Lost your marbles?

Couldn't come up with a good title for this post so I just went with an reference to the Elgin Marbles which we've heard a bit about today. Mostly in a rather unimpressed tone, and understandably, as from a Greek perspective Lord Elgin stole some of the best bits from the Parthenon. We went to the newly opened Acropolis Museum today. Its only been open for a couple of weeks now and is all new and sparkly. So new that I kept seeing the security staff reading the exhibit info and checking out all the statues alongside the tourists. I really enjoyed the museum and is well worth a visit if you're in Athens. It was even a bargain at one euro each to enter (must be an opening special). The best bit is definitely the Parthenon display of the frieze and metopes as they have constructed a display showing them as they would have been placed on the actual Parthenon. They've also filled in the gaps with plaster casts of the Elgin Marbles and the others that are in the Louvre.



Before that we visited the Temple of Olympian Zeus which is (or was) the largest temple in Greece. The columns that are still standing are gargantuan. The fluting down each column is larger than my head (and yes, thats a standard measurement :p). The sky was cloudless and made an excellent backdrop for some tourist photos :D