Greece - Athens, Acropolis Museum

We are getting quite comfortable with the Metro, just 3 stops and we are at the Acropolis

 

This time to go to the beautiful, new museum at it's base.

It is built over an excavation that we explore later in the day.

It is full of natural light and spacious, even huge pieces are displayed in ways that allow you to see them from all sides while still marveling at their size.

Some things are in glass cases but most are displayed without that barrier

and you can really get close and examine the workmanship.

We worked our way around the galleries roughly chronologically.

When the Persians conquered Athens they destroyed everything on the Acropolis, pulling down the temples and the statues. When Athens repelled them the Athenians did not immediately rebuild and when they did they buried the remains and built anew.

Although it was in pieces and showed evidence of the fires, when found, it was a treasure trove and offered an insight into how the Acropolis had originally looked.

Many of the statues had remains of the original paint and replicas standing beside them have been painted with the same materials to show how they would have looked.

She was a redhead.

Interesting displays about

the origins of the paint material and how they were created.

Also the variety of carving tools used

and how  it was built.

The Caryatadides had their own gallery which was full of one school group after another

so it was difficult to get a clear photo. 5 of them and a space for the 6th (in London). One in pieces as it was hit during a Turkish bombardment.

They all have different fancy hairstyles as a neck alone would have been to fragile to hold the weight of the roof of the temple.

Exquisite carvings. There was a video showing how they were cleaned using a laser and this was done while they were on display so the public could see the process (rather than in a lab, as is usual)

The top floor had the frieze from the Parthenon and frieze from the inside except, of course, The Elgin Marbles.

Although not as high as they would have been in situ it made sense to have to look up at them.

Financial accounts, so we now know how much a statue or a carving (3D or relief) cost in those days.

And outside, that view!

Everything in the museum came from the Acropolis and its surrounds,

the restaurant also gave the view

and the excavations below

took years to uncover the layers of the neighbourhood nearby.

We had been there for about 2 and a half hours but didn't feel nearly as tired as the day we did the National Museum (when we were 3 and a half). I think the airiness and different flooring may have helped with that.

Back to Omonia Square for lunch and Rick is on a roll. He ordered the Greek Omelette!

We still had time before our next excursion so walked around the square (a table set up selling nuts)

and it seems like there is a bakery on every corner.

Greece - Athens, National Archaelogical Museum

At the apartment we have has a drip coffee maker (yeah) and we bought strawberries of a street cart yesterday so today's breakfast included those with the yogurt and banana but that didn't stop the purchase of a latte and huge croissant on the walk up to the Museum.

 

It didn't take us long to get there from Omonia Square even though Google Maps again misjudged it by a block.

Up on the roof, seagulls on statues.

We had to go through a security scan and then check my daypack.

This Museum houses a huge collection of Greek and Egyptian artifacts and I will not try to identify them. We saw so many statues, vases, steles (the decorations on graves) that I will just post pictures of those I found the most interesting.

Kouros are statues of young men, larger than life size and naked.

On the other hand Kouria were female, smaller than life sized and clothed.

The embellishment on her dress still visible and this is what I found most amazing, the excellent condition of so much in this museum. As Rick said at one point "looks like it just came right out of the factory".

For Mike.. figures preparing to start a wrestling match.

In Greek mythology the Sphinx would ask a riddle and eat you if you couldn't answer it.

Some of the amphora were huge

and some pieces were tiny, but all were in amazing condition.

I have seen so many photos of him, can't wait to see him in person.

But I have to work my way through ... weights used by long jumpers to give them momentum

The ancient Greeks were so good at depicting the naked body but also the draping of clothes.

Decorated mirrors, no longer shiny.

And there his is, found in the sea.

I have seen him attributed to Poseidon but the info card says he could also be Zeus.

Without his trident or his lightening bolt it's hard to know.

Statues and figures in relief (from grave markers of building decorations)

Metal hardware and decoration from a wooden chariot.

The arm from a statue of a boxer depicting the leather protection. There was a whole room of items found on a shipwreck.

A relatively small but exquisite Egyptian collection.

The containers that held the internal organs removed before mummification - a jackal, bird, monkey and man.

Sarcophogi for monkey and cats.

Looks like a Merlin

or a Kestrel.

There were rooms that had complete pediments or partial friezes.

The precursor to the Gargoyle.

Bronze jockey and horse.

Wall painting found in a site that was preserved by its cover of volcanic ash.

Too many vases.

Pan getting frisky with Aphrodite who is threatening him with her sandal.

We ate a quick lunch at the cafe in the grounds as we had been on our feet in the museum for 3 and a half hours.

Having been inside we walked to a nearby park

and walked back home

through

hilly neighbourhood.

When we got back home we booked a bus trip for tomorrow afternoon, wanting a break from the walking.

Rick found a restaurant right on the square, outside, but the waiter turned the heater on for us. It was fun being out where we could see the masses of people, fountains and crazy traffic going by.

The restaurant was called "Old Omonia" and had old pictures of the square on the menu.

I had Moussaka and Rick had Pastitsio.

Finally a Greek dish he liked.