The Last Day Together on the Trip

Today we split up. Mom, Gage and the Nana‘s left first at around 10 AM. Next to leave was Connor and Kayla at around 11. Dad and Griffin left shortly after.  As everyone was walking around, Dad and Griff surprisingly met Mom, Gage, and the Nana’s at the Ancient Agora of Athens. The Agoras initial use was for a commercial, assembly, or residential gathering place. We walked through it and saw many cool and historic things such as:

Statue of Apollo Found Near the Temple of Apollo

Ionic Column capital and base from the Stoa of Attalus

Statue of the Personification of the Iliad

Statue for the Personification of Odyssey

Parts of the Stage of the Odeon of Agrippa

Statue of the Goddess Aphrodite

Fragments of Reliefs

Statue of the Emperor Hadrian (he transformed Athens back to a powerful city when it lost in battle multiple times and was worshiped as a god)

Acroterion - Probably the Nereid Thetis

Overview of the Statues in the Agrippa

Corinthian capital from the Odeon of Agrippa

Temple of Hephaestus

Backside of the temple of Hephaestus

Odeon of Agrippa

View of the Agora

View of the Agora

View of the Agora with the Acropolis in the Background

Inside the Ancient Agora there was also a small museum that contained more Ancient objects used by Athenians way back when.

Terracotta Casting Mold for the Lower Half of a Bronze Statue of Apollo

Voting Machine and Actual Bronze ballets

Baby Seat

Fragments from a gilded Bronze Equestrian Statue

Athenian Coins called Drachmas

Ostracon's - were used to vote out or Ostracize corrupt leaders and Tyrants

(If you look closely to the bottom right, you can see the names of each corrupt leader that these were used on)

Bronze Spartan Shield from the Battle of Pylos

After, we met Connor and Kayla at lunch.

After our delicious meals, Mom, Gage and the Nana’s went home meanwhile Dad and Griff went off exploring some more and Connor and Kayla went off on their own as well. After Griff and Dad went to the Ancient library of Hadrian. They went home to meet up with the others.

Ancient library of Hadrian

Ancient Library of Hadrian

Shortly after they arrived back home, we all walked to the National archeological museum of Athens where we planned to meet Connor and Kayla. And surprise surprise, they went the wrong one. So we went inside as they walked their way over to the right one. It was filled with plenty of amazing old historical artifact such as

Finds from Various Graves 17th-16th Centuries BC

More Finds from Graves 17th-16th Centuries BC

Golden Rings from the 17th-16th Centuries BC

Swords and Daggers from 17th-16th Centuries BC

Mask of Agamemnon (Gold mask of death) and other finds from the 16th century BC

Gold Artifacts from 17th-16th Centuries BC

Statue of Zeus or Poseidon

Experts can't determine who, but locals believe it is Zeus because Athenians weren't a big fan of Poseidon at the time. It was found in a shipwreck off the island of Euboea (Evia). The hollow bronze statue dates back to the early Classical period, around 460BC. It is one of the few original pieces in existence from this time.

Copy of the 40 foot statue of Athena that stood atop the Acropolis

After the museum, we went home for dinner. Most of us enjoyed some delicious pasta with pesto as we sat around the table discussing the wonderful trip. The Nana’s then went to bed early after we all said our goodbyes as they had to leave the house at 3am the following morning to catch their flight back home.

Last Meal Together on the Trip

Everyone else slowly began to drift off as our last days of this wonderful Journey were coming to a close.

Thank you for tuning in

Griffin