings of the Guard around the world, there was a specific and ritual dance/ceremony/funny walk.
I later learned that, on Sundays, there's an even more elaborate Changing of the Guard ceremony, including a military band, but sadly we missed that.
Another orange tree. These were growing all over the place, including in front of our apartment, but we were a little wary about picking and eating them - I got the impression that that might be frowned upon.
The ripe oranges were all over the ground, too - fine here in the National Gardens, but a little gross when they were rotting in the middle of the street.
The Tower of the Winds in the Plaka. Apparently this functions as a solar calendar and other funky stuff as well, though it was not open for us to learn more.
Agia Marina Church, at the base of Philopappou Hill. Philopappou is actually a group of 3 hills, one of which is the Pnyx. The Pnyx (don't ask me the proper pronunciation, I don't know - though we did decide that it should be said in a high-pitched Head-Crusher voice, e.g. "Pnyx! Pnyx! I'm Pnyxing your head!") was the meeting site of the early democratic legislature (significantly, the first such in the world).
One of the Observatory buildings, with the signs of the Zodiac around the roof.Part of an old brick column near the Observatory.
Trident set into the path up Philopappou Hill. I assume that this was a flight of fancy of some modern mason, rather than an ancient mosaic. I may be wrong though - its been known to happen.
Butterfly against the same background - one of those "shoot fast, before it flies away" sort of shots.
Meton's solar clock, near the bema of the Pnyx. In some previous guise, I imagine that this was some complex sundial. In its current state, it is highly accurate, but not very precise: If the pile of rubble is dark, it's night; if not, it's day.
The bema of the Pnyx - that is, the speaker's platform. The beginnings of Western democracy took place on this spot - very cool.
National Archaeological Museum. This shot was taken on Wednesday, when, after walking for 45 minutes to get to the museum because the subway was on strike, we found that the museum, too, was on strike. The folks on the steps are similarly dejected furriners. So, we went off and hiked Philopappou instead. This turns out to have been a good thing, because the strikes apparently turned nasty later in the day, and a fair bit of teargas was spilled in the area around the museum. All was back to normal when we returned on Thursday though.
Ceremonial bronze blade from Mycenae, inlaid with silver and gold. The detail on this was just incredible.
It's always a weird feeling seeing something in person that you've seen in pictures your entire life, and this was no different. Like, "holy crap, I'm standing in front of the friggin' Mask of Agamemnon!"
A diverse group of grave goods from Mycenae - an incredible number and variety. This is just a small selection of what's on display.
I was really struck by the simple elegance of this design. 3000 years later, I doubt that the design could be improved upon.
This was another of those "holy crap I can't believe I'm standing in front of the original ______" moments - the Antikythera device. Perhaps more so, because I didn't actually know that it was here and on display, so I just walked into the room and there it was. As a geek for both archaeology and complicated mechanisms, I've been fascinated with this thing since I heard of it, so weirdly, this unexpected encounter with a hunk of barely distinguishable corrosion was one of the high points for me.
Jockey of Artemision - this was found in a shipwreck, dashed to bits, but you'd never know it from the amazing restoration job they did.
And finally, back to the apartment. When we travel, we tend to rent an apartment rather than a hotel room - it's usually cheaper and roomier, and it gives you the added benefit of a kitchen, so you don't have to go out for breakfast and you can cook for yourself some nights if you're too tired to venture out to a restaurant.
Long view of the kitchen. Not a setup for gourmet catering, but more than sufficient for a week of vacation. Came with a small but adequate set of utensils and cooking implements.
The fuse panel. This thing was my only real reservation about the apartment. As we were informed when we arrived, the hot water heater was not a full-time affair, and needed to be turned on a half hour before taking a shower. It was strongly hinted that leaving it on any longer than that would bring about the End of Days, or something similarly catastrophic. I can vouch that after that half hour, this panel got quite hot.
Now, that doesn't seem like that big a deal, until you try to work a morning around it. Wake up, turn on the hot water heater, go back to sleep for a half hour. Take a shower. Then wait another half hour for the water to heat up again so the next person can take a shower. Suddenly, it's taken you a full hour to get out of the house in the morning - and that doesn't include breakfast.
M relaxing in the living room. The glass doors go out to a small patio. A lovely and spacious place to relax after a long day of walking around - sure beats the standard hotel room.
The bedroom. The linens were not great, but I'm kinda neurotic about that sort of thing. Again with the bourgeois bellyaching.
The view from the balcony into the living room and entranceway/parlor/whatever. There was actually another bed in the entranceway, so theoretically a second couple could stay here as well, but we used it as a landing place for our luggage. The kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom are through the door on the right.
