Back in Athens--Friday, June 25th

Here's where things will get a little muddy since I lost my travel journal and no longer have the handy dailies provided by the cruise coordinator on the boat. The group disembarked early Friday (25th) and went back to the Hotel Herodion for the night. We actually had a nifty little view of the Acropolis this time around (instead of the airshaft). We spent the day touring some of the other archaeological sites in Athens. In the center of town, adjacent to the Royal Gardens, is the Temple of Zeus...it's hard to get a sense of scale but it was massive.

Here's a side view of the temple of Hephaistos (also spelled Hephaestus), on the northwest side of the Agora.  It is considered the best preserved Doric temple in Greece; construction began 2 years prior to the Parthenon (ca. 449 BC).

Here is a view of the Acropolis from the temple site.

I couldn't resist this little bit of domesticity on one of the areas being worked within the Agora.

This is me standing outside another "library"--that of Roman emperor Hadrian, built in ca. 131 AD; it served as a cultural center for Athenians at the time. You can also just see the Parthenon way up in the background.

We walked through the Royal Gardens and went to the Parliament buildings.


While we waited patiently for the changing of the guard, friend Anne made the acquaintance of a non very shy pigeon.

The guards in front of the tomb of the unknown soldier are considered to be the cream of the crop.

It was VERY hot and they periodically got to go inside a hut where a soldier in regular uniform gave them a drink of water and wiped the sweat from their faces.
We found a nifty creperie where we had dinner and retired early in preparation for our 7:30 am bus departure next morning.