Greece 2017 Part 1

Greece!  It has been top on my list of places to one day visit for a long, long time.  While we have traveled to many other places with the boys over the years, see here for example, this was probably the biggest trip we've taken.  And it didn't disappoint!

 

This was also the first escorted tour we've ever taken.  With me being back at work, it was nice not to have to plan out the flights, car rentals, research and map our routes, or deal with hotels.  We had a great first adventure with a tour group and Thanksgiving week in Greece was a great time to visit.

 

Here I'll start with some photos from our time in Athens - walking on our own, taking a city bus tour, a tour at the Acropolis Museum, the Acropolis and Parthenon (amazing), and celebrating our 25th anniversary with a dinner together.

 

After re-routing 3 flights, we made it to Athens just an hour late with all of our luggage.  Great start to the trip!

 

 

After a good night's sleep and a shower we were off four our city tour of Athens.  The hotel's continental breakfast was incredible.

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These are the original statues/pillars from the Acropolis, now preserved in the Acropolis Museum.  I've got a photo of the more recent pillars down below in the Acropolis photos.

 

 

A Lego rendering of the entire Acropolis.  It helped us see what all we were going to see after the museum.

The Parthenon from the Museum as we started our walk up to the Acropolis

 

5th century B.C. dwellings uncovered at the Acropolis Museum.  You can see how the houses were built with walls, cisterns, and cooking areas.

 

 

 

Our walk up to the Acropolis

 

 

 At the Acropolis!

 

It was cool to see how the columns fit together. 

 

And we took a moment to recreate a special photo.

David's Dad, Don, was in the Navy in the early 1950s and visited Athens in 1952. 

65 years later, we took a moment to recreate the photo!

 

He would have loved to see this, and I would have loved to hear the story of his trip to Athens.

Don, The Parthenon, 1952

 

David, The Parthenon, 2017

 

 

 

 

The remaining Boatwright men, The Parthenon, 2017

 

As you can see, they are doing a lot of restoration work on The Parthenon - this is 20+ years in the works. 

 

 

The Old Temple of Athena.  You can see the Goddess Statues here.  The originals are being preserved in the Acropolis Museum - except for the 6th one which is in the British Museum.

 

And now we've seen "both" Parthenons - Athens and Nashville! Here we are in April 2013 with my parents!  They look a little different :)

 

 

 

 

The 5 million person city of Athens from The Acropolis

 

 

 

A look back at The Parthenon and Acropolis as we start our walk down the hill and into Athens for a self-guided tour of the city.

 

 

 

Here are some of the sights on our walking trip through Athens.

 

 

On one of our nights in Athens, the boys wanted to stay in and relax so David and I went to dinner to celebrate our 25th anniversary, which wouldn't take place until the following month.

 

 

Our view of the Parthenon from the restaurant.

 

 

 

Athens was wonderful!  Because we did a number of side trips on this trip, we got to spend just the right amount of time in the city.  The history is incredible and it was interesting to meet so many Greeks.  95% speak English incredibly well and many study tourism in the university so we were in great hands the entire time.