In the Park

The University of Athens and the National Library

After getting a glimpse of these fabulous buildings from our tour bus, we decided to take a stroll uptown a bit to check out the University of Athens. On one website I was looking at, it stated that this is surely what ancient Greece looked like. Impressive!

Beautiful Apollo

The Goddess Athena

the smell of the orange blossoms is heavenly

this can be none other than Socrates

and his pupil Aristotle

incredible pediment statuary - with Zeus and Athena

this pediment features Athena in the middle

Photos just can't express how grand this architecture truly is.

And, then we went inside...

what a room!

We wandered to the next building, which is another impressive Greco-Roman building. However, there was a protest/hunger-strike gathering going on there, so I snapped this young man below, and we kept going onto the National Library.

that is the Library with the sweeping staircase

no wonder the US adopted this style of architecture for its government buildings -
they are very authoritative and impressive

We couldn't take photos inside the library, nor could we browse through the titles. This library boasts books and codex that go back to the 9th century, so you can imagine that they don't want people just poking through them! What we could see, though, was impressive enough - very old books and bindings from floor to ceiling. The really old books were behind the shelves we could see. In order to look at a book, one has to request the book and be approved. Then, you come at your appointed time to sit with the book - no lending here. Very impressive.

The First Cemetery of Athens - WOW!

You have never visited a cemetery like this one. It is truly amazing.

The First Cemetery of Athens (Greek: Πρώτο Νεκροταφείο Αθηνών) is the official cemetery of the City of Athens and the first to be built. It opened in 1837 and soon became a luxurious cemetery for famous Greek people and foreigners. The cemetery is located behind the Temple of Olympian Zeus and the Panathinaiko Stadium in central Athens. It is large green space including pines and cypresses.

In the cemetery there are three churches. The main is the Church of Saint Theodores and there is also a smaller of Saint Lazarus. The third church is a Catholic church. The cemetery includes the tomb of Heinrich Schliemann, designed by Ernst Ziller, the tomb of Ioannis Pesmazoglou, that of Georgios Averoff, and one named I Koimomeni (the Sleeping Girl), by the sculptor Yannoulis Chalepas, from the island Tinos. There are also separate burial places for Protestants and Jews. The cemetery is under the Municipality of Athens and it is declared as an historical monument. ~wiki

my favorite statue - isn't it great?

We wandered for a long time, amazed at the memorials and crypts. We wondered about the cost, and the families attached. We never did find the Jewish section, but did come across the Protestant section. When we saw the map, we realized it was huge! (Fotki album for all the pics.)

the front plaza

Alexander the Great

Along Thessaloniki's waterfront is one of the most impressive statues I have seen this semester - a fabulous bronze of Alexander the Great on his horse heading into battle. I was really impressed with how the artist conveyed the emotion and action in this piece - photos just don't do it justice. (Perhaps sunshine would have helped!) 

Information about Alex the Great cited from History of Macedonia.

"Alexander III the Great, the King of Macedonia and conqueror of the Persian Empire is considered one of the greatest military geniuses of all times. He was inspiration for later conquerors such as Hannibal the Carthaginian, the Romans Pompey and Caesar, and Napoleon. Alexander was born in 356 BC in Pella, the ancient capital of Macedonia. He was son of Philip II, King of Macedonia, and Olympias, the princess of neighboring Epirus.

Alexander spent his childhood watching his father transforming Macedonia into a great military power, winning victory after victory on the battlefields throughout the Balkans. At age 12 he showed his equestrian skill to his father and all who were watching when he tamed Bucephalus, an unruly stallion horse, unable to be ridden and devouring the flesh of all who had tried. Plutarch writes: "Philip and his friends looked on at first in silence and anxiety for the result, till seeing him turn at the end of his career, and come back rejoicing and triumphing for what he had performed, they all burst out into acclamations of applause; and his father shedding tears, it is said, for joy, kissed him as he came down from his horse, and in his transport said, 'O my son, look thee out a kingdom equal to and worthy of thyself, for Macedonia is too little for thee' " (Alex. 6.8.).

