Concluding Our Day in Athens

Tuesday 16 June 2015. The coach arrives at the Acropolis to pick us up. Space is at a premium here. Coaches are allowed to park for only ten minutes so anyone arriving back before that should not get worried at the absence of their bus.

We now have a while on the coach as it does a sight-seeing tour of Athens. I have to conclude that apart from the ones we have already seen, there are not a lot of sights of universal interest... This is the Olympics Stadium for track and field events, others are scattered here and there for specific events.

The Grave of The Unknown Soldier has a Guard of Honour posted to either side. The Changing of The Guard had just taken place but we did catch a glimpse of the just-relieved Guard Party marching away with the distinctive Greek slow march.

After half an hour that was more enjoyable for being able to sit and rest the feet than for the sights - large modern boring buildings I can take or leave even if they house the government or a university - we arrive at a rather familiar road...

This is where we were headed: the new Acropolis Museum. It is opposite the Theatre of Dionysus that we walked down to earlier this morning and seen in the previous entry.

In the space in front of the museum, the courtyard is opened to reveal the archaeology underneath. The contrast of light levels meant I had to create this from two photographs taken from the same place. One exposed for the shadowed area below today's ground level and one for the top level in bright sunlight.

Once inside the museum we can't wait to get away from our guide. She said we had to keep together until we were inside but should have mentioned that there were toilets once through the turnstile as well as just outside it. A few disappear into the toilets and we were 20 minutes waiting and had scattered about somewhat. Once through and into the museum she again starts talking unnecessarily. She actually starts reading out the labels from some of the exhibits... We leave her only 30 yards from the entrance.

This is the third and top floor which has a view towards the Acropolis opposite. The windows aren't dirty - it's the polarising filter on my lens that has brought out all the stress patterns that are normally invisible.

I'm not sure we have the order right here, but you get the drift...

Having looked at a few exhibits, we decide we are more interested in food and drink and walk back down towards the exit, passing our party who are just climbing from the first to the second floor! Good luck trying to find time for lunch, guys...

We walk down to the narrow streets and restaurants of a part of Athens called Plaka. It is almost like an old town. Not without a little difficulty, we find a taverna where we can have a snack and a carafe of wine. A chap is playing guitar and crooning and we nod our appreciation to him as we pass on the way to our table which is outdoors and sheltered from the sun by a canopy. Even better, that's an air-conditioning unit next to David!

This is the life. Sitting outside a cafe even in warm weather is no fun in England now because all the smokers have to sit outside and you have to put up with foul-smelling smoke in what should be fresh air. It can be as bad in other countries, but funnily enough I don't remember seeing all that many smokers in cafes during the week.

Right at the side of our table was a large cage with ten or twelve budgerigars tweeting away. I did wonder when the waiter came whether to point and say "That one..." but instead Fran and David ordered toasted sandwiches and chips and Jeannie and I agreed to share a Greek salad.

Not much on one of these drumsticks, come to think of it... The food was delicious. What is it about salads in Greece that taste so much better than those in England? Apart from the natural oil on them, the absence of mayo and tomatoes ripened by the sun instead of sprayed chemicals that is...? These days in England you don't even get lettuce - it's all stuff that in past years would have been labelled grass... Crunch with no taste does not a salad make...

The entertainment. I'm not sure of the significance of the number 5 on his guitar unless they were auditioning and number 6 was waiting for his turn...

I tried out my Greek on the young lady as we left. "Efcharisto!" I said cheerily.
"Oh!" she said in surprise, "Almost Greek..."

And on into the shopping streets with their colour and crowds, the smell of perfumes, garlic from the cafes, the occasional whiff of exhaust fumes as something ancient and fuming splutters past.

Miss Franny - as an ex-leather worker - always likes to get a fix of the smell of leather products! She casts an expert eye over pieces and comments favourably or otherwise with phrases like "That's a good piece of leather!" or occasionally, "That's not been fixed properly..."

An almost deserted side street with a tiny church on the right. Not all of those fridge magnets on the stand stayed in Athens at the end of the day... It really amazes me that our suitcases at the end of the week don't attach themselves to the side of the ship as the crew try to take them off!

On the other side of the street to the fridge magnets was another bit of ancient Greece, clearly showing how the dust of centuries has built up the present day ground level.

The high rocky outcrop of the Acropolis at the end of the street.

