Greece Day 1, Athens - Agora Area

To read about a previous (first) related post, click here.

26 Oct 2007

After lunch I decided to make my way to the Ancient Agora (city center) for a close-up view of the sights I saw from the Acropolis and the Rock. But before that let me introduce the map of the area.

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Detailed view of the routes taken for day one shown above with the descriptions below. Zoom out to see where exactly in Athens I was and click the icons for the name.

• Green -- Hotel and Lunch Area
• Blue -- Route to Acropolis
• Red -- Route to Odeon of Herodes Atticus and then to the Rock
• Purple -- Route to Roman Agora
• Orange -- Route to Ancient Agora
• Cyan -- Route to Cathedral

Making my way along the Purple route I arrived at a little site which was the city center during the Roman times.

Toilets, the drain is where the poop drops.


The Tower of the Winds was built by an Astronomer as a sunclock. However it also houses a waterclock for nights and cloudy days.


Close-up of the top



Some smooth roundish pillars


An Archway


A former mosque converted to a store room for wheat

The Roman Agora site was tiny. So I headed on the the bigger highlight of the day -- the Ancient Agora.

Map of Ancient Agora, note the structure of the Roman Agora in Number 7.

Statue of Roman Emperor Hadrian. He ruled for 21 years. He seem quite well-liked by the Athenians during Roman times and he ensured the completion of the colossal Temple of Olympian Zeus that took 500 years to build.

Write-up of the Temple of Hephaistos







The Temple of Hephaistos, smaller but in much better shape than the Parthenon.


Uphill view of the Acropolis


Agora in foreground with Acropolis in background


Elaborate top of a column


Write-up of the church of the Holy Apostles




The church of the Holy Apostles






Inside the church, most of the art is gone.


The Stoa of Attalos, rebuilt in the 1950s as an near exact replica of the original


Pageant?




Some other displays outside



Antoninus Pius, Roman Emperor from 138 to 161AD, very life-like marble


Probably the head of one of the Roman/Greek Gods.


Write-up of the Ancient Agora in the Museum


For tea?


Little Artifacts


Spartan bronze shield, loot brought back by the victors from the battle at Pylos. It is huge!



The horse cover used to house grave offerings


Back outside, an ancient road -- The Panathenaic Way led all the way to the entrance of the Acropolis


Another Statue


Graffiti is everywhere here


An unknown landmark of columns

After leaving the area, I decided to detour towards a large landmark on the tourist map that I had in hand and encountered the large Mitrópoli (Cathedral).

A statue near Mitrópoli. Probably an important Eastern Roman from the insignia behind the head.


This should be one of the Patriarchs of Constantinople.


Mitrópoli under heavy restoration.




Archway above entrance





Inside the Mitrópoli


Looks like an ark



Art like this are commonly seen in the churches here



Smaller church beside the Mitrópoli

Exhausted by now, I decided to make my way back to the hotel without dinner for much needed rest. It is almost winter they say but the weather was surprisingly cool and nice for good sleep.

Read about the next related post here.

Return to the trip index here.