Today we took a tour a tour of the Olympic Park right outside Athens. Majority of the events during the 2004 games took place at the site. Before we went into the stadium we watched an intro video about the complex and what events took place there. It included many concerts, Olympics, Paralympics, Special Olympics, and a number of very famous futbol contests. Up until the financial crisis in Greece it seemed to be a very prominant stadium in Europe. Once challenging other prestigious stadiums across Europe, the Olympic Stadium simply does not live up to the hype that it once did. Covered in grafitti and only hosting a couple of events per year, it is certainly not one of their national treasures.
After a quick bite we headed to the National Archaeological Museum. We got to witness treasures from the Myncenean Period of Greece. Most of the artifacts were made up of gold and bronze because the use of iron wasn't invented at the time. My favorite artifact was the Mask of Agamemnon. Dated back 3,500 years ago makes it a peice of history within itself. We also saw a roman copy of a statue that was in the parthenon.
After all of this we went through the Monastiraki neighborhood for lunch. Best food ever. After we went through the markets and stopped by the Agora briefly. The kept the Agora fenced off and well preserved.
The Greek have taken pride of their ancient treasures long before the modern olympics. As the more developed and recent stadiums deteriorate due to the economy, the ancient ruins that have lived for thousands of years will stay alive for another thousand years.
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