Europe trip part 6

Next stop, Athens Greece.  We took a bus to the airport.  All of the bus stations so far have had very helpful ladies standing near the kiosks to help people like us get what we need.  It has been so nice. There were often helpers even in the Metro stations.  This time a man offered to help us get the ticket, and he did, but he demanded a tip.... we figured out he wasn't an employee.  Ah well.  We got there so all's well.  We arrived safely, found our last Airbnb place.  We had a whole apt to ourselves, with AC, a nice bed, kitchen, and a small market across the street.  The bathtub was very strange.... quite small with a small ledge seat in it.  The location was the best part.  We were just blocks from the Parthenon.  We walked over our first evening there. 
As with many places that have been inhabited for so many centuries, any digging uncovers archeological artifacts.  One fascinating thing they did here was just put glass over the artifacts...so you had to look at what was under your feet as well as the buildings.

 We had to do a bit of climbing to get up the mountain, and then go around to find the ticket building.

When we got near the Parthenon, there was an orchestra rehearsing...So Cool!

 I'm afraid I rather thought the Parthenon was a discrete building....it's not!  It's a whole complex of buildings.

There it is!  The Temple of Athena!

 

 The front is covered with scaffolding but it's still impressive.  It is under restoration...long term.

The Erechtheion, temple to Athena and Poseidon.

Talk about a jigsaw puzzle!

The View from the top of the Acropolis is gorgeous!

The history here is palpable. The Greek gods were worshiped here, as well as Christ and Allah.  The Parthenon was blown apart when it was used to store gunpowder. Lord Elgin took home sculptures.  But it is still here!

It has two amphitheaters.

 We thought there was an exit on the far side but were wrong...and were hustled out by several staff members...maybe they were tired of dumb tourists?

I noticed the difference in weathering in these stones.

Rod called this one Jenga.  The staff person thought that was funny too.

 It was beautiful! We wandered the tourist shops and then went to dinner at a restaurant next to our place.

It was Delicious and we had enough left over for the next day!  Note the Greek salad!  No lettuce and a huge chunk of Feta.

 

Sunday morning, we went to church!  My former BYU roommate and her husband served their mission here, and they gave me the times and address.  They are so fondly remembered!

That afternoon we enjoyed the Acropolis Museum!  It is beautifully set up with the top floor having a full size portrayal of what they think the relief sculptures around the Parthenon were like.

The owl is Athena's symbol.

 The archeologists  found a pit where broken sculpture had been buried after enemies had over run the area.  The buried items were protected allowing us to see that they were decorated with colorful paint.  You are lucky they didn't allow photos. 

I'm jealous of her hair!

A throne!

This is what they think the pediment looked like.

Athena!

The Archeological dig under the museum.

We had a Greek gyro for lunch!

We got up early to take the Ferry to Mykonos  It was huge.  A fun experience.

 



We entered and exited on the car ramp.

We were picked up by a van from the hotel.  It was so nice to have someone else handle the transportation!  We left our luggage and then wandered the town!


 

The water is gorgeous! The Color!

A church.

 

 The windmills are iconic.

 

It is a rocky island...I suspect that most of the beaches are 'added'.

 

 We were finally able to check in, change into our suits and enjoy the beach!

We were a bit disappointed in 'our Beach'...we just barely had enough space for our towel.  More irritating was the loud rock music booming the whole time.  We dozed on the beach and swam for a while.

Interesting shelter

Much nicer!

 Then we walked to a different beach.  We actually encountered several different beaches, and finally found a quiet one.  We loved it.



Is there such a thing as a mermatron?

Sushi in Greece?

Thistles They looked dead to me but were still flowering!

The next day we thoroughly enjoyed the hotel's breakfast.  It was amazing! There were foods from all over to appeal to their international guests.  Delicious!!! It partially made up for the rip off dinner we had the night before....the embarrassing  part is that we had been warned away but just  forgot....Grr.  We flew from the island to Athens, and then on to Paris.  We stayed at Citizen M hotel in CDG airport for our 8 hour layover...we love that place and the sleep made all the difference. Then on to Salt Lake and then HOME!  It was an amazing trip.  We are so Blessed!