Trips to the Acropolis

The Acropolis in Athens is one of the only things about Athens that I have learned about in classes before going on this trip. Being a psychology major, learning about such things isn't exactly a priority to my professors, so this makes sense (they don't even explain the history behind the naming of Freud's theory of the oedipus complex!). So, because I felt like I maybe knew A LITTLE about the Acropolis, I was very excited to see it, especially since we weren't able to figure out how to get close to it on the first day of the trip!

I was constantly teased before going to the Acropolis by passing it on bus rides with Yanis the bus driver and Roula Skoula and seeing it behind buildings in Central Athens, but the biggest tease was the fact that the roof of Hotel Astor, where we ate breakfast every morning, came with a view:

After the third amazing day in Greece, we finally went to the Acropolis!!! Once we arrived, Roula first took us to the Theatre of Dionysus. This would be the first of many theatres we'd see on the trip, and would eventually be among the subjects of my paper written at the close of this study abroad trip.

Everyone really badly wanted to sit in what was historically the VIP section of the Theatre (the lower, bigger seats in the front) and go into the area where ancient Athenian actors ran through scenes of beautiful tragedies and hilarious comedies, but neither of these were allowed. Instead, we sat near the front of the acting space, where Roula taught us about the history of this amazing piece of history.

As we entered the Acropolis through the Propylaea, or monumental entrance, we saw something that cannot be missed anywhere in Athens, or most of Greece for that matter- stray dogs (notice how the dogs are unfairly allowed to step into areas that humans are not!).

One of the things we noticed throughout our whole trip in Greece was how precious ruins were to the Greeks- why else would there be scaffolding on so many things?? When we visited the Acropolis, the Temple of Nike was under construction, but luckily for us, a large amount of the scaffolding on the Parthenon had been removed a little over a week before we visited it!

Me and the Parthenon! (Notice the cranes in the background)

One part of the Acropolis that I have never learned about prior to this trip that greatly intrigued me was the Caryatids of the Erechtheion. The Caryatids on the Acropolis are actually copies- the real surviving ones are in the Acropolis Museum, with the exception of one. This one particular Caryatid which is missing just happens to be in the British Museum, and just happens to be the best preserved Caryatid. When I learned of this, I immediately made plans to visit the British Museum, as I had planned on visiting my cousins in England subsequent to the trip. Here is the Caryatid in the British Museum:

Interestingly, the Greeks and the Brits seem to take different perspectives on matters regarding things of the Ancient Greek assortment. I recall Roula not sounding too happy about the British Museum taking items like the best preserved Caryatid, but the Brits take a slightly different perspective. My cousin, as one example, suggested that maybe, JUST MAYBE, the Caryatid in the British Museum was the best preserved BECAUSE the British took it under their wing. I also took a picture in the British Museum of a placard that stated the British Museum's view of their relationship with the Greeks.

When I posted this on Facebook, Kelly commented saying
"Roula would have a FIT if she saw this!"
I'm pretty sure she's right!

Anyways, back to Greece! Two days after our first trip to the Acropolis, Dan, Brandon, Katie, Kristine, and myself joined Joe for a second trip. Before going, we had some delicious €2 gyros for lunch with some of the other SDSU students who were on the trip:

Two Euro Gyros- Found thanks to Hermes, or Ermu! ;)

We thought we could get back into the gates of the Acropolis using our passes from two days before, but apparently this was not the case. So, the first gate we tried to get through didn't let us in. We were very sad:

We did not want to give up. So, we just went around to another gate, and used some elaborate lie that Joe made up about being a group of archaeology students who were there at 11am that day, and were told to come back later because the Acropolis looks so beautiful at sunset.

IT WORKED!!!

This day was definitely one of my favorite parts of the whole trip. Hurriedly following Joe around as he wandered around the Acropolis and listening to him tell ancient stories that related to the ground we stood upon was truly amazing. This would be many of the times during the trip that I would think, "Dude. We are in frickin GREECE."