David and I both wanted a chance to see and take photos of the Temple of Olympian Zeus. We had glimpsed it on the opposite side of the street when the bus dropped us off and as we were due to meet the bus again in the same place, we agreed to leave the ladies shopping and we crossed the busy road.

Construction began in the 6th century BC during the rule of the Athenian tyrants, who envisaged building the greatest temple in the ancient world, but it was not completed until the reign of the Roman Emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century AD some 650 years after the project had begun.

We were so close, but the photos were taken through a fence. The entrance was a quarter of a mile away which would have meant a half-mile walk to and from the entrance and then we would still have to walk up to it. So we took our photos and then waited ages to cross the road back.

The Arch of Hadrian. It is thought to have been built to honour the Roman Emperor Hadrian for his arrival to the city for the dedication of the temple that we have just seen. He is named on an inscription as is Theseus (on the other side of the arch). It has been suggested that they were named as founders of ancient and modern (that is Roman) Athens.

We meet up back with the ladies and have a soft drink at a street cafe. As we wait for the bus another member of the party moans to us about the guide. He tells us that they only had 20 minutes left by the time they came out of the museum and that they have not had time for any lunch...

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A Bit On The Side

Hang on, you lot... Side is a place in Turkey! It's pronounced see-day and after our time at the Manavgat Waterfall, described in the previous entry, this is where we came to on the excursion from the Thomson Celebration which had docked in nearby Alanya on Turkey's Mediterranean coast.

Side has some wonderful Roman remains, including temples, a massive amphitheatre, a gateway and a few arches of an acqueduct. Above can be seen the scant upright remains of a Temple to Apollo, behind our merry bunch. The guide here is making up for the fact that there wasn't much to say at the waterfall and is now assaulting us with the most banal commentary...

A sample: "Behind us is the harbour, it was very important for trade..." Inspiring stuff... I have a foolproof guide for tour guides. They can say whatever they like but it should be in this order:

1. tell tourists what they need to know - meeting times and places, where the loos are, directions to stuff they might want to see that you won't come to.
2. Tell them when they can wander off on their own if they like
3. tell them stuff they might want to know (that isn't just bloody obvious!)
4. tell them the stuff that interests you personally (this comes last!)

All around us are massive columns from the temple. This place had a chequered history. Alexander the Great came here without any great opposition and left a small garrison. For a time it was under the control of his General, Ptolemy, who decided to proclaim himself King of Egypt in 305 BC and started a chain of kings called Ptolemy (and incidentally a chain of co-rulers called Cleopatra), one of whom we still remember far more than we do any of the Ptolemys. She probably knew this place too - we'll meet her again in the next entry at Alanya, just up the road where the ship is waiting for us.

Side was captured by the Seleucid Empire (it covered a lot of today's Arab states and as far east as north western India). They in turn were defeated by Rhodes, working together with Pergamum and Rome (who must have been pleased as this event saw the defeat of the fugitive Hannibal, he of the elephants across the Alps jaunt). In the first century BC the place was captured by pirates who set up their slave trading centre there. The Romans booted them out twice, the second time being by General Pompey but they quite liked the slave trade and kept it going. From the 4th century AD, Side was plagued by raids from the mountain people, Arab fleets, Christian zealots and also suffered several earthquakes. Small wonder that the population thought "bugger this..." and fled. It remained deserted but for a stubborn open-all-hours corner shop (clothes pegs, slaves and fridge magnets) until around the 1100s when people came to see if the raids had stopped and started to rebuild the city.

The Temple of Apollo has a fine mesh fence all round it apart from one aspect which has the view blocked by a construction hut and one corner where I stretched to my full height (I know... laughable...) and poked the lens through a gap in the fence.

There is a large amphitheatre which I wanted a look at. We asked directions and made our way up the busy shopping street and found ourselves back opposite the coach park. We walked up to the ticket booth all excited and found they only took Turkish Lire (we only had euros) or credit cards - and of course we had left that behind...

A bit deflated, we walked around the outside of the theatre anyway. Steel supports have been added under the Roman arches that support the massive public gallery. The theatre seated around 15,000 spectators and hosted all sorts of events including gladiatorial combat.

But then a wonderful thing happened. We came to the edge of the theatre, passed through the city gate and came to the site of a temple to Dionysus outside the theatre.

And having walked around the temple, by looking back, we get a really good view of the galleries of seating in the theatre. Miss Franny wouldn't let me go back to the ticket office to gloat...

