Sunday in Athens

Panathenaic Stadium hosted the first Modern Olympics

We started the day walking to the Panathenaic Stadium which hosted the first Modern Olympics in 1896. We walked past a number of historic sites on our way there and then through the National Garden on our way back into the central city "Plaka" area and then on to Monastiraki Square.

Arch of Hadrian (aka Hadrian's Gate)

Temple of  Zeus

The Zappeion in the National Gardens

The Panathenaic Stadium

The Panathenaic stadium was built on an older stadium by 144 AD and had a capacity of 50,000 seats.  It hosted the opening and closing ceremonies of the first modern Olympics in 1896 and was the venue for 4 of the 9 contested sports. It was again used as an Olympic venue in 2004 when it was the finishing point for the marathon and hosted the archery. It's also the last venue in Greece where the Olympic flame handover ceremony to the next host nation takes place.

Little Metropolis Church

Athens Cathedral

Statue of Constantine XI

Hadrian's Library

Athens Flea Market

Stoa of Attalos

Another nice lunch and then dinner tonight. One more day in Athens before we meet Cherry at the airport and fly to Santorini late Monday night.