Athens Day 2: Ruins and Hills – Geeky Girl Engineer

I started off the day by hiking up Filopappou Hill because I heard it had great views. It does! You can see all the way to the sea to the south, and it allows wonderful views of the Acropolis as well as most other parts of the city. While up there, I saw the Filopappos Monument and did a little birding. Then I pushed on to see as many historical sites as possible including Theatre of Dionysos, Hadrian’s Arch, Temple of Olympian Zeus, Panathenaic Stadium, and a few smaller ones that are scattered everywhere. I am not kidding about this. You turn a corner, and there is a very small archeological site. I walked into a store selling everything made from olive wood and realized I was standing on a glass floor and below was ruins, complete with a sign describing them.

It was rather fun to get to wander around Panathenaic Stadium because it was used for the Olympics, yet it is a historical site with stone seats, some of which look like the stone seats at the Theatre of Dionysos. As an engineer, I am in awe that these structures have lasted so long. Some have had to be restored, and the Acropolis is currently case in point. As much as I would love to get photos of it unobstructed from construction equipment, I am kind of amused to see this ancient engineering structure being restored with modern engineering.