We did, however, get quite a workout. Not only does the Acropolis require quite a hike (and a LOT of stairs), but we bookended our trip with a Greek dance lesson in the morning and a hike through a historical district (which looks like the villas on the islands and ended with the ancient Agora) in the evening. We also walked for a couple hours through Plaka and then the Acropolis museum (which is built so that the art—especially at the top floor) is laid out where it would have originally been placed.
Interesting facts that I learned:
Each side of the Parthenon is dedicated to a separate group whom the Greeks fought. The short sides depict fights against giants in one side and Amazons on the other. The longer sides depict fights against men on horses on one side and literal horsemen (centaurs) on the other.
The Parthenon’s friezes included exquisite carving on the back side of the statues even though no human was meant to see them (because the gods still could).
The “door” I spotted underneath the Parthenon actually led to the Sanctuary of Dionysus at the top of a massive amphitheater.
The statue of Athena (long since completely destroyed) included a human sized statue of Nike (the goddess of victory) in one of her hands.
Once again, we had amazing food. It turns out that the gyro is named after the process used to cook the meat. In fact, our lunch gyro had the pita bread off to the side and was mostly a pile of that specially roasted pork (lamb is not part of a traditional Greek gyro). We also found another gelato place.
Tomorrow we have our final excursion to the Oracle at Delphi.