Athens

The Temple of Zeus

Across the street from the present site of the LDS chapel is Hadrians Arch and behind it is the ruins of the Temple of Zeus.  From the back balcony of the church, there is a spectacular view of the Acropolis.  Our Monday morning started with a trip to the church.  After a tour of the church building located on three floors of this down town site, we walked a block to a site referred to as "The Grove Academe." Wikipedia states the word  akademeia, An academy (Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of higher learning, research, or honorary membership. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 385 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the goddess of wisdom and skill, The sacred space, dedicated to the goddess of wisdom,Athena, had formerly been an olive grove, hence the expression "the groves of Academe". It was here that Aristotle, Plato and other great minds would gather to discuss important matters of the day.  Under the protection of the olive trees, the beginnings of democracy and the roots f modern academia were established with the likes of these great philosophers.

Athens is one of the oldest cities in the world, spanning a period of 3,400 years.  As a city state, it was a centre for the arts, learning and philosophy, home of Plato's Academy and Aristotle's Lyceum; it is widely referred to as the cradle of Western civilization and the birthplace of democracy. 


We decided to take a bus tour of the city and see as many sites as our limited time would allow. The city itself is a congested mass with bumper to bumper traffic. Our bus driver navigated the narrow streets with inches to spare on each side.  Pedestrians seemed to have no regard for rules of the road. Sidewalks are often cluttered making them almost unnavigable.  Hence,  people often would resort to the streets walking blandly along seemingly oblivious to the traffic passing within inches of them.  In spite of the congestion, Athens was alive with vendors of all sorts plying their wares in any nook and cranny available. 



This city has numerous museums as many countries are represented here, doing archeological research or coming to study.  Greco Roman or Neo Classical are the two prominant architectural styes.  No one style  dominates like in other cities.  An interesting side note is the cars are licensed with odd or even numbers and can only be driven downtown on their allocated days.  This place would take some getting used to for a Canadian used to wide open spaces.



I was totally engaged during the time here with one session after another.  It was fun but challenging. The Assistants to the President took us on a walking tour to Mars Hill where the Apostle Paul is reported to have addressed the Athenians saying: "I found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD, whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you." This is the view from that site.



It was pretty warm when we started the walking tour. During July and August it would be almost intolerable.  Most Athenians hunker down during the heat of the day, waiting till late afternoon to venture forth again.


This last picture was a more detailed account of Mars Hill.  The rocks on the hill were worn smooth through centuries of human traffic.  The view overlooking Athens was impressive.  Most of the buildings and even homes have adopted lighter colours giving quite a different perspective than what one would see in the other parts of Europe.