Now, I’d like to talk about the attractions in Greece.
There are 5 famous attractions in Greece, The Acropolis of Athens, Epidaurus, Delphi, Olympia, and Mycenae.
This is the imaginative picture of Acropolis of Athens in the past.
Now, many buildings in Acropolis of Athens are collapsed, but we can see the Parthenon clearly.
Epidaurus actually was a small city in ancient Greece. This is the Epidaurus theater.
The third famous attraction is Delphi. In fact, Delphi is both an archaeological site and a modern town in Greece. There are many famous historical heritages. Let me give some example here.
Treasury had a large number of votive statues, and numerous treasuries in the past, but thay have been lost now. These were built by the various Greek city states to commemorate victories and to thank the oracle for her advice, which was thought to have contributed to those victories. The Tholos at the sanctuary of Athena Pronaia is a circular building that was constructed between 380 and 360 BC.
The ancient theatre originally built in the 4th century BC .It was built further up the hill from the Temple of Apollo giving spectators a view of the entire sanctuary and the valley below. On the right hand sign, this is the historical heritage of the Temple of Apollo, which is a reconstructed temple after a fire and an earthquake.
Olympia is known for having been the site of the Olympic Games in classical times. The games were held every Olympiad (i.e. every four years), the Olympic Games dating back possibly further than 776 BC. In 394 AD ( after exactly 1170 years ) emperor Theodosius I abolished them.
The significant historical heritages are Philippeion and the temple of Zeus.
Mycenae is also an archaeological site in Greece. It was one of the major centres of Greek culture in the second millennium BC.
This is Lion Gate. In the photo on the left, there are to lionesses flank the central column, but the meaning is much debated.
This tomb is another attraction in Mycenae.
Obviously, the Greek attractions can attract more tourists to visit Greece, generate more revenue of tourism, and more job opportunities (including hotel and tourism industry)
The ancient theatre of Epidaurus is nowadays used for staging ancient Greek drama shows.
Now, I’d like to introduce ancient Greek architecture.
These were the common materials and their purposes of Greek architecture. The most significant materials were unbaked brick, limestone and marble because many places in Greece were abundant in unbaked brick and limestone. However, marble was very expensive because it was abundant on few islands and it is very difficult for ancient Greek to deliver marble to mainland Greece.
This is one of the examples of using limestone and marble in Greek architecture. It shows that limestone and marble were used for columns, walls, and upper portions of temples and public buildings.
This is photo inside a temple. We can see that wood is used for supports and roof beams plaster. In fact, it was also used for sinks and bathtubs in the ancient Greece.
Ancient Greek architecture also impact on hospitality industry nowadays. As Greek was used to use limestone, marble, and unbaked brick for their architecture, most of their buildings are white in colour. Thus, most hotels, especially resort hotels, use white as their major colour in order to match the buildings around and make guests feel comfortable.
The interior design and modern furniture are matches the white theme of the walls.
Obviously, the architecture impact on Greek society as well. So many people call Greece is a “White world”.
These are photos 3 typical streets. All of the houses along the streets are white ,so people feel there are comfortable and clean.
These are 2 photos of modern Greek private houses. The walls are like made of unbaked brick.
This is another design of Greek houses. We can see that the roof tiles are made of terracotta.
This is a Olympia train station with a design like ancient Greek temples. Terracotta is also used for the roof tiles.