Alexander would ride Bucephalus in all of his major battles, together till the very end. When he was 13, Philip hired the Greek philosopher Aristotle to be Alexander’s personal tutor. During the next three years Aristotle gave Alexander a training in rhetoric and literature and stimulated his interest in science, medicine, and philosophy, all of which became of importance in Alexander’s later life.

Hoplites

Barbarians (Persians)

In 340, when Philip assembled a large Macedonian army and invaded Thrace, he left his 16 years old son with the power to rule Macedonia in his absence as regent, which shows that even at such young age Alexander was recognized as quite capable. But as the Macedonian army advanced deep into Thrace, the Thracian tribe of Maedi bordering north-eastern Macedonia rebelled and posed a danger to the country. Alexander assembled an army, led it against the rebels, and with swift action defeated the Maedi, captured their stronghold, and renamed it after himself to Alexandropolis. Two years later in 338 BC, Philip gave his son a commanding post among the senior generals as the Macedonian army invaded Greece. At the Battle of Chaeronea the Greeks were defeated and Alexander displayed his bravery by destroying the elite Greek force, the Theban Secret Band. Some ancient historians recorded that the Macedonians won the battle thanks to his bravery." (see citation source above)

Alexandros O Megas (the large or great)

Our prof was quite adamant that truly Alexander wasn't the one who was great, but it was his father, Philip. He was sure that Philip would have stopped at a more reasonable expansion, and let his troops return home to their families. I would tend to agree.

Amazing display and tribute.

Walk-About Thessaloniki

yeah...now I have your attention!
This town has more sweet shops than...well, I don't know where!
Actually, all the places we have been are well-populated with sweet shops and bakeries...
it is a wonder that obesity is not an issue in this country!

Happy Birthday, Kyle! Aristotle wished him a happy day, as well
(he's the statue in the background)
It is good to be 20.

this was a cool square that fronted onto the sea - beautiful! 

yes, I would like a Paloma, parakalw

we are homesick - our favorite restaurant is the TGI Fridays where we enjoyed real hamburgers and food with some kick
(the wait staff was surprised that I ordered the 'Brave Texan" burger with jalapenos...haha! Yummy!)
Look closely at this place mat - headers in English, text in Greek! 

*shaking head*
I have no words for this.
All I can hear is Alex Michael laughing...

I think my coffee addiction has doubled...

the famous and iconic White Tower of Thessaloniki

Thessaloniki (Greek: Θεσσαλονίκη [θesaloˈnici], also known as Thessalonica or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of Greek Macedonia, the administrative region of Central Macedonia and the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace. Its honorific title is Συμπρωτεύουσα (Symprotévousa), literally "co-capital", and stands as a reference to its historical status as the Συμβασιλεύουσα (Symvasilévousa) or "co-reigning" city of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, alongside Constantinople.

The Thessaloniki Metropolitan Area extends over an area of 1,455.62 km2 (562.02 sq mi) and its population in 2011 reached a total of 1,104,460 inhabitants. Thessaloniki is Greece's second major economic, industrial, commercial and political center, and a major transportation hub for the rest of southeastern Europe; its commercial port is also of great importance for Greece and the southeastern European hinterland. The city is renowned for its festivals, events and vibrant cultural life in general, and is considered to be Greece's cultural capital. Events such as the Thessaloniki International Trade Fair and the Thessaloniki International Film Festival are held annually, while the city also hosts the largest bi-annual meeting of the Greek diaspora.

Founded in 315 BC by Cassander of Macedon, Thessaloniki's history spans some 2,300 years. An important metropolis by the Roman period, Thessaloniki was the second largest and wealthiest city of the Byzantine Empire. Thessaloniki is home to numerous notable Byzantine monuments, including the Paleochristian and Byzantine monuments of Thessaloniki, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as well as several Roman, Ottoman and Sephardic Jewish structures. The city's main university, Aristotle University, is the largest in Greece and the Balkans.

