Impressions Of Athens Poem by Deanna Samuels

Visiting Greece recently, opened up many interesting surprises.
Athens, the capital, often called ‘the birthplace of democracy'
exceeds 4.5 million residents and spreads over many hills and valleys,
is congested with cars and motor cycles by the tens of thousands.

Each street is lined with a never-ending row of those two wheeled engines
which, when being used, zip in and around stationery jammed traffic,
the onlooker wondering how the rider comes out alive
with such dare devil steering and swerving on each side!

At the very heart of Athens is the magnificent Neoclassical Greek Parliament House
where the elected country's legislative body makes the laws for the many,
while outside in the large paved courtyard of Syntagma Square,
traditionally dressed soldiers change guards at each and every hour of day.

Streets and alleyways, covered with graffiti, are lined with shops and stores
with either exquisitely created apparel or down to earth cheap foreign imports.
There are coffee shops and restaurants offering every type of culinary delight
intermixed with everyday businesses, commerce and trades.

Houses generally appeared to be small complexes with wrap around balconies,
generally aging with faded white paintwork and unkempt surrounds,
all tiered and spread out up and down amongst the small hills and valleys
which eased away from the central square of the high-class central town.

Scattered within the city, there are numerous statues and monuments of antiquity
depicting the history and folklore of ancient Greece,
history of the long-gone heroes and Grecian emperors
of the myths, wars and splendors of those times.

The most famous of such outstanding edifices, built over two millennia ago,
The Parthenon, built atop Acropolis Hill, amazing structures of temples and palaces
which have been allowed to deteriorate and just left in ruins over the past centuries
until significant restoration began in 1975 which continues to this day.

Housing the many thousands of sculptures and artifacts that had originally
adorned the Parthenon and the surrounding temples and palaces,
a magnificent modern museum, The Acropolis Museum, has been built, opened in 2009,
a really worthwhile visit, as brings together the whole history of Acropolis Hill.


Written while visiting Athens - 24th November 2025