I have lived most of my life in Athens, the chaotic but in many ways beautiful, capital of Greece. It was only five years ago when I denied the urban lifestyle and made a fresh start on the island of Crete. Since then, I am visiting Athens once every year, usually around Christmas, and I stay for about a month. During this period of time I have established a personal "tradition" to visit the ultimate Athenian landmark on the first Sunday of the new year. And this year's visit is the theme of this post!
During all those years that I was living there, I had visited the Acropolis of Athens only two or three times but now that I am away I have a more "touristic" attitude regarding my birth town! The funny thing is that the last years of my stay in the city, I was living only 1 km away, I was looking the Parthenon every single day while I was walking the dog and yet, I never bothered to make a few more steps and actually go there! I guess it was so close and so easy that I was thinking that I'll do it the next day or the day after, but I never did! The good think is that I can still use the same house as a residence during my visits, so I get the chance to make up for all the lost opportunities right from the same spot! So with no further delay let's start our walk!
The beginning is at Philopappos hill which is a few meters away from my place and a definite must do, if you ever visit Athens. The whole area around Acropolis including the hill was part of a big landscaping project executed by one of the greatest Greek architectures (Dimitris Pikionis) during the fifties. Unfortunately nowadays it is left to decay but even like that when you walk there you can see the genius of a visionary man! He made brilliant constructions integrating the ancient remains, he was working on site without plan and used skilled workers who shaped the surfaces of the paved walks by hand, with very simple tools. On top of that he respected the local vegetation of shrubs and olive trees and enriched it with plants that the ancient Greeks used to have in the area (pomegranate, laurel, myrtle etc). Again the picture that you'll see today is miles away from the Athenian "garden of Eden" that Pikionis envisioned but the view and the vibe of the place will make it up for you!
After a nice stop on the top of Philopappos hill (picture above) enjoying the view, I took the walk to my final stop. During the winter, on the first Sunday of each month there is a free entrance to all the archeological sites, the monuments and the museums of the country and it is usually the natives that take advantage of this offer but keep that information in mind if you ever come here off-season, you are most welcome to join the party! So it was on a Sunday like that when I climbed the steep stairs to the ancient citadel that is commonly known as the Acropolis!
The whole place has an amazing energy and the realization that I was walking among constructions that were built 25 centuries ago was breathtaking. But it was in front of the Parthenon that I was absolutely mesmerized. The former temple of Athena, the favorite goddess of the Athenians, was built between 447-438 BC and it is the most important building of Classical Greece that still stands! The history around these columns is huge but the way the sunlight caresses them is magical! I spent almost three hours in front of them and I just couldn't go away. It was the first time that I was there to take pictures and the way the winter sun was moving around this columns was a feast for my eyes. I don't know if I managed to capture with my photos,the feeling of those hours, but I am sure that I am not going to forget it!
And the view is great, too :)
Thank you for reading and if you want to know more about me you can check out my introduction post.
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