When traveling in a country as old as Greece, ancient ruins can quickly go from magnificent to mind numbing. Great — yet another nameless hill with more stony remnants of people from centuries past.

The sun was blazing above the Acropolis, draping the ivory pillars of the Parthenon in a golden sheen. The red-tiled roof of the ancient Agora museum glimmered in the heat, and a breeze ruffled the ...