Time to move Elgin's marbles?

We had a couple of hours after breakfast before we needed to head to the airport so we decided to stay in the cool and visit the new Acropolis Museum next door to our hotel.  This modern building had been specially designed to showcase the finds from around the site and tell its history.

Beneath the museum is an area still under investigation.  

Inside, you "ascend" the Acropolis through fabulous displays of pottery and household goods from mainly 5-7th century BC.  The craftsmanship was outstanding, especially the decorated pottery.

On the next floor are many free standing statues which adorned houses, public buildings and larger city spaces.  You also follow the story of the various stages of building and destruction on the Acropolis.  It is a sad tale of something so magnificent which was burnt down, had a Turkish munitions stash explode in it, then finally getting knocked about by various Victorian archaeologists.

The top floor was just amazing.  In an imaginative design, they recreated the key components of the Parthenon Temple using stainless steel "pillars"

 and placed in relative situ carvings and statues - some in fairly good repair, others hardly recognisable

The pediments have the remaining fragments of the famous marbles with spaces left in the hopes the originals might be returned from the British Museum.  Personally, I think the time is right to return them to a home where they will be well cared for, treasured and reunited with the rest of this incredible building.  I'll be looking for a petition to sign.  

If anyone ever comes to Athens, a visit to this extraordinary museum should precede any climb up the Acropolis itself as it made so much more sense afterwards.

And so our trip ends with me typing this in Paddington Station after another very memorable holiday.  Just one more train to go!  

A big fish on the beach

Our final day on the islands so we decided to go out for a good Sunday lunch before catching the ferry back to Piraeus.

We took a taxi up to the second town on Milos - Pollonia which is another picturesque harbour but being set on a narrow peninsula, there is also open sea just beyond.  We thoroughly enjoyed a stroll round, including visiting the chapel on the hilltop.  

and then walked back into town and selected a beachside fish restaurant for lunch.  

We were a little early as they hadn't actually sorted out the morning's catch but after the usual visit to the kitchen to admire the offerings, we selected a large sea bream to be cooked for us.

Our starter was 3 different Milos cheeses with a spicy tomato paste, then the monster arrived and was expertly filleted by the restaurant owner. We were encouraged not to miss the "cheeks".  

It was really delicious.  Lemon mousse and a coffee gave us the ideal end to the meal.

Our charming host, Mr Ionnis happened to be driving by as we were finishing and offered us a lift back to Adamas which we happily accepted.

We sat on the balcony with our books for an hour then strolled down to the ferry where our boat appeared right on time.

The trip back to the mainland stopped at both Sifnos and Serifos on the way so we had a chance to say farewell to them both and enjoyed more of the coastal scenery.

The ferry came into Piraeus at about 9.00 so we hopped on the underground and were checked back into our hotel before 10.00.  We decided to treat ourselves to a drink and snack on the rooftop terrace so got a final look at the illuminated Acropolis before bedtime.