Thessaloniki is a popular tourist destination in Greece. For 2013 National Geographic Magazine included Thessaloniki in its top tourist destinations worldwide, while in 2014 Financial Times FDI magazine (Foreign Direct Investments) declared Thessaloniki as the best mid-sized European city of the future for human capital and lifestyle. ~wiki

Ever heard of these guys?

Aeschylus (/ˈiːskɨləs/ or /ˈɛskɨləs/; Greek: Αἰσχύλος, Aiskhulos; c. 525/524 – c. 456/455 BC) was the first of the three ancient Greek tragedians whose plays can still be read or performed, the others being Sophocles and Euripides. He is often described as the father of tragedy: Our knowledge of the genre begins with his work and our understanding of earlier tragedies is largely based on inferences from his surviving plays. According to Aristotle, he expanded the number of characters in plays to allow conflict among them whereas characters previously had interacted only with the chorus. Only seven of his estimated seventy to ninety plays have survived, and there is a longstanding debate about his authorship of one of these plays, Prometheus Bound. Fragments of some other plays have survived in quotes and more continue to be discovered on Egyptian papyrus, often giving us surprising insights into his work. He was probably the first dramatist to present plays as a trilogy; his Oresteia is the only ancient example of the form to have survived. ~wiki

Sophocles (/ˈsɒfəkliːz/; Greek: Σοφοκλῆς, Sophoklēs, Ancient Greek: [sopʰoklɛ̂ːs]; c. 497/6 – winter 406/5 BC) is one of three ancient Greek tragedians whose plays have survived. His first plays were written later than those of Aeschylus, and earlier than or contemporary with those of Euripides. According to the Suda, a 10th-century encyclopedia, Sophocles wrote 123 plays during the course of his life, but only seven have survived in a complete form: Ajax, Antigone, The Women of Trachis, Oedipus the King, Electra, Philoctetes and Oedipus at Colonus. For almost 50 years, Sophocles was the most-fêted playwright in the dramatic competitions of the city-state of Athens that took place during the religious festivals of the Lenaea and the Dionysia. He competed in around 30 competitions, won perhaps 24, and was never judged lower than second place. Aeschylus won 14 competitions, and was sometimes defeated by Sophocles, while Euripides won only 4 competitions. The most famous tragedies of Sophocles feature Oedipus and also Antigone: they are generally known as the Theban plays, although each play was actually a part of a different tetralogy, the other members of which are now lost. Sophocles influenced the development of the drama, most importantly by adding a third actor, thereby reducing the importance of the chorus in the presentation of the plot. He also developed his characters to a greater extent than earlier playwrights such as Aeschylus. ~wiki

Euripides (/jʊəˈrɪpɨdiːz/ or /jɔːˈrɪpɨdiːz/; Greek: Εὐριπίδης) (c. 480 – 406 BC) was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, the other two being Aeschylus and Sophocles. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him but according to the Suda it was ninety-two at most. Of these, eighteen or nineteen have survived more or less complete (there has been debate about his authorship of Rhesus, largely on stylistic grounds) and there are also fragments, some substantial, of most of the other plays. More of his plays have survived intact than those of Aeschylus and Sophocles together, partly due to mere chance and partly because his popularity grew as theirs declined—he became, in the Hellenistic Age, a cornerstone of ancient literary education, along with Homer, Demosthenes and Menander. Euripides is identified with theatrical innovations that have profoundly influenced drama down to modern times, especially in the representation of traditional, mythical heroes as ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.

This new approach led him to pioneer developments that later writers adapted to comedy, some of which are characteristic of romance. Yet he also became "the most tragic of poets", focusing on the inner lives and motives of his characters in a way previously unknown. He was "the creator of...that cage which is the theatre of Shakespeare's Othello, Racine's Phèdre, of Ibsen and Strindberg," in which "...imprisoned men and women destroy each other by the intensity of their loves and hates", and yet he was also the literary ancestor of comic dramatists as diverse as Menander and George Bernard Shaw. He was also unique among the writers of ancient Athens for the sympathy he demonstrated towards all victims of society, including women. ~wiki