Not far from the Areopagus is the Pnyx, where the free people of Athens met in council.  Of this nothing more remains than the rostrum, hewn in the rock, and the seat of the scribe.  What feelings agitate the mind when it is remembered what men have stood there and spoke from that spot!

It was with sadness that I examined the cave near here where Socrates was imprisoned and poisoned.  Above this memorable grotto stands a plain monument erected in memory of Philopapoe.

The Turks surrounded the Acropolis with a broad wall, in the building of which they made use of many fragments of columns and other remains of the most beautiful temples.

No remnants of antiquity are to be seen in the old town of Athens except the Tower of the Winds, or, as others call it, Diogenes’ Lantern, a small temple in the form of an octagon, covered with fine sculpture; also the monument of Lysicrates.  This consists of a pedestal, some columns, and a dome in the Corinthian style.

The chapel Maria Maggiore, is said to have been built by the Venetians, 700 years after Christ.  Its greatest peculiarity is that it was the first Christian church in Athens.

The view of the whole country from the Acropolis is also very interesting; there can be seen the Hymetos, the Pentelikon, towards Eleusis, Marathon, Phylae, and Dekelea, the harbour, the sea, and the course of the Ilissus.

Athens contains a considerable number of houses, most of which are, however, small and unimportant; the beautiful country-houses, on the contrary, surrounded by tasty gardens, have a very agreeable appearance.

The small observatory was built by Baron Sina, the well-known banker in Vienna, who is by birth a Greek.

The royal palace, which is of modern date, is built of brilliant white marble, in the form of a large quadrangle.  On two sides, which occupy a large part of the breadth of the wings, under a peristyle, is a kind of small porch which rests upon pillars.  The one approach is for the ministers, ambassadors, etc., the other for the royal family.  With the exception of these two peristyles, the whole building is very tasteless, and has not the least ornament; the windows are in the ordinary form; and the high large walls appear so naked, bare, and flat, that even the dazzling white of the beautiful marble produces no effect; and it is only on a close approach that it can be seen what a costly material has been employed in the building.

I regretted having seen this palace, especially opposite to the Acropolis, on a spot which has made its works of art as classic as its heroes.

The palace is surrounded by a rather pretty though recently-formed garden.  In the front stand a few palms, which have been brought from Syria, but they bear no fruit.  The country is otherwise barren and naked.

The marble of which this palace is built, as well as the temples and other buildings on the Acropolis, is obtained from the quarries of the neighbouring mountain, Pentelikon, where the quantity of this beautiful stone is so great that whole towns might be built of it.