CITY OF ATHENS

When we entered Athens we drove past parliament and got to see the changing of the guard on the way to our hotel. We also saw the University of Athens and other parts of the big city. On the first night in the city of Athens me and my friend Andrew explored the city and tried to find Lycabettus Hill. We didn't find it but we did find two Greek Orthodox churches. We went inside one of them and the caretaker of the church gave me a copy of the New Testament in Greek. He said even though it belonged to the church he would let me have it for free as long as I translated it into English.

The next day in Athens we went to to the Acropolis. We stood on Mars Hill. This was the place where St. Paul addressed the Athenians. His speech is on a stone in Greek there. The story of this happening is in Acts 17. I learned the Acropolis was a fortress dedicated to the patron gods of the city.We saw the Parthenon, dedicated to Athena. I learned that the Parthenon was built in such a way as to give the optical illusion that it is a slightly taller building than it actually was. 

In the Acropolis Museum there were many statues. I learned about statues of centaurs fighting men. There is a story about a king who invited centaurs to a wedding, and the centaurs tried to abduct the women at the wedding so there was a fight. It symbolized the war against the Greeks and the Persians.

Later on our own, me, Andrew and Sarah saw the Hill of Fillapapou, which was the tomb of Phillip. We also saw the place where Socrates was imprisoned before he was killed.  

We visited the New Stadium where the 2004 Olympic games were held. We stood in the separate basketball stadium, swimming center, and bicycle race track. 

We went to the Archaeological Museum of Athens which had more well preserved statues than many other museums we have visited. There were rooms of undersea artifacts and Eygyptian artifacts. After this we went to the old stadium. At the old stadium we were given devices that  we could listen to for a guided tour. We could see the place where the athletes entered the stadium. 

After this I explored Athens with Andrew and Sarah. We ate at an Anglican Church's fundraiser. We went to the Royal Gardens and watched fish and birds. Then we went to the War Museum which had planes, guns, armour, swords and information about Greek combat from antiquity to near present day. In the process of climbing to the top of Mount Lycabettus, we discovered the quills of a the native Greek cactus.  

-Isaac Koenig