Athens

We arrived in Athens around 5:00pm and found the hotel with no problem.  After checking in we decided to go for a walk towards the restaurant/tourist area, getting directions from the hotel staff.  Well we missed a turn again and after walking for about 30 minutes through some dodgy areas we did a U turn and, using the GPS app and a paper map, eventually found what we were looking for. We had a nice meat platter and a couple of wines for dinner then returned to the hotel.

We walked many many kilometres over the next two days exploring historical sites and museums.  We went to the Acropolis, the Parthenon and other temples built on the Acropolis, the Theatre of Dionysus, Hadrian's Arch, the Temple of Zeus, the Ancient Agora and Roman Agora, the Ancient Olympic stadium,  Acropolis Museum, Parliament House, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and plenty more. 

The Parthenon is of course iconic and is quite amazing, in both height and design.  It is in the middle of some reconstructive work though so not only had scaffolding covering one end but also had cranes nearby.  We can see the Acropolis from our hotel roof, so went up there one night, had a few drinks and enjoyed the sunset and watched as the spotlights lit up the Parthenon.

In front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier we were fortunate to see the Greek guards swap places.  They have a very distinctive march where they stamp with their right foot every few steps and also slide it along the marble.  Their shoes appeared to have 'hobs' on the bottom similar to tap shoes and made a noise as they performed these manoeuvres. It was all very interesting to watch.

The ruins are all starting to look a bit the same, though each place we go there are a couple of things that are different and interesting.  Several of the site's have mini museums and those again have been pretty interesting.

Hadrian's  Arch

Temple of the winds - Roman Agora

Temple of Zeus - 17 metres tall

On the second day of our walking tour of Athens we had rain for the first time since we left Melbourne.  We were fortunate that the first downpour - with thunder and lightening - happened while we were inside having lunch.  Later in the day we were at the Ancient Olympic Stadium in a tunnel when the rain hit.  We had to sit that one out for 10 minutes or so, but eventually it cleared enough for us to continue.

On our third day we took a ferry to Hydra, a nearby island that has no cars, only donkeys and horses for transport. The ferry was 2 hours each way and we had only three hours on the island, so it is maybe questionable whether or not it was worth the effort.  We did enjoy the day though and the town of Hydra was very cute.  We walked up some of the laneways between houses and saw it from different angles. We didn't have time to walk to any of the peaks or the lighthouse, but otherwise felt we saw enough.

The 'last' day of our trip and we walked to the National Archeological Museum. We spent 3 hours here looking at artifacts from as far back as the 16th century BC.  We are amazed at the designs and craft work on many of the items especially the gold pieces that are that old.

We also saw some of the friezes referred to at the Akrotiri (Santorini) site we had been to a couple of weeks ago. 

Athens appears to have a major problem with graffiti. The trains are absolutely covered as are many of the buildings.  There does not however seem to be an issue on the historical buildings, so that is something.  There is also a big street art presence and some of it is pretty good.

We have really enjoyed our time in Jordan and Greece, both countries were very friendly and rich in history.  The food has been great, especially the Greek seafood. Tomorrow we leave our hotel around 7:30am for a flight to Istanbul followed by Abu Dhabi and Melbourne, arriving home around 5:45pm Saturday.  Back to work - and reality on Tuesday.