Athens

Our port of call today was Athens, Greece -- the cradle of western civilization -- and I've been looking forward to this stop the entire trip. The highlight, of course, is the Parthenon in the Acropolis. It's immense. Pictures don't quite convey how large and imposing this structure is. Unfortunately for us they're renovating the entire Acropolis right now, so the structures are incomplete. There's scaffolding everywhere, they've taken down entire columns from the Parthenon, and the Temple of Nike Athena is practically dismantled. Even so, what's left is still awe inspiring. I can't imagine how the ancient Greeks built everything, and the fact that it has stood the test of time is incredible. They sure don't make things like they used to.

We also visited all the surrounding sites: the Agora, the Temple of Olympian Zeus, Hadrian's Arch, and Syntagma Square (very briefly; we were getting tired and running out of time).

As in Pisa, I was once again surprised at the amount of graffitti around these major historical attractions. I just can't fathom the lack of pride that would allow someone deface their national monuments. True, the graffitti isn't on the sites themselves, but it is on all the approaches to them. It's just sad...