The one definite to-do on our Athens list was the Acropilis (which literally means high place) and its Parthenon. Personally, I get a lot of the ancient sites mixed up. What I do know is that they’re, well, ancient and crumbling.

If you find yourself in Athens and on your way to the Parthenon, definitely make time for the Acropolis Museum. Just down the hill, the museum has much of what you would expect in the way of old bowls and cookware, tiny ancient sculptures, yada yada yada, but take care to look below your feet as well. As excavations are de rigeur, the museum incorporates a glass-floor gallery of  ancient homes and the artifacts used by their past inhabitants that sit below the now-museum.

Maybe the most interesting part of the museum, the 3rd floor Parthenon Gallery is composed glass walls looking out onto Athens – ancient and beyond – and displays the frieze of the original Parthenon. Pieced together with both original blocks and replications of those now housed in the Louvre and British Museum, they form the real-life dimensions of the Parthenon and tell the story of its people and culture.

It’s a climb to the top of the hill – there’s no way around it, but the city view and company of ancient stories and traditions should certainly be enough to spur climbers on. And once you’re there…all you can really do is stand and be amazed…