By being at the Acropolis when it opened at 8:00 AM William and I were able to get the best morning light for taking photographs and we also were able to avoid the crowds.  There was only a handful of visitors sharing the Acropolis with us which made our visit the best possible.

We entered from the back side so our first sight was The Theatre of Dionysus.  It amazes me that this was built 400BC and this much of it still remains.  We thought that the sights in Rome were old until we got to Greece.

Next we entered at the Lion’s Gate.  We found one guy to take our picture and at this point we were just thinking that not too many people come to visit the Acropolis – that is until about an hour and a half later when all the tour groups arrived.  How fortunate we were to have arrived before the crowds.

Off to our right we could see the Temple of Nike.  

And on our left as we entered was the Temple of Athena and Erechtheum.

And of course to our right was the Parthenon that housed the sculpture of Athena.

What we did not realize was that most of the sculptures from the Parthenon were actually taken by the English and the French and they are on display in those countries.  We think they ALL should be returned to Greece.

Another amazing sight from the Acroplis is the Agora at the foot of Acroplis and the vast sea of houses making up Athens.

Athens is an amazing city where western civilization actually began.  William and I took in a few more sights – The Acropolis Museum, Hydrian’s Gate, and The changing of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

We thought you might like to see an olive tree also.

After a quick but detailed tour of Athens we are now off to Mateora.