"They Paved Paradise, and Put Up A Parking Lot"

The Acropolis. This is the Grand Canyon, Times Square, and Vegas Strip all rolled into one for Greece. This is the place that every postcard depicts and every man, woman and child that can point to Greece on a map dreams of going to. It is a massive structure that rises out of the Earth like a titan from the center of Athens. It is a beautiful construct that is slowly being consumed by the insatiable appetite of decay and time. It has a sad yet storied history. The priceless artifacts that once lined the interior of the palace are in museums or lost to the archives of history. The structure itself has also been picked clean; what the Turks didn't blow up back the in the 1600s, the British looted away in the 20th century. Yet this city fortress has withstood all of that. It has seen countless battles and thousands of men have had their blood strewn across the rough, tan rocks of the walls. It was once a place of great importance and dignity and now, it is nothing more than a rest stop for tourists on their way to the prime shopping of the Plaka.

The Acropolis. As viewed from the Aeropagus.

The Plaka is the central neighborhood of Greece and the Acropolis is the headliner of the entire region, it makes sense that it would attract tourists from all over, it is the national landmark of all Greece. The compairisons I made to the Grand Canyon and other landmarks wasn't just to compare cultural importance, it was also to help you visualize the sheer number of tourists that places like these draw in. This isn't the first time I've ever encountered the over saturation of tourists at a beacon of tourism for the entire nation, the Great Wall was very similar. It wasn't until we had reached the end away from the multitude of tourists that you finally got to appreciate the beauty of the structure. You never get that chance at the Acropolis. The place was wall to wall tourists on what seemed to be a relatively slow day, everybody wants to get in front of the mammoth sized pillars and cheese in front of them like they're Jack Nicholson to prove that they were there. It is always a shame to see something so trampled by incessant tourism, the rocks of the Acropolis were smoothed and trampled down not by weather but by the black socks and sandals combination of tourists. Of course, it is a double edged sword, the tourist industry fuels the people of this great city and region so they are just capitalizing on the smartest business strategy they can. In Greece's current economic state, I can hardly blame them. It is almost cruel though, the exploitation of this historic masterpiece. There is nothing that can or necessarily should be done about it, but it always saddens me to see such art and beauty subjected to the whims of the modern age. So it goes though.

The columns of the Acropolis as we were able to catch a break in the neverending sea of tourists.

After spending a couple of hours wandering around the Acropolis complex and getting lost in the memories of a faded glory and the staunch odor of unwashed tourists, we journeyed into the Plaka to experience Greek's cultural center first hand. As always, the heat was brutal and really affected our stomachs as well as our minds. The Kaplans, noticing that their herd of students was rapidly dying off from exhaustion, wisely stopped to consider some alternative options. One of those options was the greatest Greek dining experience and possibly most glorious face stuffing moment that I have ever experienced in my life. The place we went to was a favorite dining spot of the Kaplans and for good reason. Food was offered up in family dining style and based on the meal deal you chose, you could choose up to 16 of 18 dishes that were offered. I usually get worried at family style dishes that I won't get enough of my favorite foods, but this fear was unwarranted at this installation. Everything that we ordered was heavenly. Greek salad, mousaka, pork, calamari, meatballs, a whole host of dipping cheeses and sauces for our bread, greens, fried cheese, french fries, dolmad, sausages and a partridge in a pear tree. We were so unbelievably stuffed that by the time dessert rolled around, we wanted no part of it. Thanks to the Kaplan's incredible generosity, the entire adventure and decadent meal was free. Not only did they rescue us from being "Tan Mommed" by the Sun, they went ahead and paid for a bunch of snot nosed college student's meal. Can you think of a nicer family? Being completely bloated in the Greek heat was the perfect brew for a nap, but we still had some trekking to do in the Plaka.

Good eats.

The Plaka is a really interesting area to wander around in. It is probably the most modern part of Athens with high rise apartments and offices lining every city block, but history is not so easily snuffed out by the encroachments of modern technology. Byzantine church's still dot the city, sunken into the modern landscape by the rising roads and natural erosion. Athens is a city on top of a city on top of a city. The bottom layer of Athens is the ancient city that you read about and though most thought it could never be recovered, history has a way of clawing its way back into relevancy from oblivion. The metro station that is central to the Plaka was built in preparation for the 2004 Olympic Games. While hastily trying to assemble this intricate series of track and rail, they stumbled across an amazing discovery. Smack in the middle of this very contemporary metro station is an ancient ruin of the old city, almost 30 feet under the surface of the street. To see such a blend of modern and ancient intertwined together so closely was truly astounding and for the first time since my arrival in Greece, I truly got the sense of how far we have come as a people. The stone that used to be so integral to our survival has been buried beneath a jungle of concrete and steel. The Plaka metro station is a testament to how closely our past is connected to our future. You have to appreciate the little things, and this was one little thing that will stand out to me for the rest of my life.