Acropolis Quick Tour

September 7, 2013

Seeing the famous Acropolis in the heart of Athens, Greece was something on my bucket list. It turned out to be somewhat of a disappointment. The massive crowds and ongoing major renovation with accompanying cranes and scaffolding marred the the visual experience. If that weren’t enough of a photographic challenge, the steel gray, hazy skies made it very difficult to get any kind of quality shot. There is not a one of the following that I am particularly proud of, but they are useful to document our visit to ancient Athens.

CLICK FIRST PHOTO BELOW TO START SLIDE SHOW.
NOTE THE CAPTIONS AT THE BOTTOM OF EACH SLIDE.

: The word “Acropolis” does not refer to a building, but to the is an ancient citadel located on a high rocky outcrop above the city of Athens. There are a number of buildings on the Acropolis, the most famous being the Parthenon.

: The Propylaea is the monumental gateway to the Acropolis. I tried to take in the historical significance of the place by imagining all the people as ancient Greeks in white garb. The lady with the cell phone increased the challenge of that vision.

: My solution to avoiding the crowds and scaffolding … a lot of high shots with tight cropping.

: The Acropolis is surrounded by the megalopolis of Athens, with a population of over 3 million in Athens and the surrounding urban area. This is the Theatre of Dionysus Eleuthereus that you pass on your climb to to the top of the Acropolis.

: The Agora (market place), at the foot of the Acropolis, was once the beating heart of ancient Athens. The Temple of Hephaisteion and Athina Ergane (from the vantage point of the Propylaea) is the best preserved monument on the site.

: A winder view of the Agora, illustrating the vantage point that the Acropolis has over the city of Athens..

: For my pictures, I tried to avoid these kind of shots. But if you wanted to get a wide view, there was no avoiding the crowds and the hardware of the preservation work.

: In a few cases I was able to successfully shoot over the heads of the crowds and find an area less marred by construction. This is more like the classic view that you see of the Parthenon.

: Some detail of the artistic stonework.

: The Erechtheum, a temple to the north of the Parthenon.

: A wider view showing the Erechtheum perched above Athens.

: And yet another view of the Erechtheum, with the ruins of the Old Temple of Athena in the foreground. The Old Temple of Athena was completely destroyed by the Persians in 480 BC.