Day one; the photos

Evripidou St; this is where I'm staying (my hotel is on the far side of the road)

The Old Mitropolis (church of the Panagia Gorgoepikoos and Agios Elefterios) and some details of the re-used Classical and Byzantine carvings

A much-needed coffee!

Looking across the Ancient Agora towards the Hephaistion

Climbing the Panathenaic Way

Nike temple

Some of the newly-restored parts of the Propylaia

View towards the Erechtheum - the statue of Athena of the Vanguard would have been in the middle foreground

The Parthenon; west front, under restoration

The fabulous view over Philopappos Hill towards Piraeus and the island of Aegina in the distance

Making use of the self-timer feature on my camera

Looking down on the Theatre of Dionysios and the new Acroplois Museum beyond it

Random cannon bits

Restored east front of the Parthenon

A bit of random carving from the remains of s Roman shrine

Looking down into Plaka from the belvedere

The Erechtheum; east porch

Another bit of carving, just lying around (& the shadow of my hand)

Column drums from the Old Parthenon, destroyed by the Persian invasion of 480BC, used in the rebuilding of the fortification walls

Erechtheum; north porch

The cistern where Poseidon's sacred salt-water spring is supposed to have flowed

North porch; the coffered ceiling...

...and the carved door-frame

West front, and the modern olive tree on the site where the ancient sacred olive is supposed to have grown

Foundations of the Old Parthenon

More restoration work going on.  There were people working all over the site, and one could hear the grumble of machinery and the clink of masons' hammers constantly.  I can't help thinking it was probably rather as it might have been when it was all first being built - only with modern dress, and electricity, and a bit more attention to health-and-safety!

More restored bits of the Propylaia

Random statue base.  The whole top of the rock would have been crammed with statues and dedications and votive offerings, and there's nothing left of any of it there except cuttings in the bedrock, and a few bits and pieces like this.

Lunch at the Klepsydra Café

A beautiful run-down mansion in Plaka

Into the Ancient Agora; two bits of a cult statue from one of the many shrines and small temples

The Ancient Agora site is planted with native trees and shrubs, and as well as being a fascinating archaeological zone it's also something of a wildlife haven

A couple of shots of the late Roman fortification wall running across the eastern side of the site, with bits of Classical masonry built into the structure

We aren't the first generations to think of recycling!

The remains of the south-east temple (which is where the broken cult statue earlier was found) and the church of Agii Apostoloi behind

Byzantine decoration and 17th century frescoes at Agii Apostoloi

 

A magnificent Corinthian capital, just standing by the path...

The Great Drain, with the Acropolis behind.  Many years ago, on a winter holiday here, I was in the Agora the day after a very heavy rain storm.  The Great Drain was running freely, draining the area, just as it was first built to do.  Very efficient engineering, still working 2000 years later!

The house of Simon the cobbler

Wildflowers

The Temple of Hephaistios seen over the ruins of the shrine of the Mother of the Gods

The altar of Zeus

And some fine lichens on the Altar of Zeus

One of the Roman giants

One of the saddest sights; this is all that's left of the Altar of the Twelve Olympian Gods, the centre of ancient Athens and a famous shrine of mercy, offering sanctuary to all comers.  The rest of it seems to have been chopped-off by the railway cutting.

General view

A bust of the emperor Hadrian

A cicada!

The Temple of Hephaistios, and the view from there

Another bit of wildlife, less prepared to be photographed than the cicada

Another bit of ancient statuary built into a wall

And the beautiful shady colonnade of the Stoa of Attalos museum.