In front of the seating is a wall, which would be the back of the stage or orchestra - this was an amphitheatre not a full arena, so a semi-circle of seating with a stage at the front. On the bit of grass in the centre of the temple site is a reconstruction of a fountain that stood before the main entrance of the temple.

A closer look at the fountain. Dionysus is the Greek version of the Roman Bacchus - the god of grapes, harvest, wine, etc... He'd do well in Blackpool...

Things got a bit too giddy at his last debauch and the temple ended up strewn about like skittles... On the other side of the temple to the amphitheatre were several old ruins, one with some mosaic flooring and a rather taller ruin of a 6th century hospital.

We walked back through the Vespasian Gate to the old city and realised that we were back at the coach half an hour early. We walked back to the top of the shopping street and bought a few bits and pieces and most importantly a cool drink each.

We bought them here. The owner was a very helpful chap whose mother (I presume) worked in the shop. I was taken with the miniature Turkish carpets on the stand outside the front door. A more practical souvenir than some of the real full size Turkish carpets that are very very nice but with price tags in direct proportion to niceness!

We bought cans to drink and sat on benches in a little square with the view above. Very pleasant indeed. Some familiar faces started to drift by us and we realised it was time to head back to the coach again.

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Rhodes and a Lost Colossus

Ok yes, I know you've been waiting on tenterhooks. We shall see the site of the Colossus of Rhodes in just a minute.

It's the first of October and we are in Rhodes, having walked along the coast road and through the Gate of St Paul in a quest to find the spot where the giant statue, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World stood.

We are walking along the sea wall on the far side of the Mandraki harbour. We pass a short row of windmills, which you can't help but feel were well placed! This wasn't a gorgeously sunny and calm day! We reach a castle on the corner of the sea wall and there we are - at the site of the Colossus.

We return down the sea wall and walk round the inland end of the harbour and along the landward side, passing this large impressive market... What? You want to see the site of the Colossus? Oh...

Well ok, this is it. The photo from this side is much more impressive than the ones I took from the seaward side. Now the Colossus, as with another five of the Ancient Wonders, has totally disappeared. It was ancient as the title suggests. It predates photographs and everything... No one seems to have drawn the thing either, or at least, no contemporary drawings exist. There are lots of speculative drawings. Some say it stood over the harbour entrance with one foot on either side. If so then the two columns, sporting male and female deer, occupy the spots where the feet stood on top of huge base columns.

Others say this would have been beyond the technical capability of the time and the statue would have collapsed. Actually though, it did... Let's give a brief tale. The Rhodians were suffering one of their many sieges and were overjoyed when the cavalry arrived in the form of Ptolemy's naval ships in 304 BC. He expelled the besiegers and Rhodes melted down their abandoned weapons and built the Colossus in the form of their favourite god, Helios. He faced out to sea and held a torch, much akin to the Statue of Liberty. Ships sailed between his legs and those with tall masts made him anxious...

It stood for not much more than half a century and then Rhodes was hit by a massive earthquake in 226 BC. The statue fell (luckily) onto the land so the harbour could still be used. What to do with the remains was a problem. The statue had broken into pieces. They were so large that even broken and on the ground the Colossus drew sightseers. Pliny the Elder said that the thumb was so large most people could not wrap their arms around it.

It lay on the ground for 800 years. One story says that the Arab force which conquered Rhodes in 653 sold the remains to a Jewish trader who broke it up entirely and carried it off on the backs of 900 camels. We are dealing with very ancient history here. Most of the written sources come from a thousand or more years after the statue fell.

Around this spot a chap barged into me and apologised profusely. When I answered and he recognised a fellow Brit, he started talking to us. He had been working as a guide there for 6 months and was from Wythenshaw, Manchester. He warned us about some African women working along the harbour wall. They were offering to tell fortunes. One chap declined and had his hand grabbed and the woman was dragging him back as he tried to walk away. "They are not nice people..." said our new friend.

We entered the old city by the gate near the ruins of a temple to the goddess Aphrodite and walked along the narrow streets, enjoying the atmosphere and the bustle. "Look Fran, that's a mighty fine bustle over there..." [SMACK]

The shops are many and varied. There are a lot of jewellery shops and I spotted the little music shop where I bought some guitar picks on a previous cruise. It was still there with lutes, ukeleles and tambourines hanging outside.

