Footsteps in History: A Day of Exploration in Ancient Agora

Hadrian’s Library, oldest library in Athens

We begin every morning with a walk around the city to explore new neighborhoods and historic landmarks. Our Airbnb is in the neighborhood of Monastiraki, which is at the center of everything in Athens, and has been occupied for over 6,000 years without interruption! Since we’ve been here for nearly a month, we’ve seen a good portion of the city that is within a reasonable walking distance, and we encounter ruins and history everywhere. I love books, bookstores, and libraries, so I have to pinch myself at our privilege to stroll past Hadrian’s Library on a near-daily basis. It was built in 132 AD, and remains the largest library in Athens. It’s part of the Roman Agora, an open space that served as an assembly point for markets, banking, politics, and social activities.

We want to find the Ancient Agora, which has even more ruins. For as much as we’ve explored, it’s eluded us, not unlike what happens to the Golden Gate Bridge when it’s obscured by the fog of San Francisco—always there but hidden from view. Today we are on a mission to finally discover these cool places we’ve only seen in photographs. The path we wander takes us parallel to the Ancient Agora, and unfortunately, we are separated by a fence. We continue on and encounter a marked area that at one time required tickets, but now the post is abandoned. We follow behind a man and his dog, dodging puddles. The road doesn’t lead where we expect it to and before long we find ourselves back to the ticket gate to the Ancient Agora. Found at last!

View of Stoa of Attalos with Acropolis in the clouds

Our dilemma is that we’ve worked up an appetite. Do we grab some food and then head back out, or do we wait until later in the week, since work also awaits us? We decide carpe diem and leverage the beautiful weather and scurry to the ticket counter. The upside of traveling during the off season is that prices are reduced. Off we go to add our footsteps alongside those incredible statues, stones, and monuments that existed more than 2,000 years ago.

Among them are the ‎⁨Temple of Hephaestus⁩, ⁨which is very well preserved from the 4th century BC, the Tritons marking the former entry of the Odeon of Agrippa along the Panathenaic Way, and statues from 200 AD that now are housed in the Stoa of Attalos.

One of our waiters mentioned that he sees the Acropolis and Parthenon from his apartment window, but he’s numb to their thrill after encountering them so often. To him they’re just a bunch of old rocks.

I get how easy it is to become complacent, so we have been running a gratitude list through our heads during our daily walks to remind us how extraordinarily beautiful this world is and how fortunate we are to experience the entirety of it as our home.