It already took 3 parts to cover 3/4 of my walk around the historic center of Athens - betcha you can write books about those ancient sites if you wanna go into details. Speaking of books, fancy a visit to a Roman library?
Let's go:
The above is my first view as I enter Adrian's library. Aptly named as it was built in 132 by the Roman emperor Adrian. It's a site you can see from the outside as you exit Monastiraki metro station but as I previously said, those places always tell a different story when you walk them inside. I dislike the bright white colour of the marble used to substitute the missing parts but, we can't have it all. Plus it's always better than the cement I saw for the same purpose in the amazing ancient city of Ephesus in Turkey. That was eye pollution!
Let's walk some more:
One of the most impressive parts of this site is the ruins of the West facade of the library:
Hard to take pictures without people anymore but it's not that bad anyway:
The site also contains ruins of an Early Christian triplefoil church, the Basilica of Megale Panagia, but today all you can see is this:
However, if you are lucky you can meet some of the lucky turtles strolling around there:
The funny thing with this one was that she came walking over a metal cover making so much noise with her claws.
Last 2 shots before I go:
Next on my way is the Roman Agora, not as impressive and large as the ancient one but definitely worth a visit even though you can see it from the outside like in this shot:
The entrance is impressive from both sides:
As you can see in the next pictures, the fact that it's visible from outside plus the strong sun keep the crowds away so you and I are lucky to view the whole thing almost empty:
The most important piece in there (IMHO at least) is the following building:
What you see above is the Horologion of Andronikos Kyrrhestes, an octagonal tower that is probably the first meteorological station (1st B.C.) which worked with solar clock, water hourglass and wind indicator. How cool is that!
Every side of this building refers to the 8 main kind of winds so let's have a tour around it:
Everytime I pass from this place I stop to stare this octagonal beauty. Now you know why.
I could caption this next one "ruins in the air":
What's your opinion on ancient couches?
Look at the amount of unidentified objects:
As if the view isn't already nice enough, some planes draw on the bright blue Athenian sky:
This is the massive head of an ancient column:
And here's the last 4 legged star I find around those 4 ancient sites I toured during the day:
Thank you Roman Agora, time to go, see you next time:
On a more contemporary note but still cute enough, here's a sweet house from the early 1900s with a handful of flowers on each window:
As I walk back to the metro, why not take a last shot of the Adrian's library from the top so you can also see what surrounds this site:
I survived the whole walk without water but as I pass through the best street food of the city I cannot make it without a bite on something. Ladies and gents, here is arguably the best way to finish an epic walk like this - bon appetit!
Below is a 4K video summarising the whole experience. Besides, what's a cat without being able to hear her meowing?
Enjoy:
Hope you manage to make it so far, thanks a lot and see you on the next one!
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