Wisdom's City

So while you were climbing around the Pyramids of Egypt, suddenly you realize that you are extremely close to the Mediterranean Sea (thank you middle school geography). You know what's on the other side? OK, there are a lot of countries over in Europe, but the place that's really close. Just north of you...

Greece

Athens, Greece

Specifically Athens, Greece is where we will be going. Now what use to be an easy journey by sea, has become rather difficult. Occasionally there is a ferry that travels between the two countries and there are freighters, but the average traveler is not going to want to book a freighter. Who said we were average tourists though?

Regardless there are ways to go between the two. One route I found hops to Cyprus, then to Rhodes, Greece, and then to Piraeus (which so happens to be right outside of our predetermined destination... Athens! If you actually take this route at any time in your life check with the cruises that operate these routes. You can't reserve seats if you're going one way so you need to make sure there are seats available. It's a little bit of a hassle, but you could check out Cyprus too, which is its own adventure.

Once in Athens the fun can begin. I've always been interested in Greek Mythology and when you're in Athens, you're in the heart of it all. The totem of ancient Greece, the Olive tree finds its origins in the city of Athens. The reason the city itself is called Athens is after the Greek goddess Athena. The short story is that Athena gave the city a better gift than Poseidon, the Olive tree, so she became the god to be enshrined in the city. As the city's protector, many temples were dedicated to Athena. Probably the most famous one was the Parthenon of the Acropolis.

An Olive Tree

Built during the Golden Era of Athens, the Parthenon was erected by the Pericles administration and the architects Iktinos and Kalikrates. Its original columns and marble construction would prove to be some of the most influential architecture in history. All you have to do is go to a library or some government building here in the United States to see that. One cool little detail about the building itself is that the external pillars aren't actually straight, they were built a little curved. With the Attica landscape, this made it so no matter what angle you look from the pillars look straight!

The Parthenon

These are some of the remains of the statues of important
mythological individuals that were located in the Parthenon

Sadly in 1687 the Venetian army blew the building to pieces. When the bomb went off the only wall left standing was to the East and countless artifacts were destroyed. As time moved forward no one made an attempt to collect the untimely rubble so pieces have disappeared as tourists throughout time have taken a souvenir for themselves. Now the most important pieces reside in the Acropolis Museum. This exhibit was finalized in 2011 and sits 300 meters from the ruined temple.

Possibly the most important statue of the Parthenon,
the statue dedicated to the goddess of wisdom,
Athena.

This place in itself holds a history of mythology, architecture, and even battles. I think it would be undoubtedly worth going and seeing/exploring. Pericles had the right idea when he said, "...we shall be the marvel of the present day and of ages yet to come."