Greece - Athens: My World Tour - 2 year, 20 country trip around the world for Bruce Jones and Julia Miller

Athens – A very dirty city, only worth a few days. They are hosting the 2004 summer Olympics, but they were 1 year behind schedule and they were getting in a lot of trouble at the time, so don’t hold your breathe (well, with the pollution you should). We were here long enough to see the cool stuff and meet our friend Paul flying in from the US, who joined us for 2 weeks. We hopped on a cheap flight to Santorini for some good beach time.

Acropolis - (up on the hill) most of the buildings now gracing the acropolis were commissioned by Pericles during the golden age of Athens in the 5^th century BC.

The Parthenon epitomizes the glory of ancient Greece. Completed in 438 BC. To achieve perfect form, its lines were ingeniously curved to counteract unharmonious optical illusions. The base carves upwards slightly towards the ends, and the columns become slightly narrower towards the top with the overall effect of making them both look straight.

The Erechtheion and its much photographed Caryatids, the 6 maidens who support its southern portico.

Roman Stadium - Hosted the first Olympic games of modern times in 1896. Originally built in the 4^th century BC. The photos of the tablets are the Olympic committee president (left) and locations of the summer Olympic games.

Temple of Olympian Zeus – begun in the 6^th century BC, it took more than 700 years to complete. It was the largest temple in Greece with 104 Corinthian columns (17 meters high with a base diameter of 1.7 meters)