Today was our first full day in the city of Athens, Greece, and it was beyond amazing. I saw more culture and beauty than I ever expected I could in such a short amount of time. We started our day in the morning by climbing to the top of the Acropolis to see the Greek Parthenon. The view of the city as we climbed to the top of the Acropolis was the most spectacular part. You could see everything in the city from the top of it. We learned that the Parthenon was used to store gunpowder during the Persian war. One night during the war the building was shot and all of the gunpowder exploded. The inside of the building and the walls was almost completely demolished but much of the outside structure and columns still remains intact. You can still see how beautiful the architecture is and imagine how it must have been when it was first built.
After the climb to the top of the Acropolis, our tour continued on to the archaeological museum. The museum was built on top of the old ruins. The floors at the entrancewere built of glass so that visitors could see the marble ruins at the bottom below us. The museum had hundreds of finely carved statues throughout it. The tour guide told us that the statues were all buried in a cave hidden during the Persian war. The statues represented everything from everyday Greek citizens to the mythological gods. It was a great representation of their history because many of the statues were still very well intact.
Our day of exploration continued on even after the guided tour. Many of the group went to these beautiful gardens in which they had little ponds and quiet, enclosed areas with benches. From the garden, we walked to the temple of Zeus next. Again the building was somewhat destroyed, but we could still see the outlining structure and the beauty of it.
The last part of our exploration was of the Olympic stadium. It was absolutely breathtaking. We all took turns standing on the winner’s platform taking pictures. We met some other people in the stadium taking pictures after us that we struck up a conversation with. As it turns out, they were from Indiana and Wisconsin. One of them mentioned that he had a brother who is currently attending Purdue and I happen to know his brother. It was a really cool experience meeting someone halfway across the world that I have a mutual contact with and who happens to live near to me. It just goes to show that this is a very small world and you can make connections anywhere. It makes me appreciate Purdue even more knowing that I can find these connections through my school anywhere in the world. Today was by far one of the most amazing days, and I’m so grateful to have experienced it.
Virginia, myself, Samantha, Hailey, and Kathryn on our way up to the Parthenon!
This is the gorgeous view of the city looking down from the steps up to the top of the Acropolis!
Samantha, myself, and Mariela striking our victory poses on the Olympic winner's platform!
This was the remnants of the temple of Zeus that we visited on our exploration today!
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