Athens Travel Diary

Athens, the capitol of Greece is packed with culture and history that lines its streets.

The city’s main attraction is the Acropolis. Built high above the city of Athens, Acropolis literally means upper city. In the center of it all is the Pantheon, dedicated to Athena. It’s now a sand-colored row of columns but in the past, it was hard marble and would have glowed in the Greek sun.

It’s been discussed whether the name of the city came from the goddess of wisdom Athena or she took her name from the city. One of the stories behind the name of the city is that Poseidon, the god of the sea and Athena had a competition upon who the city would be named after. They each would give gifts and the king of the city Cecrops would judge which gift was the best.

According to the story Poseidon struck the ground with his trident and a salt water well sprang in the city while Athena offered the first domesticated olive tree. The king accepted it and just like that, the city got it’s name and Athena became their patron.

Athens, Greece is such a richly historical place from it’s markets, sites, sounds and of course… desserts!

That’s all for today. Stayed tuned for more travel posts and blogs every week. Goodbye! Or as they say Antio sas!