The Acropolis of Athens, Part II

We walked back to the 50-some steps and entered the gate to the Propylaea.  This photo is taken from the point we climbed to near the Propylaea.

Athens sure is huge!

And this is a view of the Agora, north of the Acropolis.  And a wee portion of Athens beyond.

Zooming in, we get a nice view of the Temple of Hephaestus, the patron god of metalworking and craftsmanship.  Very well-preserved, the temple was completed in 416-415 b.c. 

Well, folks, that's as close as we're gonna get to the Temple of Hephaestus.  Enjoy the view!

As we panned to the south, it's a bird... it's a plane...

It's a...

DRONE!  Ok, in all honesty, I didn't know what this was, but Chris did, and he took pics of it.  We have no idea why a drone was flying around us and the Acropolis.  But it kinda scared me, since the only time we say the word "drone" in the U.S., it usually means something kinda scary.

Moving along...
We now pan back toward the Propylaea.  I never explained what the Propylaea is.  This is the monumental entrance gateway into the Acropolis. I found this drawing, courtesy of Wikipedia, showing what the Propylaea may have looked like in its prime.

Ummm...do you see all of those steps???

And this is what it looks like today (or at least what it looked like on June 10, 2013). 

Obviously, from this point, we still have numerous ramps and steps to climb.  (Did I tell you the Acropolis is WAYYY up there?)

Oh yeah, and remember that temple of Nike Athena?  This is the other side of it.  Remember creamy-color vs. white?

This temple was built between 427 and 424 b.c.  Sometimes you just have to stop and stare in awe at how incredibly ancient some of these structures are that we are standing right next to.  You can imagine people building them, visiting them, worshipping at them, abandoning them, and on and on.  A lot can happen in 25 centuries!

So we climbed those ramps and the last few (many) stairs.  And there we were. On top of the world!

Wow.  What an incredible view! We had to just stop for a moment and take it all in.

Turning back to the Propylaea, here is a close-up of some of the structure.  You can see that the columns are assembled, as with the Temple of Olympian Zeus, in modules, one on top of another.

I mentioned earlier that excavation and restoration is ongoing.  Here are some of the column modules.

There were signs asking that we not touch the columns, which we respected.

This view looks back at the Propylaea after we were inside the Acropolis.

Wait...what's that I see?  Is that...

 The Parthenon???