Athens Greece

Athens is a beautiful old city of 4 million people. First we took a bus to Cape Sounion where we saw the Temple of Poseidon, an ancient monument to the God of the Sea which is at the southern most tip of Athens. (video) The drive back to the city along the coast allowed us to see many of the modern venues for the recent Olympics. The Acropolis (meaning high city) looms over the city and contains six structures: the Parthenon, the Propylaea, the Temple of Athena (Nike), the Erechtheum, the Theater of Dionysus, and the Theater of Herodes Atticus. We learned a lot about Greek mythology as depicted in the icons on the ruins. You can see the entire city from the top and it is sprawling! After the best lunch of the tour, we went to the oldest shopping area of the city called Plaka, and saw the market were Socrates preached and where the runner from Marathon (which is a city 26 miles from Athens) collapse and die after telling of the Greek victory. A quick bus tour of the city showed us the Greek equivalent of the White House and the changing of the guard ceremony. See the pictures from Athens here.