Hello to every local guide all around the world. In this article I’m going to show you my expirienced trip to Athens and Delphi from start to end. I will tell you a lot of things for Athens and Delphi including historical facts about landamrks. So let’s start with our trip. I decided to divide the whole trip into 4 articles because it will become very long.
The idea about the trip was born at the beginning of November 2019. With my colleagues decided to make a trip to some country outside Bulgaria. We searched for a lot of options. But finally we chose Athens. Our flight was on December 5th at 6:30 am. The weather was so cold that we were shaking. I think it was -2C degrees. Also it was also foggy which is why the flight delayed with 1 hour and 30 minutes.
After 1 hour and 30 minutes the airplane took off and went to heaven. The next picture you will see Vitosha Mountain above clouds. Our flight take about 40 minutes with beautiful views of Rila, Pirin and Slavyanka mountains. Also we saw Chalkidiki peninsula and beautiful Aegean sea.
Fortunately, weather in Athens was hot and sunny. Unfortunately the airport of Athens (Eleftherios Venizelos) is about 33 km away from the center of Athens by driving and 19 km straight. There were 2 options for transfer from airport to the center. Bus is one option. The other is subway which initially goes above ground. Travelling with subway took 1 hour and 20 minutes.
Some facts about Athens Metro:
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The metro system of Athens consists 3 lines with lengths of 135 km.
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The metro of Athens is one of the oldest along London Underground, Budapest Metro, Glasgow Subway and etc. (September 1904).
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Before became electricified in 1904 the metro was used for railway transport from Ahens to Pireaus Harbor, which was opened in 1869.
Our hotel was located in the center about 15-20 minutes walking from Acropolis. After we accomodated in the hotel we went outdoor to make a little tour of central part of Athens. We started of course with Acropolis. Going to hill of Areopagos you will enjoy on wonderful view of city and Acropolis. The name Areopagos comes from two words - pagos and areios. Pagos means “piece of rock”. Areios possibly comes from Ares. The hill is meeting point of Areopagus - a Ancient Athens political council which was banned from politic in 462 BC. The most beautiful thing is to come at night - it’s a magic.
The next landmark is of course Acropolis. I was impressed by the architecture. Masterpiece after masterpiece, I didn’t stop admiring ancient people of Ancient Greece. The Parthenon’s columns are built in Doric style which is typical in architecture of Ancient Greece. The construction begins in 447 BC and it’s completed in 432 BC. The Parthenon replaced the temple of Athena which is called older Parthenon, destroyed by the Persians in 480 BC. In future it served as treasury of the Delian League. In the final decade of 6th decade it was converted into Christian church. In 1687 it was severely damaged by the Ottomans. Nowdays is in process of restoration and it’s expexted to finish 2020.
Other historical site we saw was Odeon of Herodes Atticus. It was built in 161 AD by Greek Herodes Atticus in memory of his roman wife Aspasia Annia Regilla. In addition to the odeon was built a wooden roof of expensive lebanese cedar. It has seating capacity for 5000 people. It was used for music concerts. In 267 AD roof was destroyed. In 1950 the Odeon was renovated.
After we saw Hill of Areopagus, the Parthenon, Theatre of Dionysus, Odeon of Herod and etc. we decided to go to the Zappeion. The Zappeion is also a beautiful building. Its columns are built in Corinthian style. The construction of the Zappeion started in the beginning of 1874 and was finished in 1888. It was used in 1896 Summer Olympics as a main fencing hall. Currently is used as a Conference and Exhibiton Center. Unfortunately I ddin’t have picture in front of the Zappeion.
After we had dinner we visited a church and that was the last point for the day.
I hope if this article was interesting and helpful. In the next day I will upload the next part of our trip. Good things to come.
Greetings from Bulgaria
