Viewing Greek Antiquity with Visits to the Acropolis and a Museum

 4/2-4/3/2025

 After a restful night, we awaken to a bright, sunny Athenian morning and meet up with David and Linda in the hotel’s rooftop restaurant for breakfast. The morning view of the Acropolis is simply amazing, and the concerns the tour guides had regarding the weather don’t seem warranted at this point.

Morning View of Acropolis

After breakfast we gather our things and assemble in the hotel’s lobby for a bus ride to the National Archaeological Museum. The bus ride takes us past many of the landmarks we saw yesterday on the Hop On Hop Off Bus tour.

The crown jewel of Greek antiquity, the National Archaeological Museum is the largest archaeological museum in Greece and one of the most significant in the world. Housing over 11,000 artifacts spanning time from the prehistoric era to Late Antiquity, the museum offers visitors a journey to ancient Greek civilization. Our local guide tells us about ancient Greek sculpture from 700 BC to the 5th century AD.

A Museum Exhibit

We view gold masks, cups, dishes, and jewelry unearthed from the site of Mycenae; metalwork dating back to the 1st century BC; Egyptian art; and a collection of some 2500 Greek vases. Our guide elaborates on some of the museum’s most iconic treasures, including the Mask of Agamemnon—a gold funeral mask from Mycenae; the Antikythera Mechanism—an ancient analog computer used to predict astronomical positions; the bronze statue of Poseidon or Zeus—recovered from the sea off Cape Artemision; and various Cycladic and Egyptian figurines and antiquities.

After finishing our tour of the museum, we board our bus and ride back to our hotel.

Poseidon or Zeus??

We have the rest of the day as “free time,” so we start the afternoon with lunch in the hotel’s garden restaurant. We spend the majority of our afternoon organizing and packing our luggage in preparation for tomorrow's early morning pickup and delivery to our cruise ship. As evening approaches, we head out with David and Linda for a pizza supper at a pizzeria that was recommended by our tour director, where we run into some fellow group members with the same idea. Back at our hotel, we call it a day and turn in for the night.

A Museum Bronze

The next morning, we breakfast with David and Linda as we view the citadel of the Acropolis from the rooftop restaurant—the UNESCO World Heritage Site that we will ascend and explore today. Perched atop a flattish-topped hill overlooking Athens since the fifth century BC, the architectural and artistic complex was an important site in Greek antiquity. Rising 500 feet above sea level, the complex covers an area of approximately 7.5 acres.

We finish our breakfast and board a bus that takes us to the entrance of the Acropolis, where we begin our ascent. Fortunately, the weather is good, and the well-worn marble path and steps that we use are dry for good footing. Our ascent is slow.

Restoration of the Parthenon

We climb for a couple of minutes and then rest for a couple of minutes more. After about 20 minutes of climbing, we are near the top and encounter several marble steps that must be climbed with no handrails. We overcome this challenge and are rewarded by wonderful views of ancient buildings and sculptures. Our guide tells us that while there is evidence that the hill was inhabited as early as the fourth millennium BC, it was Pericles in the fifth century BC, during the period often referred to as the Golden Age of Greece, who coordinated the construction of the most important buildings—the Parthenon, the Propylaea, the Erechtheion, and the Temple of Athena Nike—whose present remains we are witnessing.

Erechtheion's Caryatid Poirch

We are told that these buildings have undergone wartime sieges, fires, earthquakes, pollution exposure, and other natural disasters, which explains the ruins we see before us. We note that there are several restoration projects underway on the buildings, and the ruins are still being examined by archaeologists to unlock their secrets. After leisurely exploring the ruins, our group gathers at the Propylea—the monumental ceremonial gateway to the Acropolis—to make our descent.

Reliefs from Acropolis Buildings

 

At the bottom, we begin a fairly long walk to the Acropolis Museum. Along the way we pass the Stoa of Eumenes and the Theater of Dionysus Eleuthereus. Arriving at the museum, we find that although it is very modern in design, the complex was built over ancient ruins visible through glass floors. Opening in 2009, the museum is unique in that it showcases the artifacts from a single archaeological site—the Acropolis and its slopes. More than 4,250 objects are exhibited over an area of 14,000 m². The museum’s collections are exhibited on three of its four floors, with its top floor askew the ones below to achieve the same orientation as the Parthenon on the hill.

Relief of Wrestlers

We begin our tour on this top level, where we find the Parthenon marbles laid out in exact proportions and spacing as the original. This entire level is also illuminated by natural lighting, just as it would be seen in the ancient temple. Many of the artifacts have undergone extensive restoration, with perhaps the most notable being 5 of the 6 original caryatids of the Erechtheion.

We finish our tour in the museum’s café and gift shop before boarding buses that take us to the port of Piraeus. Here we embark on our ship, the Windstar Legend, to begin our cruise of the Greek islands and Turkey for the next 7 days. We have lunch aboard with David and Linda and spend the afternoon settling in and exploring the ship. The ship sets sail for Grecian ports as we are enjoying our dinner and bringing the day to a close.