We left the ship early to go into Athens. I was looking forward to seeing all of the ancient sites. I loved learning about ancient Greece when I was in school. Please excuse these next few pictures - they were taken from the bus window. I just wanted to include them to show how the site mountains looked from afar. We boarded our private family bus and enjoyed a tour guide's knowledge of Athens. This is the view of the Acropolis.
Here is the temple of Zeus from far away. That guy got a lot of temples built for him!
Here is the Panathenaic Olympic stadium. It was the site of an ancient stadium that was rebuilt for the revival of the Olympic games in the 1870's. It is built entirely of white marble. We didn't really get great pictures as we didn't go in - we wanted to spend our time on the rest of Athens.
When we got to the Acropolis, we passed the museum of ancient Greece. It is really cool - the museum is built over an ancient civilization. Instead of moving the museum, they just built it over the site and you can watch them excavating the site underneath.
The Theater of Dionysos was built in 400 B.C. Many plays were enjoyed there. Most of the people had bleacher seats except the main guys who got to sit in the first rows - their seats were little thrones.
Not far from that is the Odeion, built in 200 AD. It was reconstructed in the 19th century and they still have performances there every summer.
We made our way up to the Parthenon area. It was crazy busy. And hot.
The Parthenon was really an amazing structure that was brilliantly built. It looks like the pillars and lines are all straight, but they are all actually built on a slight inward angle to provide more support. I can imagine how beautiful it would have been in the day!
This is the Porch of the Cyclades. The columns are beautiful sculptures of women.
The whole gang. We loved being with our family!
This is a view down to the temple of Zeus and the stadium.
This is a view of the rock of Peter.
We went to the Plaka area afterwards and enjoyed the shops. We also very much enjoyed our Gyros. Our seats in the restaurant were above the kitchen. We enjoyed watching them prepare our food from above!
Here is the temple of Zeus from far away. That guy got a lot of temples built for him!
Here is the Panathenaic Olympic stadium. It was the site of an ancient stadium that was rebuilt for the revival of the Olympic games in the 1870's. It is built entirely of white marble. We didn't really get great pictures as we didn't go in - we wanted to spend our time on the rest of Athens.
When we got to the Acropolis, we passed the museum of ancient Greece. It is really cool - the museum is built over an ancient civilization. Instead of moving the museum, they just built it over the site and you can watch them excavating the site underneath.
The Theater of Dionysos was built in 400 B.C. Many plays were enjoyed there. Most of the people had bleacher seats except the main guys who got to sit in the first rows - their seats were little thrones.
Not far from that is the Odeion, built in 200 AD. It was reconstructed in the 19th century and they still have performances there every summer.
We made our way up to the Parthenon area. It was crazy busy. And hot. 
The Parthenon was really an amazing structure that was brilliantly built. It looks like the pillars and lines are all straight, but they are all actually built on a slight inward angle to provide more support. I can imagine how beautiful it would have been in the day!
The story goes that Poseidon and Athena were battling to see who would be the patron saint of Athens. Poseidon struck a rock and a stream came forth. Athena placed an olive tree at the site and won - and that is where it got its name. They say this was the site of the olive tree (maybe the very one!)
This is the Porch of the Cyclades. The columns are beautiful sculptures of women.
The whole gang. We loved being with our family!
This is a view down to the temple of Zeus and the stadium.
This is a view of the rock of Peter.
We went to the Plaka area afterwards and enjoyed the shops. We also very much enjoyed our Gyros. Our seats in the restaurant were above the kitchen. We enjoyed watching them prepare our food from above!
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