The Acropolis Up Close

Finally, this morning, we visited the Acropolis of Athens. For many years I have wished I could see this very famous place, including the most famous temple, the Parthenon, and the Erechtheion, which is the temple decorated with the breathtaking caryatids (female statues holding the structure on their heads). Our tour was planned for us to arrive early in the morning to avoid the heat and the crowds. Huge numbers of tourists were in fact there with us, but we understand that four cruise ships were about to send thousands more tourists later in the day. 

Walking up the rather steep stone path.

Beyond the trees we could look upwards towards the temples on the top.
The major structures were built during the Greek classic era, in the 5th century BCE.

A stadium is alongside the path: it was built much later by the Romans, who always used arches.
(Classic Greek architecture doesn’t use arches.)

Every column is amazing!

The Parthenon is the iconic Greek Temple. Its construction started in 447 BCE, and it was completed in 438,
with some of the decorations completed a few years later. An amazing speed for such a masterpiece.
There’s a lot of history here about wars, generals, politicians, and the great artist Phidias.

The Cariatids at the Acropolis are copies. We saw the originals yesterday at the museum.

Every view is breathtaking.

More photos of the Parthenon

The steps up to the building have an interesting feature: they bow upward in the middle,
which creates the characteristic look of the building from a distance.

The history and foundational nature of this place would make a profound discussion. Years ago, in college, I took an entire year course on Greek archaeology, with many classes on the Parthenon and its builders and its architectural features. As I walked around I could remember much more of this course than I thought I would. However, I won’t try to repeat all that here today.

It was a wonderful experience that I’ve always hoped for.

Leaving the Acropolis

As we walked down the slope to reboard the bus, we could see that the crowd was becoming ever more dense. Too dense, in fact, for more photos: people stopping to take selfies were holding up the people behind on the stairway. The sun was strong and the temperature was rising, as well. We were happy that our tour had been planned to take place first thing in the morning. 

As I say, I have always dreamed of visiting here.

No ancient Mediterranean archaeological site is complete without its resident cats.

Blog post and photos © 2025 mae sander