Seeing the Sights = Sightseeing
This evening we took a trip into Athens proper on the new metro system to do a bit of sightseeing. We took in the Parliament building, stood next to the guards (not even a flinch) and then walked through the National Gardens to the Z�ppio, which houses various parliamentary offices. It was originally built as an exhibition hall, but is no longer open to the public. In recent years it has also been used as headquarters for the Greek presidency of the EU and the 2004 Olympic bid team.
Talking of the Olympics, our next stop was the Panathenaic Stadium. This is a 19th century reconstruction on the site of a stadium built by the Romans in the 4th century BC to host athletic contests. It hosted the first modern Olympics in 1896.
From there we retraced our steps through the Gardens and down one of the main Athenian shopping streets, Ermou. Via a side road we got to the big cathedral. Greeks seem to be very religious folk because, not content with the huge cathedral, they built another church right next to it.
By the time we got to the Acropolis it had closed for the night, but it would have been too hot to go up to see it during the day and it gives me a good reason to return to Athens in the near future. However, Athens is a wealth of historical sites, so we were still able to take in the Roman Tower of the Winds and the Ancient Agora (market place).
Athens has so much to see, and it would have been impossible to see it all in a week, let alone an evening. What we did see though gave a good flavour of the city, and I want to come back and explore it more fully soon.
