Athens: We Look Ecstatic in Every Picture

To see those shoes in person...a long-time personal goal.

The very first thing we did after arriving in Athens...was find our hotel.

But.  The very second thing we did after arriving in Athens was go to the Parliament in front of Syntagma Square for the express purpose of seeing these guys with the pleats and the high stepping and the pom-pom shoes.

I...just.  I can't explain how happy this made me.  It was completely irrational, I know.  But, it remains a fact that I was just beside myself with joy watching these Greek guards and their tights and garters.  Plus, what is even more amazing is that the trip never had a low point after that.

It was magical.  Athens was magical.  Even when most of the city of Athens is pretty much mostly this...

...it's also the place that was these...

Athens.  Man.  What a great place.

Then, of course, there's the Parthenon and the Acropolis.  Being up on the Acropolis (which we randomly got into for free!) ranks way, way up there on my list of life-changing moments.  I was actually surprised at how, just, overwhelmed I felt walking up through the Propylaea and getting that first, up close, look at the Parthenon (the PARTHENON!).    I don't know.  It's just...it's so very, very old.  And so very, very much happened there.  

I remember sitting on the rooftop of our hotel that night with a couple of drinks and just having a fantastic view of the Acropolis all lit up at night and thinking, "Yes.  That is amazing. I am seeing something amazing right now."

Parthenon!!!

Another highlight was taking a tour through the old Agora, Mars Hill, and Hadrian's Temple of Olympian Zeus.  Just so...much...history.  So. Much. History.   I....just.....gah.  I'm really bad at writing about Athens because it was so amazing and life-changing.

Paul on Mars Hill (Because how could we not?)

Ritual Dancing down the Panathaneic Way

Aaaaaaanyway, another day we took a bus down to Cape Sounion to see the Temple of Poseidon.  It was real interesting to get out in "real Greece" a bit (it looks a lot like...Central Utah?) and just take our time wandering along a cape and alongside the Aegean Sea.

I even brought my swimming suit and changed in some scrubby bushes next to a resort hotel just so I could swim a bit in the Aegean.

Cape Sounion

Temple of Poseidon

We also took quite a few walks through the old parts of the city, finding the first (modern) Olympic stadium and spending a morning in the amazing Archaelogical museum as well.  We ate our fill of souvlaki while we were at it, too.

Olympic Stadium

But ultimately, the thing I wanted to do the most at the end of every day was walk back and see the Acropolis again and again and again.  

And I did.

********
I'm counting down the days until my third anniversary of living in Europe by recapping trips that I never got around to highlighting.  You can see the list of trips (and links to them as they are written) here.