The Acropolis!

On Friday we finally got to tour the Acropolis as a group. We have been to the Monastiraki/Plaka sections of Athens a few times now and walked along the perimeter of the Acropolis checking out the restaurants, tavernas and shops that surround it, but until Friday we had not been to the top!

We started the morning walking to Monastiraki (usually we would have probably taken the metro) because there was another transportation strike in the city. So we walked about 40 minutes to Monastiraki, where we met up with Aphrodite. We then walked into the gates of the Ancient Agora and sat down under the shade of a tree and had lectures on the origins of the Acropolis, and how each structure came to be built and was used. At one time there were 20 structures on the Acropolis, now there are only four.

We started with a visit to the Temple of Apollo Patroos, and then were free to wander around the Agora for a while before meeting up at the Ancient Agora Museum.

Here is a picture of all the girls in my apartment in front of the Temple of Apollo Patroos. Sort of a mini Parthenon!

Then we went to the Agora Museum and proceeded UPHILL (really, quite a hike!) to the Areopagus, which many of us are more likely to recognize as Mars Hill, the place where Paul stood to address the Athenians in Acts 17. It was a BEAUTIFUL view of Athens, but it was even cooler to know I was standing in the same place as Paul. 

A friend of mine and I were talking as we climbed down from Mars Hill and couldn't get over the thinking that maybe, just maybe, one of the people whose lives had been changed by Paul's address on that day was the person who was ultimately (though distantly!) the reason for our faith. Cool place to be, and cool to think about the first generations of what I believe in.

It was incredible to look out from the top of the Acropolis too! What you couldn't see from Mars Hill, you could see from the walls surrounding the Parthenon.

 We walked through the Propylaea, the grand entryway commissioned by Pericles.

 Then saw the Old Temple of Athena (the famous building with the women holding the roof on their heads)...

 then the Parthenon. 

 From the top we could also see the Temple of Zeus, and the Theater of Dionysius.

Hope everyone's having a great day! Tonight we're having dinner out for my birthday, then I'll hopefully get to talk on the phone with Ben! Praying that Google Voice works!! Woohoo for $.01/minute international phone calls!