Hadrian

On our first day of 2025, we slept in. It was glorious!  We've been up early every single day until today so, yay!  Sleep!

We did end up going out and about for a bit. (FOMO)

Hadrian's arch was built 130 A.D. to welcome Roman emperor Hadrian to the city. There are inscriptions carved on each side. 

On one side, it says "This is Athens, the ancient city of Theseus".

On the other side of the inscription states "This is the city of Hadrian, and not of Theseus".

Maybe it was to differentiate between the city of Hadrian on one side and the city of Theseus on the other side? Who really knows?  I think the carver was told one thing, but disagreed and put the other carving there to set things straight. 😄

It doesn't look like much but Hadrian was the man and greatly improved the city of Athens. 

We tripped across another ruin that was Hadrian's library. 

Entrance:

The back side at dusk, and I think the rest is a forum. The library couldn't be that big. Right?

We stopped for supper at a site built on stairs. Clara is getting to like the Greek coffee.

It's a bit chilly to be sitting outside in the evenings so the restaurants provide blankets. 

There are souvenir shops and that sell weird things. 

I am so looking forward to sleeping in again tomorrow.

- Ruth