Athens, 17 August - Hop-on Hop-off Bus

 

looking up at the acropolis from the west gate

We did not need to do more walking, so we relied on the HoHo bus to see a good portion of the rest of the sights of Athens.  A few highlights:

 

tree lined streets

Greek Orthodox churches

relics round every corner

Monday afternoon traffic

The Greek Parliament

Syntagma Square is the area in front of the Greek Parliament.  Evzone guards (in what look like skirts) stand at attention at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (and, like in the US, the ceremonial changing of the guard is a major tourist attraction).  

the guards

 

Tomb of the Unknown

Technology Museum - one of the Four Museums stop

"Modern" Olympic Stadium

the National Library

Ho Hum, just another ancient ruin

Now this picture takes a little explaining... we turned left onto this street and it was wall to wall people.  What you can't see is the taxi (ahead and to the right) that is preventing us from turning.  Being right in the front of a two-decker bus gave us an interesting perspective.

the National Archaeological Museum

The Agora, below the north side of the Acropolis

Although literally and figuratively overshadowed by the impressive Acropolis, the Agora was for eight centuries the true meeting place of the city — everybody who was anybody in ancient Athens spent time here. 

looking up from Agora

A local market, right down the road from the Agora

 

A final, parting shot of Athens.  We learned from our uber driver that this was the week of the annual Athenian holidays -- apparently everybody leaves town except for the tourists.  Mid-afternoon, Monday, nobody was in the square near Parliament, except for the pigeons.