Highlights of Athens

Wednesday, 2nd October, 2019.
It was not a good day to visit Athens.  There was a rail strike, and in addition, many streets were blocked off, for some reason.  Marianna, my lovely airbnb host, made some phone calls to find a way for me to get into the city instead of the straightforward Metro.  She then drove me to the bus stop (an hour into the city, an hour and a half to get back) and picked me up afterwards.  I took a sightseeing bus which took two hours to cover one stretch instead of 20 minutes, which meant I missed the Acropolis walking tour.  Anyway, here's what I did see:

What I saw of the Parthenon, from the window of the bus.  Only because it is the highest thing in Athens, on top of a whacking great hill.  It was built in the mid-5th century BCE and dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena.

You had to pay to get any closer to the Acropolis than where I was, so all of these people must have paid.

These African ladies, down in the free bit where I was, looked very striking in their white dresses.

At least, from up here, you had a bird's eye view of Athens.

The Roman Agora, or market, and the Tower of the Winds.

Apiliotis, the wind which comes from the sun, bringing beneficial rain to farmers, is a young man bearing fruit, honeycomb and spikes of corn.

In the Roman Agora.

I have always had a soft spot for Marcus Aurelius, and here is a meditation of his at the Acropolis, which reminded me of James Shirley's Death the Leveller.