Day 14 – Friday June 26 – Athens (Again!)
It took a while to get ourselves off the boat. Our legs are starting to tell us that they don’t like standing still for too long! It was great to see Athena, our Greek guide, smiling and waiting for us as we made our way dockside and into our waiting bus. It was off to breakfast at a local Hotel, one of those traditional sumptuous breakfasts that we were reluctant to leave when we were given the word at about 9:30am.
We were driven to the great acropolis, the ancient fortress structure that towers over the old centre of Athens, with its magnificently partially restored Parthenon. However, we chose the wrong day to visit the acropolis because it was the same day that about 10,000 other people also descended on the acropolis at the same time as we did. Apparently it was ‘cruise ship day’, the day that about six cruise ships arrived with all their passengers visiting the acropolis just as we arrived.
At least we didn’t have to queue, but it was hot and the full force of the sun was beating down. So we joined the think, slow procession of people who were herded like cattle up the long narrow walkway into the ancient ruins of one of the great wonders of the ancient and also modern worlds. The sight of the city of Greece was as distant and as far as the eye could see in all directions. The large plateau rock outcrop was like a flattened volcano rising high above the beautiful ancient city. Despite the crowd, it was well worth the experience.
Athena was marvelous. We kept stopping for her long and informative commentary on the history of Athenian civilization and the history of these ancient buildings, but most of us had hardly slept all night, and it was very difficult to stand for long periods in the hot sun to absorb all that Athena was bery enthusiastically telling us.
By far the feature of the acropolis was the partially restored Parthenon, with its mighty columns. With restoration work already done, it was certainly showing the building in all its glory. We will never understand how so much tonnage in perfectly shaped stone and marble was able to be lifted and put in place without any mechanization. It was first built about 440BC but was converted into a Christian church in 6th century AD.
The other beautiful and partially restored building is the small Ionic Temple of Athena Nike (victory) which was built in 427BC to commemorate the magnificent defeat by Athens over the invading superior Persians at the famous battle of marathon, from where oral tradition has it that the Greek messenger Pheidippides ran from Marathon to Athens with the news of the Athenian victory, becoming the inspiration for the current day Olympic marathon event of the same distance (26 miles, 262 yards).
Although the acropolis was crawling with people, we valued the experience all the same. We made our way slowly out of the acropolis, and to the adjacent ‘Mars Hill’, (Areopagus) where it is recorded in Acts 17:16-33 that St Paul gave a speech (sermon) to the learned men of the city calling on the Athenians to turn from their idolatry to worship the true God who has come to us in Jesus Christ. Mars Hill is a large, raised rocky outcrop that also towers above the city adjacent to the acropolis, but not as high as the acropolis. It was the site where council was commonly held by the Supreme Court of Athens, where leading citizens of the city would sit in judgment of capital court cases such as treason, murder and other serious offences, and where often punishment was metered out or reparation was settled including the taking of a ‘life for a life’. It was to this assembly that St Paul gave the sermon of his life, looking down at the statues below to the gods, and one in particular to ‘the unknown god’ which featured in his sermon.
We shared our daily devotion in the shade of a tree at the foot of Mars Hill, including the singing of the modernized version of ‘Amazing Grace’. It was incredible to watch the passing crowd all pause despite the sun, to listen to this odd group under a tree singing the old but still good hymn.
Although we were so keen by now to get to our Hotel, Athena was still enthusiastic to show us a few things from the bus. The best of these was the great Panathenaic Stadium, a restored version on the site of the original built in 338 BC, which accommodates about 50,000 people, and made of marble. It was the site of the first modern Olympics in 1896 and was one of the Games sites for the Olympics held in Athens in 2004.
St Paul arrived here in Athens on his 2nd Missionary journey (48-52AD) from Berea, coming by boat. We have now almost completed a full circle of St Paul’s journey, but backwards with the exception of his visit to Corinth which we will do tomorrow.
Julie and I have been happy to spend a few quiet hours in our Parthenon Hotel room, although the wi-fi service is basically pathetic and cannot drive our devices, particularly my laptop. For those who are studiously reading these blogs, you probably don’t appreciate the difficulty it is to get reasonable wi-fi with enough ‘horse-power’ to load the blog, which is why the photos are on a separate page and probably becoming fewer and fewer.
We will have dinner tonight at the Hotel, with an early start for our final day of the “Footsteps of St Paul’ tour to Corinth tomorrow.
Until then….
KRA
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