January 7th: Temple of Olympian Zeus

I won't go into the long drawn out history of the Temple of Olympian Zeus.  Instead, I will just speak about the structure that still stands today.  There are fifteen Corinthian style columns that still stand today and a sixteenth column lies on the ground where it apparently fell during a storm in the 19th century.  No remains have bee found of the great statue that the structure once housed.  The structure is held up by a series of steps which surround it from all sides.  I found the capitals to be the most beautiful we have seen.  It's a very pretty site to be situated in the middle of downtown Athens; however, its delight is taken away by its nearness to the greatest site of all- the Acropolis.  However, it was fun to see ancient Greece to back up so closely to the modern world.  I even took a picture of a classy hotel across the way made out of glass and featuring a gorgeous rooftop garden.  Doesn't get any better than that!