Last week I had the oppurtunity of visitng Greece. A PhD student of mine from Africa is writing on 1 Corinthians 8-10, and was given money to explore the area of Corinth. Hence we stayed in Greece from Monday to Saturday.
Great changes.
It is about 11 years since I visited Greece, and some great changes has been implemented in Athens. Most noticeable, they have introduced the Euro; that is said to have raise the prices considerably, they have built a new Metro; that has decreased the traffic in the streets, and made it much more easy and comfortable to get around in Athens. The Metro is really nice. Then there is a new railway system; that made it harder for us to get to Elevsis, but it is much better than the former system. And finally; the new airport outside Athens: Eleutherios Venizelos. Most of this is due to the preparations made for the Olympic Games in 2004.
Marvellous new Acropolis museum.
The new Acropolis Museum has been opened. Have a look at the link above. Hence the small old museum on the Acropolis mountain was closed, and all the artifacts transferred to this new spacy museum. They have also made some arrangements around Acropolis; the Dianysous Areopagitus street has been closed for car traffic, and made into a pedestrian street, and the the tickets to Acropolis are now to be used to several other sites around Acropolis. The closing of the street was most convenient, and a constant stream of tourists seemed to pass through it.
Athens is now a much better city to visit, and there are still the marvelous archeological sites and items to see and study.
Next posting will be on our visit to the Acropolis.
Philonica et Neotestamentica