This is post three of sixteen of our summer trip to Greece. Check out our other posts in the series here:
- Greece Lightning: Heading to Greece
- Acropolis for Breakfast: Staying at the Hilton Athens
- Starting at the Top: The Acropolis
- Oompa! Eating Athens
- Taking it Indoors: Athen’s Museums
- Athen’s Other Sites
- Room with a View: Staying in Santorini
- Santorini’s Spectacular Sights: Part 1
- Santorini’s Spectacular Sights: Part 2
- Looking for Santorini’s Best Eats
- It’s All Greek to Me: Heading to Naxos
- There’s a Meat Town in Naxos!
- Shots! Shots! ShotsShotsShots! Heading to Mykonos
- A Delightful Day Trip to Delos
- The Trashy Side of the Greek Islands
- Bling Bling y’all! Upgraded at the Hyatt Regency Montreal
For our first day in Athens Mrs. Selfish and I headed to the Acropolis. The largest tourist attraction in Athens (and possibly in Greece), the Acropolis is a collection of four ancient buildings that sit on top of a flat rock a few hundred feet above the rest of the city.
Constructed in the 5th century, BC, the Acropolis is most noted for the Parthenon, which dominates the skyline. Since Athens was conquered several times over the last 2000+ years, the Acropolis has been burned and reconstructed many, many times.
Since 1975, however, the Greeks have made a serious effort to restore the Acropolis, which was ravaged by pollution, war, and poor restoration. Most notably, the Venetians (the jerks of the Adriatic, as we would later learn in Dubrovnik) damaged it with artillery fire back in late 1600’s and it never fully recovered.