Athens: The Acropolis

Our first official tour day was actually two or three days after arriving in order to give us time to adjust to the culture and time change and get over the jet lag. During these adjustment days we studied mythology, history of Athens, and the Greek language of the first century, because what else would you do when your running on no sleep! 

As I was saying, our first tour day was spent in Athens, and our first stop was the Acropolis. The word "acropolis" means edge or highest place, and thus became a sacred place at which the people would build their temples; the Acropolis is most famous, of course, for the Parthenon. The theatre pictured above was one of our first stops on the way to the top of the Acropolis, and was actually being set up for use, as you might can tell from the image. As we continued climbing up, in addition to the masses of other tourists all speaking different languages, we saw the Temple of Wingless Victory, other structures and temples, and beautiful overlooks of the city of Athens itself; every piece of architecture and construction on the Acropolis was interesting, beautiful, and unique. As we ascended I can vividly remember turning a corner and seeing it - the infamous and notorious Parthenon. As a bit of a history and photography buff, seeing this important piece of history that I had studied and seen so many pictures of standing before me, I had my first moment of realization: I really was in Greece.