It was an amazing experience to visit the Acropolis. The day after I arrived in Greece, I went there in mid-afternoon and ended up having the place virtually to myself. I was able to wander in peace, standing for minutes at a time in silence gazing at the details and scale of the architecture and being quite unable to comprehend that these columns with their detailed fluting had been created thousands of years ago and not only were the columns still standing, but their details of craftsmanship were still evident.
Towards the end I walked down below the Erechtheion and for a full five minutes stood alone, my attention captured by the Caryatids (korai) holding up the roof of the “Porch of the Maidens”. I stood in silence, the only sounds the breeze and the cacophony of cicadas floating up from the forested slopes of Mount Philopappos. The sunlight in Athens is clear and bright, and as I gazed at the maidens, they became sharper and sharper in my vision, each detail emerging with ever greater clarity in the bright white light.
