Ancient Greece Part One

Temple of Hephaestus

Today we stepped back in time again and continued our exploration of Ancient Greece.  We started with Ancient Agora, then wandered on to the Roman Agora, then to Hadrian's Library, and then finally over to Kerameikos, the very old cemetery.   It was fascinating.

Temple of Hephaestus other side

Gabi did a report on Sea turtles in First Grade, and since then she has a fascination with turtles and tortoises.  Imagine her delight when we happened upon this wild tortoise munching on a plant as we wandered through the Ancient Agora ruins!

Ancient Agora

Another view of Ancient Agora. The Acropolis overlooks the city.

Arch in the Roman Agora

The Roman Agora is right by the Ancient Agora.  An agora is an open marketplace.

Hadrian's Library in its time was a lecture hall of sorts with classrooms near the back.  It was definitely a place of learning,  We were also able to see a relatively recent discovery of a giant statue of a Nike.

Hadrian's Library outer walls.  Have to be honest and say I touched one of those columns to reassure myself that I wasn't dreaming and in order to connect myself with the ancient past.

Inside Hadrian's Library

To get to our next spot, we hiked about 20 minutes from Hadrian's Library.  The walk took us into some interesting parts of town.  Graffiti seems to be an art form of sorts in Greece too, and there were large graffiti murals all over the place!  When we finished our hike we were at the ancient cemetery Kerameikos.  There we a lot of ancient burial stones and statues (though we saw a lot in the museum yesterday that were taken from Kerameikos, so there really aren't all that many left!)

Kerameikos

We saved the best part of the visit, the Acropolis, for Monday when we meet up with our friends Christine and Amy to get in the exciting view of the Parthenon.  I have been waiting to see the Parthenon since I first became interested in Greek mythology in high school.  We also will see the Theatre of Dionysis on Monday, which is where Medea and Agamemnon would have been first performed.  It boggles my mind.  But this whole trip has been mind blowing, so my brain is getting accustomed to it. 

We are on the final stretch of our vacation!  Michael and I decided that the amount of exercise that we are all getting is wearing us down.  The kids have been really amazing - some days we have walked 8 + miles in the heat and they have done it with us.  I don't claim that they have done it without complaint, but gelato or ice cream cones have always been enough to renew their spirits and get them moving with gusto again.  My legs are tired so I have to give the kids a lot of credit.

Tomorrow we are going to use Sunday the way it was designed for, as a day of REST!