Athens is such a cool place to be. It just has so much history. The city is very modern with its wide streets, metro station, and fast pace; but sprinkled amongst all the modern building are little bits of history. Blink, and you just may miss them. Our journey through Athens took us through sprawling streets where we saw old churches and ancient ruins. Everywhere we walked we were always in shadow of The Acropolis, Athen’s main attraction. One of the coolest places we passed through is a small bright white neighborhood with tiny winding passages, and brightly colored windows and doors.
Rick Steve’s audio guide is designed in such a perfect way. As we twisted and turned through the city it’s as if the city is aging. Eventually we made it to The Ancient Agora, the old city center. This is the place that Socrates would have walked around with his students. The area had a bustling market place, a theatre-district, and several temples.
The main street cuts straight through The Agora and leads to the start of the climb toward The Acropolis. The people of Athens would all gather here to celebrate the birth of the city. The celebration would culminate in a parade that went down this exact road and climbs The Acropolis to The Parthenon. The Parthenon is truly a sight to behold. Unfortunately, one side was covered in scaffolding, but even still it was incredible. Interestingly, The Parthenon stood mostly intact until around the 1600s when it was used to store gunpowder and was badly damaged during a battle. After that in the 1800s, England took many pieces off of it and are storing them in the British Museum. One great thing about the way our trip worked out is that we got to see all of those pieces a few weeks ago, on our trip to London.
Directly across from The Acropolis is Mars Hill. This hill has many great stories attached to it, but our personal favorite is from Acts 17. In it, Paul is preaching down in the Agora and gets taken up to Mars Hill, where he preaches to many skeptical Athenians. There is always something special about standing in the place where history happened. It is a reminder that what we call history, somebody once called life. It helps make to give these stories dimension, and them come to life.
