Athens National Archeological Museum

The National Archeological Museum in Athens is reputed to be one of the biggest and best in the world. We decided to drive into Athens and buy a pass on the tourist, hop on, hop off bus for a tour of the town and then to visit the museum.

Don returned to his secret parking area near the Acropolis and got a good spot and then we walked over to the bus stop for the Red Bus. On the way to the museum we passed by the National Gardens, the Parliament Building, and the downtown shopping area, enjoying the bus commentary along the route.

We got off at the museum stop and paid our admission and entered the museum. The collection is amazing and extensive. Rick Steves recommends doing a quick walk-thorugh and then going back for more detailed examination, but this just isn't possible for us.

In the first room we were awed by the golden mask of Agamemnon and the fabulous display cases of beautiful golden jewelry. We had to stop and examine them more closely. In addition were many display cases of more golden funeral masks, statuettes and idols, pots and bronze objects from antiquity. We couldn't bring ourselves to whiz through, we had to stop and examine the artifacts in each case. The layout of the museum displays kept moving diverting us from the main route, sending us off into side rooms that turned into labrynths full of more and more interesting items.
Eventually we got back on the route and entered room after room of marble statues and busts--Artemis, Poseidon, Athena, Persephone, Socrates, Plato, Dionysus, and many more mythological, historical and notable citizens put us in marble overload and by 3pm our brains were numb and our tummies were growling, so we decided to call our visit complete and get some lunch.

After lunch we took the bus back to our car. Great day and great tour.