Athens, Greece

Being tourists

After spending 11 weeks in Indonesia and Southeast Asia and almost a week in Beirut, Greece feels so laid back.  The last 3 months, although enjoyable, have definitely been work.  We didn’t spend more time in that region because we never found a place that we could just rent for a while and relax.  Having said that, it was really amazing and the people were wonderful.

We arrived in Athens on February 13th (the second day of a farmers’ demonstration right in the middle of the city – the previous day there had been a bit of violence but all appeared peaceful when we arrived), and spent 4 days seeing the sights.  Neither of us expected to enjoy the city as much as we did.  We thought it would just be a big, old dirty city, but in actual fact it was a great city to walk around in, and the sights were spectacular.  We’re putting the Acropolis on the top 10 of our list for sure (and you can pretty much see it from almost anywhere in the city, as Gary’s photos show).  And there are so many other great sights in the city as well, such as Hadrian’s Arch, the Panathenaic Stadium which hosted the first modern Olympic games in 1896.  It was so beautiful.  The Acropolis Museum was fantastic, and has been voted by National Geographic as top 3rd museum in the world out of 10.

Although neither of us would put Greek food as our favourite on the list, we enjoyed many snacks (and I do love snacks!).  And we enjoyed some really good Greek wine too.  I had no idea!

The people here are so nice and so willing to help, and forgiving too – you know how tourists can be!  Those that work in the hotel and tourist industry are very professional and good business people.  Very accommodating.

Well we’re now in Santorini, and ready for some relaxation.  We’ll touch base from there shortly.  In the meantime enjoy Athens.

Farmers’ demonstration at Syntagma Square

Monastiraki Square

Acropolis at night from our 1st hotel room

View of Athens with Acropolis to the right

Street scene in Plaka area

Acropolis from our second hotel room

Panathenaic Stadium

Sitting in the VIP seats in Panathenaic Stadium

Statue at Panathenaic Stadium

Museum of Ancient Agora

Hadrian’s Arch with Acropolis in the background

Temple of Olympian Zeus

View of theatre from the Acropolis

The Parthenon encased in scaffolding (amazing restoration going on)