I worked remote in Greece for a couple of months. I love the ancient history, architecture, intricate details, and balance throughout each city. Greece is best known for its temples: I was able to visit the Acropolis, the Parthenon, the Library of Hadrian, Odeion of Herodes Atticus, Ancient Agora, and the Old Temple of Athena to name a few! I also visited the Panathenaic Stadium, the OG place for the Olympic Games, AND it is the only place in the world where the entirety of it is built out of marble.
Best Four Places I Visited:
Parthenon
The Parthenon is a marble temple built in the 400's B.C. during the ancient Greek Empire. Dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena, the Parthenon sits atop a compound of temples known as the Acropolis of Athens. Throughout the centuries, the Parthenon withstood earthquakes, fire, wars, explosions and looting yet remains, although battered, a powerful symbol of ancient Greece and Athenian culture. Today, it is one of the most recognized buildings in the world and an enduring symbol of ancient Greece.
Temple of Athena
The small Ionic temple honored Athena in her role as protector and defender of Athens and provided BCE visitors with a kind of preview of the other temples dedicated to the goddess they would see after passing through the gate.
The Greek temple stood for almost 2,000 years until it was dismantled by the Turks of the Ottoman Empire in 1687 who used the materials as a defensive wall in one of their engagements with the Venetians. After Greece won its independence in 1821, restoration efforts at the Acropolis included the Temple of Athena Nike which was rebuilt in 1834.
It was dismantled again in the 1930s, and was again restored in 2010. The present temple construction is considered to be the closest to the original although some stones, reliefs, and sections of the parapet that surrounded it on three sides have been lost or are now in the Acropolis Museum and the British Museum.
Acropolis Museum
The Acropolis Museum is consistently rated as one of the best museums in the world. The building is perched above Athens like a luminous box. The large glass panes beautifully draw in the ancient and modern parts of the city, making it a truly evocative experience. It is the perfect sanctuary for the ancient artefacts that were found in and around the Acropolis and successfully deconstructs how the Parthenon sculptures once looked to the citizens of ancient Athens.
Panathenaic Olympic Stadium
The Stadium became the home of the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 and remains the only stadium in the world built entirely out of marble. It was constructed entirely of white marble from Mt. Penteli, in the style of a Roman stadium with a semicircular sphendone, slightly curved sides, and with rows of seating for 50,000 spectators, divided by a diazoma aisle.
