Athens, Greece II

I stayed an extra day in Athens for sightseeing. I was looking forward to this Saturday for the entire week, and somehow, it turns out to be a rainy day… all day long. According to my tour guide, people were waiting for this rain for the past months, and they were really happy with this rain. But, why does it have to be on this day! We had shiny sunny days during the week! Oh well, I joined the city tour anyways though as planned.

This picture is the original Olympic stadium built in the 6th century B.C.! I didn’t think about the human’s existence that long ago. Even if there were human beings, I imagine them to chase after animals for hunting. But it seems people were playing sports already back then. I guess I just never thought about it.

This stadium was used for the first Olympic game in 1896. It was also used for the goal of marathon for the last Olympic in 2004.

This stadium is in U-shape. You can see in this picture on the left. Before, athletes didn’t jog around in the stadium but rather going back and forth on a straight line. So the U-shape was fine for that.

Temple of Zeus. It was not as large as I thought. It is unbelievable to see this precious thing in a park that looks like any other parks in a city. There is a fence around the temple, but there is no guardsman around. Street dogs are everywhere, too. The reason why some of the poles are not standing here anymore is because this temple was not admired that much, and when the marble is needed for building a new house, people took it from here for recycling. Also, anthropologists were talking some pieces home for souvenirs. It is hard to believe nowadays.