On the Acropolis in the heat: was it worth it? Oh yeah!

Sitting on the steps right in front of the Propylaea, two young Dutch women, Rosa and Isabelle, cool off with what little they have: a fan and a bottle of ice-cold water. Photo kathimerini.gr

“I don’t think I’ll go upstairs, the line is too long. I think it’s enough for them what they see here”says Samantha, pointing to the Propylaea as she waits in the shade while her two young children finish their ice cream.

The queue at the beginning of the day is not that long, but the temperature discourages many who have reached this place with good intentions to finally climb the Acropolis.

The ticket vending machine is not working and there are three employees at the box office who serve the crowds of people as quickly as possible. “There were also online tickets,” say sisters Jenny and Pam, retired English women who have just finished sightseeing. “But we’re too old to book tickets online.”

Sisters Jenny and Pam (right) hold a five-euro glass of Granita popsicles. “In a tourist location, you can expect prices to be a little high,” they tell K.

Jenny hoped she’d managed to find a more convenient tourist information point so she wouldn’t have to use her British courtesy to cut through the queue to ask the ticket office a simple question, as she did. But other than that, she doesn’t complain about anything, not even the heat. “It’s good that we came today, because tomorrow will be even hotter”her sister agrees. “It was worth it?” we ask. “Oh yeah!” they answer in unison.

Wine is much better
Jenny and Pam visited the Acropolis today for the first time, but their relationship with Greece goes way back. Jenny, who first came to know the country in the 1980s, has since traveled to some 30 Greek islands and witnessed the changes that tourism has brought to the country. They all come down to rising prices for accommodation and transportation, but she adds that everything has become more expensive in her country lately. “However, I believe that wine today is much better than then!”, she says.

Those who are not deterred by high temperatures can also reach the Parthenon.

However, a key component of the Greek experience for both sisters is courtesy. “They are all very friendly. They will always come to the rescue”, – says Pam, recalling one of the moments of her trip to Rhodes, when two Greeks, seeing her on the stairs, offered to help her down the many stairs.

“They insisted so much that I agreed, although I myself had just climbed the stairs with difficulty. I didn’t want to go down them! And now I ended up where I started from.”she recalls, laughing brusquely. Jenny also reminisces about her adventures in Greece, noting how different the security standards are here.

“There are a lot of bans in England for security reasons, but here most things are allowed,” she says. “I remember 10 years ago we took a boat trip from Leros to Lipsi on a fishing boat that was carrying – probably without permission – tourists from Leros. There were no lights, it was night, and I was worried, but I heard the captain sing and thought: “If he sings, then nothing threatens us,” – Jenny says with gratitude for the paradoxical place, which she now calls her “second home”.

Danis (left) and his wife and Justin and Sarah chat in line at the Acropolis box office and agree that the three best things in Greece are “the people, the food and the sights. In that order!”

“Do like the Romans”
In line for tickets to the Acropolis, Justin from Canada strikes up a conversation with Danis, a native of Nepal, without a shadow of discontent. You know what they say: “When you’re in Rome, do like the Romans“, he says, stating that he has completely come to terms with the high temperature in the country he loves and has already visited.

In search of shade on the scaffolding of restoration sites.

Of course, the local “Romans” were alarmed by the constant meteorological reports of the impending heat, and few Greeks are near the archaeological site on such a day. Justin and Sarah were on their honeymoon in Greece and said they paid a little extra to have an unobstructed view of the Acropolis from their bedroom in a short-term rental. “I’ve been using the weather app the most lately, but if you decide to come here in July, you know what you’ll get,” says Justin, always equally enthusiastic about the upcoming 35-degree rock climb.

Sitting on the steps in front of the portico, two young Dutch women, Rosa and Isabelle, cool themselves off with the few resources they have: a fan and a flask of ice water. “We said yesterday that we would definitely look like the tourists you see in the papers, and now look what a coincidence!” they tell us when we ask them to capture their little respite in the shadow of the Acropolis.

“Like the ancients”
In front of the entrance to the house, other tourists stand to take a breath. The handicapped woman slowly climbs up, looking down at her feet, not knowing that there is an elevator. “I don’t prefer the elevator,” says another older woman, who also has mobility issues. “Because I want to go where the ancients came from.”

“I want to go where the ancients went,” says an elderly woman with limited mobility.

It’s the busiest time of the day, but visitors to the Acropolis don’t seem to mind. The cicadas have long since started their monotonous melody. On the way down we meet the same itinerant accordionist we had seen a few hours earlier on the climb. “What, didn’t you shut up?” we ask him. “In the heat, you need patience. And in general in life,” he replies, basking in the unbearably hot attic light.

TO

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