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Parthenon at Night |
We were told that a couple of days in Athens would be
enough—and it is, because there is little beyond the Acropolis with its
hovering Parthenon, to intrigue visitors. The Parthenon, however, can fill a
significant amount of time. Our first night we ate dinner on a hotel terrace
with the Parthenon, on its steep “sacred rock,” looming over us. The next day
we spent at the Acropolis Museum, an architectural model for how museums should
be designed.
One of the oozing sores in Athens is the removal of portions
of the
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Acropolis Museum with Third Floor in Direction of Parthenon |
Parthenon by the British in the early 1800’s. The Elgin Marbles, now
displayed in the British Museum, include pediments and friezes that largely
defaced the Parthenon. Greece has demanded they be returned. Britain has
maintained that Athens does not possess a museum adequate to hold them. Voila!
The Greeks built a new museum to hold their heritage—and it is a marvel. The
building is glass with wide open spaces, much less crowded than portions of the
British Museum, with a third floor oriented in the same direction as the
Parthenon. Now the British are arguing that returning the marbles to Greece
would set a precedent for other works the Empire obtained. (And it probably
would!) Our trek up the imposing hill to the Acropolis the following day was
greatly enhanced by having visited the museum.
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Old and New Athens |
Athens is a combination of the old smothered by the new, the
modern stuck in the past. We arrived under a cloudy haze that seems to reflect
the country’s present mood. Its
citizens are depressed and with reason given the economy. Perhaps the economy
explains why they are so gracious to tourists, one source of income. Whenever
Athenians see a tourist with a map they stop to help and, unlike some other
countries, they are not trying to send you to their brother’s shop. They answer
your questions, orient you, and send you on your way with a smile. It was a
local man who told us that it was too early to eat dinner anyway (the direction
we were seeking) and, if we hurried, we would be at the Tomb of
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At the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier |
the Unknown
Soldier just in time for the changing of the guard. “It is worth seeing,” he
assured us—and it was--with the choreographed balletic movements of soldiers,
in uniforms copied from the days when the Ottomans occupied Greece.
Athens was for centuries dedicated to Athena in her many
forms. I can’t help but wonder what life for women was like when the major
deity was feminine. Our time in Athens is ended, so I will carry that question
on to Rhodes and then to Crete.
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