Framedlight

  We live in the Peak District, about as far from the sea as you can get in the UK, so we had always planned on going to a beach while we were in Athens. We caught a metro to the Peace and Friendship Stadium stop, not quite the end of the line in Piraeus, but close to the water and maybe the possibility of a bathing beach. The metro was certainly a colourful ride, and very cheap. Graffiti seems to be everywhere in Athens. We walked through a dusty uninteresting park and came to a marina where we stopped for coffee.It was an overcast morning but still warm. The water in the marina had a skim of oil over the top, not the place for a swim. Mairi had found a swimming beach, Freatida, on the map, so with a little walking around the houses and apartments we found ourselves on a stony shore where others were sunbathing and swimming. I am sure the water was not up to blue flag standard but we both had a quick dip and sat on our towels to dry off. Afterwards we walked onwards towards Piraeu...

  We had a quick bite to eat and then crossed the road to the wonderful Acropolis Museum. I had taken this picture the night before of the reflection of the Acropolis in the glass of the museum, to show how close the two things are. The beautiful building was designed by architects Bernard Tschume, an American and the Greek Michael Photiadis. It was completed in 2007. There had been a lot of controversy of the siting of the museum as it lies above an archaeological site. Now the museum is elevated above the site and in the summer excavations still continue. After we had finished in the main museum we had a look at the ruins lying underneath. A slope takes you down from the street on to the museum site and we entered the museum into an entrance hall which slopes upwards to mimic the climb up the Acropolis. Unfortunately we had not realised this device and took the lift straight up to the top floor as we thought we would do top down!  The top of the museum has glass sides runnin...

  My daughter Mairi and I visited Athens in early November and of course one of the highlights was a visit to the Acropolis. Although it was November the weather was very pleasant and the site was quite busy.  I won't bore you with all the facts about the Acropolis as they are easily found on Wikipedia, but suffice it to say that this hill has been fortified and occupied since the 6th millennium BC and there have been other temples built and destroyed before the existing Parthenon was constructed under Pericles (460-430 BC). Now the Parthenon, the main temple on the Acropolis and dedicated to the goddess Athena, is under constant renovation and much of it is covered in scaffolding. We came onto the Acropolis through the lesser used southern gate and could immediately see the Odeon built by  Herodes Atticus in AD 161. This was rebuilt in 1950 and is used every year for the Athens Festival. We walked up the hill until we came to the entrance gate of the temple mound, the Pr...