GREECE: Athens – Lucky #88
Got in very late, but discovered my place is well located in a very good neighborhood called the Plaka right next to the Acropolis and the Agora. For that matter, any place not in Morocco is a good neighborhood from where I sit. Looking forward to the Parthenon and all of Athens’ greatest hits. The only drawback here is the dreadfully slow internet which is preventing me from downloading my photos. Hopefully Santorini’s will be faster so I can catch up.
SO NICE AND UNCROWDED
ON THE WAY TO THE ACROPOLIS
MOUNT LYCABETTUS
ATHENS, MOUNT LYCABETTUS, AND THE ACROPOLIS
PHILOPAPPOS HILL – A great place to photograph the Acropolis, Athens, sunsets or just making out with your girlfriend.
THE ACROPOLIS
MODEL OF THE ACROPOLIS IN ITS GLORY DAYS
TEMPLE OF ATHENA NIKE
ENTRANCE
DORIC COLUMNS – Simple but Beautiful
THE PARTHENON
THE PARTHENON – Undergoing a serious restoration and retrofitting of previous restorations. Unfortunately this requires this unsightly scaffolding which kind of ruins the ruin. It’s kind of like going to see a movie with Catherine Zeta-Jones, but she’s got a full set of steel braces on her teeth.
The backside is a definite improvement. I once constructed a model of the Parthenon using wedding cake columns and foam core. I had to scale everything to the columns using photographs as a reference. It took forever. Got an A of course.
ERECHTHEION – This temple was dedicated to Athena and Poseidon
TEMPLE OF ATHENA NIKE
THEATRE OF DIONYSUS
CAVE OF PAN
CHURCH OF THE HOLY APOSTLES – 1000 AD
ACROPOLIS MUSEUM
ARISTOTLE – Found in the archaeological excavation of the construction site of the Acropolis Museum in July 2005. It is the best surviving portrait of the great philosopher available to us from antiquity.
10 Comments
Karen Devers
June 2, 2017Even these few early photos have a different visual tone. I’m glad you have found a good place to land and look forward to your next post.
Karen Devers
June 3, 2017What a difference from “the place that won’t be named!” I don’t think I’ve ever seen such an intensely blue sky. Incredible landscape and structures. I love the photo of the couple smooching with the ancient building in the background.
It is also fun to see the caryatids. I used their inspiration in my first art piece at PCC, in the experimental art course. My fellow students took turns being the caryatids and holding up the sculpture made of branches and dyed fabric.
BTW, the fellow that did my deck and other projects is opening a Lebanese restaurant down the street. We are all very excited about that. Yummy!
The Travel Zealot
June 4, 2017It’s much better here. No comparison.
The Travel Zealot
June 4, 2017I was lucky to get those pictures. I went with a group of people from the hostel to catch the sunset and that was the result. That night shot was taken in the same place as the cozy couple which was taken the day before.
Karen Devers
June 5, 2017Some of it is luck but the reality is you are a damn good photographer. You take advantage of whatever situation you are in, whether it was accidental or not. Tres bien!
The Travel Zealot
June 5, 2017Greece is my 88th. country, and 88 is especially lucky in Asian cultures because the number 8 is considered to bring good fortune.
Jason
June 11, 2017I second Karens compliment on your stellar photography. Top notch!
The Travel Zealot
June 11, 2017Greece has been very good to me in the cloud placement department on a few occasions. See the windmills on Mykonos as an example. I popped by there on my first morning, and hit pay dirt. I’ve walked past on a number of occasions and the photo ops have been lame.
BigD
June 11, 2017Great detail shots of those Ionic Columns. I’ve been fascinated by the neoclassical aesthetic lately especially the scroll type ornamentation you’ll find in engraving and relief. After all the foundations of western culture lead back to the Greco-Roman world and the classics in the arts/ architecture behave as a visual representation of those philosophical and literary developments. Those ancient scholars definitely knew a thing or two.
I especially like the comparison of your picture of the Parthenon to Catherine Zeta-Jones with braces. Funny and true.
The Travel Zealot
June 13, 2017D, It really is quite amazing how much the ancient Greeks and Romans accomplished in so many arenas. It has been a privilege to walk amongst the ruins. Their aesthetics have remained relevant for 2000 years and are scattered all over Washington, D.C. It’s too bad their columns are only things of substance in the Capital these days, and they weren’t even made in America. Meanwhile Emperor Orange Nero fiddles while the Earth heats up.
God knows when the Parthenon is getting its braces off, but I hope I get the opportunity to see it au naturel before I take a dirt nap. For that matter I want to see Gaudí’s Sagrada Família in 2016 when it is due to be completed.