An alarming day

Success.  Tired bodies meant lots of sleep all round, and something of a lie in this morning - only a 7.30am start.  As we breakfasted in the roof top restaurant here in the hotel, the patio doors were swung open, the cool breeze gently fluttered across rooftop terrace, and if we craned our necks we could just see the Parthenon in the morning sunlight.  As the teachers said, it doesn't get much better than this.

Meeting up with our Greek tour guide this morning, Anna (not to be confused with Anne, who met us at the airport), we boarded our coach for a quick tour of the city, taking in all the major attractions.  Quite how many of the 3657 photographs that were taken out of the bus windows will a) come out properly and b) be remembered remains to be seen.  We had a brief stop at the Panathenaic Stadium, commissioned for the first modern Olympics in 1896 (more of this later), before moving on to the new Acropolis Museum. 

The top floor of the museum is designed to be the exact size of the Parthenon up on the Acropolis, and displayed around its walls are the frescoes from the temple.  Well, some of them.  If you've been to London, you may have been to the British Museum and seen the Elgin Marbles, the collection of the better preserved pieces from the Parthenon.  The official line from the British Museum is that Lord Elgin ‘acquired’ them in Athens between 1801 and 1805, and then later sold them to the British Government, who donated them to the museum.  Under the auspices of its Turkish rulers at the time, Lord Elgin was told he could remove anything from the Parthenon that did not interfere with the ancient citadel's walls.  So he was a bit of a naughty boy really, as he had the frescoes removed without the walls falling down.  Some would argue that given subsequent damage to those that remained, mainly due to Greek air pollution, he did save them.  Saviour or thief?  Make your own mind up. 

We mentioned the Panathenaic Stadium earlier.  At that very first Olympic Games in 1896, the marathon race was won by a Greek called Spyros Louis.  His prize?  Not a gold medal (medals weren’t introduced until 1904) but a silver chalice called Breal’s Cup.  It is solid silver, and is proudly displayed in the Acropolis Museum.  Quite valuable, as you can imagine.  Consequently, housed in a high security case.  The alarm, as we discovered, is very loud.  If you set it off, which we did, security guards come running from all directions, as we noticed.  Oops!  We won’t mention the culprit, will we Jamal?

From the museum, we climbed up to the Acropolis itself.  It’s a beautiful sunny day in Athens, and it was a pleasant stroll along the highly polished marble pathways up to the top.  Nadine E delayed us slightly with a nose bleed, but she was more concerned about the spot of blood that spilled on her shirt than the actual bleed itself.  The big challenge for our students was to count the number of columns around the outside of the Parthenon.  Greeks had a simple formula when it came to temples and columns: the number of columns along the front was doubled along the side, plus one.  However, a bit of logic has to be applied to this question.  17 at each side, 8 at each end.  Parents, we’ll be looking for your answers in the replies section of the blog.

We descended into the Plaka for lunch, which was a selection from cheese and spinach pastries, Greek salad, stuffed eggplant, oven roast chicken and potatoes, and calvos (spelled incorrectly but essentially honey cakes) for dessert.  As we ended the meal, the children became more animated as… shopping time approached.  If you know the Plaka, the selection of shops and souvenirs available is huge.  We had an hour, we thought we manage a long stroll along the narrow meandering streets and… we managed one shop!  Like an Amazonian feeding frenzy as piranhas devour an animal that has strayed into river, so our children ransacked the shop, loading baskets, filling carrier bags, unloading wallets.  The checkout lady twice ran out for change.  It was carnage!  And never have you seen happier children!

If our four course lunch wasn't enough to sustain us today, we came back to the hotel for dinner.  Bursting at the seams, we had some quiet time, and then lights out at 9.30pm – not too bad after a long hot day.  Tomorrow, we’re off to the Archaeological Museum in the morning (Mr. Suter is already salivating) before heading off to the Peloponnese and Tolon.  We can’t wait!