More Memories Made in Athens

Today, as promised, we saw the rest of ancient Athens, some churches, and a few museums. Tiff’s pulling out maps and brochures trying to figure out what to do tomorrow. We were supposed to see Olympus, but it turned out to be farther than we thought and it looks like the best we’d be able to do would be a peek out the train. Getting up at the crack of dawn and spending a whole day to peek out the window at a mountain, even Mt. Olympus, is just a little much for us. So we’re going to the beach tomorrow instead.
The Ancient Agora held much more than just a few old foundations. The Temple of Hephastos is the world’s most complete ancient temple. It stands mostly whole, and was used by the Muslims and the Christians (not jointly, obviously) up until around WWI. After the war it was finally converted to a museum.
The weather is still beautiful, and the Ancient Agora was the perfect place for lunch. Tiff and I ate our sandwiches and watched the dogs and people wander the Agora. That may sound like a strange way to describe it, but it seems like there’s as many dogs in this city as people. Strays in general, actually. Cats haunt every ruin along with the dogs. It’s probably a real problem for the city, but they are at least friendly creatures, and most of the public seems to feed them well. It’s probably better than the ones in tiny cages at the pet shops.
After the Agoras we climbed around the Acropolis again, looking for the prison Socrates was kept in. It’s amazing we missed it last time we were in the area, but we did. The great huge building was carved right into the side of the hill, and had originally been several stories tall. The notches for the wood were still there, along with stairs and the rooms they carved out. It’s a sturdy structure, and is one of the few sites they hid precious works in during WWII.
That’s really just a little sample of all the random knowledge accumulated here. Sharing all of it would take much more of the night than I have, though. Heck, it’d take days. So I’ll hold it as close as I can, and hopefully get it all to paper someday.