In the first part of this story, I talked about my desire to go to Athens, gave a historical overview of the city’s Classical era and looked at some DNA research that suggests the ancestors of most people of European descent had a small part in Greece’s history. 

Our AirBnB was in the Plaka district, which has been inhabited for the past 5,000 years. The remains of a Roman bath house were in our basement and backyard. It seems to extend into the neighbouring property, where two men were at work throughout our stay. This does not seem to be exceptional. There are ruins throughout the older neighbourhoods of Athens. Only a block to the northeast of us, the remains of an ancient neighbourhood, with streets, houses, bath houses, public latrines and workshops dating from the 5th century BC to the 12th century AD, are on display underneath the Acropolis Museum. No one knew anything about them until construction on the museum began in the 1980s.