Its our second full day tour in Athens and the focus today is the Acropolis and the surroundings. Our guide and driver picked us up again at 10 and we worked our way through the chaotic Athenian traffic. We happened to be driving past the presidents residence when they had the changing of the guard and stopped to watch them. Greece was a monarchy till the 1970’s and following the Greek War of Independence and a referendum the king was replaced by a president. The presidents guards are chosen from army conscripts based on strict criteria – including a minimum height of 6’1″ and being male. They stand in absolute flawless stillness for one hour shifts and have a very stylized slow-motion movement with exaggerated raising of the legs. Apparently the specific choreography is designed to restore blood circulation to their legs after they have spent a full hour standing totally still.

We then drove to the Acropolis Museum which houses a lot of the artifacts from the Acropolis. With its incredibly rich history it is near impossible to dig anywhere in Athens (or Greece) and not find ruins or remnants of different civilisations. The Makrygianni site where the museums stands is an active archaeological zone and was a dense, multilayered urban settlement spanning 4,500 years. The museum has a glass floor which allows you to view the site below. The top floor of the museum is the Parthenon Gallery and the floor is angled to precisely align with the Parthenon visible just outside. The frieze is mounted chronologically and seamlessly combines the original marble reliefs with white plaster replicas. There is also a gallery that showcases statues and carvings through the ages and shows the progression of the artform from Egyptian roots to very unique Greek themes.

We then walked up the hill to view the Parthenon located on the top of the hill. It was built about 400BC and is an architectural masterpiece. There are nuances in its design – like curved stairs, different size pillars and angled roof – to give it a perspective of being larger than it already is. Marble was carted up the hill from 2 different sites and carved and installed on the hill. The murals (what remains) tell a story of a festival celebrating the God Athena. The site also includes an incredible theatre called the Odeon of Herodes Atticus which has been recently renovated and still holds concerts.  The mercury got up to 39 today but it wasn’t as oppressively hot on the top of the hill and the breeze definitely helped.

Our guide then took us to a wet and flea market to sample local food. Thomas was impressed by the pigs heads and trotters on sale. We tried local kebabs made in a “hole in the wall” which makes only one type of kebab and only served the exact same way – no exceptions and no alterations. A cheese shop was next with local goat and cow cheese and traditional Greek yoghurt. We then visited an olive shop and tried the most diverse variety of olives I have ever had. I especially liked the wrinkled olives and ones that were a lot sweeter – very different to any I have had before. We visited an Armenian delicatessen that specialises in a variety of air-dried meats. We sampled a bunch of different ones, including a house speciality pastrami that is cured with spices. Dessert followed, but we were all pretty full, so only got something akin to a baclava and shared it. It was incredibly syrupy sweet and would make Bengalis sweets seem tart. Our final shop was a hand made ice cream shop to cool down.

We then drove almost an hour to Cape Sounion to watch the sunset over the ancient temple of Poseidon. The temple was originally built in 400BC and has been destroyed by invaders over the centuries. It is a famous tourist spot to watch the sunset and we even saw a couple get engaged as the sun set.