Today was the last day in Greece. Yet again I ventured off to Athens (it is about a 20 minute metro ride and let me tell you, I am becoming awesome at navigating the metro system J ) The first stop today was Kerameikos. Kerameikos is divided into two parts. The inner part is known as the potter’s quarter which is essentially the main part of the city where the public buildings, temples, and bath houses were. But, what Kerameikos is most famously known for is the outer part that encompasses the ancient cemetery and the public graves. There is still excavation going on in this site and I got to see the people working with those cool archeological tools, chiseling out some of the stone. J It was amazing to see how old the ruins were and that I could walk down the streets of inner Kerameikos and imagine that I was back in the ancient town. In fact, the road that visitors now walk on today used to be a little river that ran through the town and acted as a sewage drainage system (it must have smelled pretty darn icky!)
Then, after grabbing a coffee at a local café it was onto historical site two of the day: Olympian Temple of Zeus. This ancient temple is in downtown Athens and has columns that seem to tower above everything. It was quite the incredible view from the exit of the metro. A lot of the temple has been destroyed during the Christian takeover (the same time when Delphi was destroyed) but about a dozen of the towering columns still stand.
After Zeus’ temple it was lunch time. Lunch today was not the best, I got a Greek salad and it was good, just not super wonderfully excellent like every other meal I have had in this country. But after we stopped for a croissant (with chocolate inside,) so that made the experience much better.
Back to the metro, 20 minutes back to Piraeus, and a walk through the graffiti ridden walls back to the ship. Tomorrow there are classes and the next day it’s Turkey!!
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