Day 15, May 17, 2024 – We departed Kalambaka this morning and headed for Athens. After a seaside lunch in Kamena Vourla we checked into our hotel. We took off on our own and toured the Acropolis Museum. After the museum we watched the changing of the guard in front of Parliament and had a pizza at a fresco restaurant caught the sights of the Acropolis at night.
In the Acropolis Museum, the 3rd floor outer walls of the core show the relief-carved blocks of the temple’s Ionic frieze, mounted in the same position as they held on the monument, but at a lower height for better viewing.
Check out the two of six elegant female figures who supported the roof of the south porch of the Erechtheion (figures who do the work of columns—carrying a roof—are called caryatids). The figure wears a garment pinned on the shoulders (this is a peplos—a kind of garment worn by women in ancient Greece).
There is a head of statue of Alexander the Great. Most likely the work of Leochares in about 340 BC.
There is an excavation under the Acropolis Museum. The ruins were found when they started digging the foundation for the Museum. They were a neighborhood of ancient Athens including streets, houses, baths and workshops dating from the 5th century B.C. to the 9th century AD.
Monument of The Choragic Lysicrates near the Acropolis of Athens was erected by Lysicrates, a wealthy patron of musical performances 335/334 BCE
The Greek Parliament Building overlooks Syntagma Square in Athens.