Archive for December 21st, 2011

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Athens, Greece: Day Five

December 21, 2011

Posted by Kanga.

Day Five was actually spent indoors, resting. This involved sleeping late, Facebooking & Twittering, followed by napping. After my nap, I actually spent the rest of the day working (yes, working on my vacation) by selecting 213 books to order for my students and library.

So, for this entry, I am going to pull out some pictures from a previous day that I was saving because they deserve a post of their very own.

Several of the metro train stations also serve as museums due to the fact that one is hard pressed to dig a hole here and not hit antiquity. Monastiraki is one such station with the following preserved site.

ancient ruins preserved in the train stationThrough the center flows a ancient waterway, the River Eridanos (not very big, what we call, back home, a creek). The structures here are a combination of building walls and water ducts connecting to this “river”. The natural waterway was covered over with a brick ceiling and the ducts shown here connect to it turning it into a sewer.

signage explaining the ancient site

Good quality, bilingual signage explains the history of the area and shows some of the artifacts found.

more signage showing artifacts found

stone wall and water duct

The ceiling over the waterway is shown in the lower left of the above picture.

plasti-glass walkway over the ruins

There is a plexi-glass walkway allowing one to get a very good, close view without causing any damage. Very nice.

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Philosophical Question

December 21, 2011

Posted by Kanga.

graffiti that asks "street art?"

There was nothing artistic in the immediate vicinity, just tagging, so I think the answer might be “no.”