Day 16: Easter in Athens

Today we did a three hour walking tour of Athens. First at the Syndagma Square, where the parliament building is located, in front of which two guards were guarding the tomb of an unknown solider. Every hour on the hour the changing of the guards  takes place. Then we walked through the National Garden, where we saw many statues and the Zappeion, an official building where conferences and special meeting take place, on the way to the to the Panathenaic Stadium of first Olympic stadium opened in 1896. Some members of the group raced around the track for a small competition. Next we saw the temple of Zeus on our walk towards the Acropolis. Because today is Greek Easter, we only walked around the Acropolis, the Agora, where we saw the Temple of Hephaestus and the Stoa of Attalus. We will visit both sites tomorrow.

Parliament Building

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Guards

National Garden

First president of Greece

Zappeion

Panathenaic Stadium

Olympic Rings

Awards given to the champions

Temple of Zeus

Hadrian's Arch

View of the Acropolis

Stoa of Attalus

Temple of Hephaestus

Roman Agora

Tower of the Winds

Today is Easter. We all ate a very nice Easter dinner of roasted lamb. The lamb is cooked over a pit fire, and served with roasted potatoes. After lunch some people took an adventure to Lycabettus Hill. where they could see all of Athens and the Aegean Sea.

Easter Dinner

View from Lycabettus Hill

The Acropolis and the Aegean Coast