Athens

We enjoyed our full-day tour through the city of Athens. First we visited the Panathenaic Stadium, the site of the first modern Olympics in 1896. Afterwards, we traveled to the Archaeological Museum to see many items discovered in 1876 by Heinrich Schliemann in the tombs of Agamemnon and Cassandra. There were items from the Mycenaean period as well as a traveling exhibit of items from a shipwreck off the coast of Greece.

A headstone depicting the ceremonial gifts

 

Can you tell where the restoration paint was added?

From there we hiked to the top of the Acropolis to explore and learn more about the Parthenon and other ancient buildings located there. It was exciting to see the Bay of Salamis and to hear that the Parthenon was commissioned in an effort to create jobs after the Greek and Persian wars.

After heading back down the steep hill, we visited the Acropolis Museum and enjoyed seeing the excavation work below the glass floor outside of the museum. Finally, we had a bit of time to tour the placa, eat traditional Greek cuisine, and interact with the locals.

This morning we sailed through the Dardanelles (formerly called the Hellespont). It was fascinating to see how long Xerxes’s bridge of boats had to be to cross the strait.

Can you believe a bridge of boats crossed this strait?

We just docked in Istanbul for our tours tonight, check back for more details soon!