Athens Part 2 - a fascinating museum

Apart from seeing the Acropolis, we were privileged to see a museum that had the most stunning collection of works of art, jewellery, costumes, ceramics, glass, and so forth, that exhibited Greek customs, traditions, beliefs and achievements over many eras. This amazing collection had been found and purchased by a leading citizen and his wife, who travelled all over the world to find these treasures, then donated them and their mansion to the Greek people.  

We learned so much about the story behind many of these items from our guide, it was really fascinating. But in the end I reached information overload, and now I am sorry to say I would have to look this all up on the internet and other resources to get my facts right. I realise now how interesting it would be to have studied art history and ancient history. So I do apologise, but I can only show you a sample of what I saw. 

I took countless photos, but when I looked through them to select some for this post, I discovered that the glass used in all the showcases reflected me like a mirror. I am sure you do not want to see my face concentrating on taking a photo beaming out of an image of ancient ceramics! What a shame that happened. Museums really need to use that museum quality glass that is crystal clear and does not reflect anything in the room. But it is expensive. 

I hope you enjoy the photos that I did choose, though. It is just a smorgasbord of images from different rooms. But it was interesting to note that many items from the collection are currently on exhibition at the Hellenic Museum in Melbourne, Australia. Melbourne has the largest Greek population outside Greece. It has many fine Greek restaurants too. 

That trip to Athens marked the end of my Mediterranean cruise. I disembarked in Naples before the cruise ended, so I could catch the trains to Amsterdam for this river cruise. I already have told you the tale of those memorable train trips, so my next post will be about Amsterdam. 

By the way, I have now found out that the reason I can receive but not send emails is because there is a problem with Apple when Australians go to Europe. Something automatically happens to its settings. I will try to find an Apple shop when I can, though I doubt that is possible whilst I am on the river boat excursions. As it is, I was flossing my teeth this morning and out popped one of my caps from a back molar. It was only installed a few months ago. Luckily I caught it before it disappeared down the plug hole. Our tour director is kindly trying to find me a dentist by tomorrow. What with my problems with Apple, I did not need that too!  But I am glad it happened in Germany and not in some other countries I have visited.