(Our photos and journal are a bit out of order but we are having difficulty getting images to load.)

Saturday- Tour of Athens
Our day began early once again for our tour of Athens' antiquities. Our first stop was at Zeuss' Temple with several colums standing stark again the modern landscape. We alos saw the gate to the temple site and several ruins of ancient homes at the site.
Next we visited the acropolis which means "top of the city", and is of course the classic ruins of Athens. The acropolis includes the aeropagus-Mars Hill where Paul preached, the temple gate, the Temple of Erythmian which has the columns of beautiful maidens, and of course the stately, immense Parthenon. It was a bit surreal to be standing next to theses ruins which we'd only seen in books! Phidias---- who designed and calculated the Parthenon's dimensions was a genius. He incorporated several optical illusions into the design such as the columns are narrower at the top than at the bottom but they appear at a distance to be perfectly straight, the columns are not spaced uniformly apart yet also appear to be so at a distance and the foundation is convex in shape though it also appears straight and flat. It is truly amazing and it has withstood the test of time and even pollution. They are currently adding some new marble to restore and preserve it as well.
After the acropolis we spent the afternmoon at the National Archeological Museum and saw an outstanding collection of artifacts and statues dating from 6000 BC!! When the museum closed we went shopping at Monistiraki Market downtown in the Plaka. There were many people out and about and some were dressed in carnival costumes and putting on mini parades in the streets. They celebrate of week of carnival before lent much like Mardi Gras.
After a short rest we went to Lycabettus Hill which was an uphill climb from the subway station, then an even longer climb up more than 150 stairs to reach the cable car ride which took us to the top of the hill. At the top we had a panoramic view of Athens at night and the Parthenon brightly lighted and glowing like gold.
At midnight we returned to the Plaka for roast pork and pilaf dinner followed by greek yogurt with honey for dessert and a shot of ouzo compliments of the house. At 2am we ended a long and tiring but very exhilarating day!