We considered having lunch and exploring further but then my ultra weather-sensitive sensory system (bald head) felt a spot of rain and we made our way back to the harbour and the Thomson Celebration. By the time we reached it, it was going dark with threatening clouds and was spitting as a prelude to heavier rain.

We had some lunch and made our way up to the Horizons bar where I had a high vantage point view over the city. The sketch pad and pencil came out, though I ignored all the modern building and drew in vegetation where they intruded on the impressive presence of the forts and wall of the Knights Hospitallers.

The rain came and did so in such earnest that it was almost as if a mist came down, there was so much water in the air. People were scurrying from building to building along the harbour trying to get back to the ship. We had considered going out again. We changed our minds!

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The Oracle and Temple to Apollo, Didyma

25 May 2012. After we left Miletus we motored for a short while admiring the rain before arriving at Didyma. Here are the remains of a massive Temple to Apollo which, although never fully completed, would have rivalled that of Artemis, not too far away that was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

The original temple was run by the Branchidae family claiming descent from Branchos, a youth loved by Apollo. The wooden steps were quite slippery from their soaking and Fran was not best pleased I stopped her and expected her to turn round for a photo! In ancient times, once at the temple, a High Priestess answered questions in an unknown tongue which was translated by the Branchidae family members. This gave the family a certain degree (i.e. total) of opportunity to influence the advice given by the oracle!

It was the main temple of Miletus and was reached from there via a 17km Sacred Way, which had ritual waystations and statues of the Branchidae family including their animals. They were making sure of their franchise...

The marble has been badly marked by fire - hence the blackened state of the remains. The Persians under Darius invaded in 493 BC and presumably having had unpalatable advice offered by the Oracle promptly threw a wobbly and kicked out the Branchidae family and set fire to the place saying things like "Stuff your Oracle!" and "From now on we'll go to Delphi...!"

Once a visitor had climbed the steps and puffed themselves out, they then found themselves breathing in the heady fumes of incense mixed with certain other additives that left them feeling, shall we say, a touch light-headed...

On a high they were then directed down a narrow steeply sloping passage that was not only dark but narrow, the steep marble flooring requiring them in their befuddled state to reach out to touch both walls in the dark to keep their balance.

Arriving here in an enclosed temple space, but open to the sky, they then had to climb back up the steps shown at the far end.

If they were breathing heavily before, by now they were positively gasping and therefore drawing in yet more of the intoxicating fumes. At the top of these steps they found the room of the Oracle. A High Priestess, also somewhat off her head, wailed and garbled whilst members of the ever accomodating Branchidae family ("An offering? How kind!") translated the utterances of the Oracle out of the goodness of their hearts and to the growth of their purse.

Alexander the Great captured Miletus in 334 BC and began a restoration of the temple and started the tradition of the Oracle again. It was said that the sacred spring which had dried up a couple of hundred years before the Persians burnt the place, started to flow again once Alexander had visited. He probably made sure of it by digging...

There was by now a 160 year gap in the Oracle's tradition. Luckily someone was found who knew how to wail incoherently and someone learned to interpret this. Just over 600 years later, Rome was leaning heavily on the Christians and in 302 AD Galerius urged Diocletian to step it up somewhat.

Uncertain, Diocletian asked the Oracle for guidance. At Didyma the Oracle's utterings were given in written form. At Delphi they were merely spoken. The record shows that the response was interpreted as in favour of the persecution, marking the beginning of what has become known as the Great Persecution of 303, lasting for ten years.

You may get slightly biassed guidance from a High Priestess of one religion if wondering whether to persecute another... A few people from our party climbed the steps expecting to find themselves able to simply walk down the steps of the temple on the other side. And as the Oracle's rooms are no more they would have been able to do that had they been willing to jump the 12 feet or so to the floor of the first platform.

Instead we had to climb up the steep passage again. I've brightened the photo considerably, it was very dim in there. Miss Franny blinked at the wrong moment - it wasn't so dim that she could see just as well with her eyes shut...

A couple of gorgons' heads sculptures are displayed here but most of the sculpture including some statues from the Sacred Way have been removed to the museum. A few of the Sacred Way statues are apparently to be found in the British Museum in London. By the way, although we were told they were Gorgons' heads, I think they just had wavy hair - those are not snakes...

Once back at the ticket office, the current High Priest came looking for an offering...

We say goodbye to Didyma and Apollo and head back to the ship which is next to Princess Danae and a Saga Cruises ship.

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