First day in Athens and everything was closing early because of Easter Weekend, so made our way over to the Acropolis museum that we were staying just a block away from. Mary-Kate was excited to see what the top of the Parthenon originally looked like and was doing a cheerleading sign for her favorite greek goddess - Athena.
Mary-Kate loved the museum (other than a few break-downs). We weren't sure if she was enjoying herself or just really happy to leave the museum in this picture walking up the steps after exiting the museum.
It was so cool to stay right at the base of the south side of the Acropolis with the nice views of the Parthenon. It was fun to visualise how amazing Athens would have been in the 5th century B.C.
After enjoying some delicious greek food with a view, we ventured out on a night hike up a hillside to an even better view. The sounds were pretty amazing this night as well as we heard bells sounding at churches in every direction. As we descended down the hill we also saw processions in the street with Christians following a cross and other symbols of Christ's death in marches commemorating Good Friday. It was neat to see the way the Greek Orthodox church members celebrated Good Friday and then Easter Sunday.
This was an extremely short trip as we only had one full day in Athens. We started the morning by heading over and checking out the Temple of Olympian Zeus. Most of the columns had long been knocked over and pillaged but it was quite humbling to think about what this temple would have once looked like. The sun came out early in Athens and it was warming up quickly.
Next we made the strenuous walk up to the top of the Acropolis. Laurie really liked the Erechtheion, especially the porch with six caryatids (or draped female sculptures that serve as pillars and hold the whole building up). She can relate to these caryatids holding up and supporting our whole family, especially on these trips with a toddler.
Next we walked around and were in awe of the Parthenon. You can tell Jake carried Mary-Kate on the wrap on his stomach which caused some good body heat. In Ireland the body heat is a good thing to keep both he and Mary-Kate warm, but in a sunny Athens it mostly just creates sweat spots to remember forever in pictures.
Another view of the Parthenon from the east edge of the Parthenon. Most of the time Mary-Kate would rather eat or drink than smile for pictures.
Mary-Kate loved every moment where there weren't crowds of people and she could walk and run around on her own. Here she was checking out the ruins of Hadrian's Library where there were some ruins more her size and a few tortoises rolling around that made her feel extra fast and big.
Next it was time to check out the Athenian Agora (or ancient market) where we found possibly our favorite temple. The Temple of Hephaestus was the best-preserved of all of the ruins we came across and helped give us an appreciation of what the Parthenon, Erechtheion, and Zeus's temple must have looked like before largely crumbling into ruins. It was also quite peaceful walking around the gardens in this area and enjoying the shade of trees, seeing beautiful wild flowers, and enjoying some more shade.
The pillars in the following two pictures at the Stoa of Attalos were even more preserved than those of the Temple of Hephaestus. It turns out that is because they were reconstructed and now served as an archeological museum. It was also a wonderful place to refill our water bottles and had some of the nicest toilet facilities in Athens.
Mary-Kate loved running from one ancient sculpture of goddesses and gods to another, especially where there was smooth, even flooring under a covered canopy of shade. Ireland has made us weak when it comes to site-seeing in warm weather and sunshine, so we basked in the shade that made us feel more like we were home in Dublin whenever we could.
Laurie and Mary-Kate would have loved socializing and shopping in this ancient market with intricate columns and sculptures in every direction we looked. This was all before lunch. We had built up quite an appetite in our morning adventures and site-seeing. We thoroughly enjoying relaxing at lunch with some cold drinks and gyros. In many places we find the cheapest food is what we enjoy the most and the gyros and fries from a family-run Greek place hit the spot perfectly for practically nothing.
We were able to give our feet some rest as we took a subway then bus to the south of Athens to the Vouliagmeni Lake Natural Spa. The buses weren't running very frequently on this Saturday before Easter and we missed our bus stop on the first pass, but we eventually made it to this relaxing fresh-water lake right next to the Mediterranean coast. It felt great to change into swimsuits and cool down. While Laurie and Mary-Kate wading around and cooled down, Jake mostly just enjoyed getting a pedicure from the Garrarufa fish. They loved eating all of the dead skin on the bottom of Jake's feet including the running calluses. At one point a life guard had to come check in on Jake because he was laying back floating and was so relaxed that the life guard thought he may have passed out.
Laurie's petite feet had a lot less dead skin and attracted a lot less of the fish than Jake. Mary-Kate eventually warmed up to the fish and liked watching them, but apparently she doesn't have any dead skin yet as she has the pure skin of a Snow White baby so she didn't have to worry about the fish nibbling on her.
After relaxing at the natural spa/lake we walked across the street and along the Mediterranean coastline until we found a quaint little beach to sit, relax and watch the beautiful sunset over the Greek scenery. Jake enjoyed the view of his two young goddesses more than the sunset behind them.
At this point we were thoroughly exhausted but Laurie wanted to further culture us and made sure we bought some candles and found a nice church to wait at until the midnight Easter service and Easter officially started with the eternal flame that was flown from Jerusalem to Athens being spread from person to person and all of the non-candle lights being turned off in the city. We enjoyed the nice spirit of so many devout believers gathering across the city and were glad that we had walked around the city so much earlier in the day to be able to find our way home by candle-light.
Unfortunately early Easter Sunday morning we had to head out to the airport to make our flight. It was hard to say goodbye to this beautiful city and see all of the lambs being roasted over bar-bqs on our way out without being able to enjoy the Easter feasts with the locals. This Easter weekend will always be one of our most memorable and it was great to see the importance of Easter to the Greek Orthodox faith and their traditions and services. It was neat to learn about the ancient greek gods and goddesses and all of the lore that went with it and the amazing temples and sculptures, but we are so thankful for our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and his sacrifice, death, and resurrection nearly 2,000 years ago that enable us all to live again and be with our families forever (even if we have missed being with family for the last two Easters).
