Greece Part 3, Athens: the big city!

After taking an overnight ferry from Rhodes, we arrived in the early hours in Athens.




We were welcomed by a beautiful sunrise and were helped by a French couple in locating the way to the metro train that would take us to our hotel. When we arrived at our hotel, after a cool walk through the deserted streets of Athens, they checked us in, even though it was only 7 am. We immediately took advantage of the free breakfast and the cool morning hours to go see the Acropolis.




What a sight! Old ruins of temples and theaters plus beautiful views of the city! On the way down we saw the old Agora and ancient cemetery.



Afterwards we wandered to the Gazi neighborhood where we people watched all the young people enjoying their frappes and playing backgammon. It really does seem that things there moved at a different pace (not the traffic though); all the students enjoying the summer, hanging out at cafes drinking iced sweetened coffee and participating in the national pastime. Soon we realized restaurants would not open until 2pm for lunch: we were starving!

After a delicious lunch including grilled local sausages and lentil salad, we headed back to the hotel for a bit of rest. On the ferry the night before, we didn't get much sleep, so we were due for naps. In the evening, we headed out again to observe the changing of the guards at the Parliament building and afterwards enjoyed a lengthy stroll down one of the popular pedestrian-only promenades surrounding the Acropolis.
Here are the guards with their fancy outfits:



Our second day there, we strolled through some of the other ruins such as Hadrian's library, the Roman Agora, and the tower of the Winds. After a walk through the markets and some frosty frappes, we headed to the National Archaeological Museum to enjoy the bounty of treasures there. Amazing!

Here are some gold masks:



That evening we treated ourselves to the symphony at the Odeon. Apparently this is where Yanni performed 'Live at the Acropolis' or so we were told.
The old theater before sunset:


Our last day in Athens before heading to Egypt, we spent time in the National Gardens and visiting the Temple of Olympian Zeus.




After Egypt, we had one day to spend in Athens. We mostly concentrated on trying to reset our internal clocks while watching the endless stream of Michael Jackson (RIP) videos on the hotel television. More importantly we climbed to the top of Lycabettum Hill to get excellent views of the city. The Acropolis is on the right of the picture below:


Overall, I thought Athens was a beautiful city and relatively clean (I had heard it was much more polluted), probably as a result of the recent Olympic games. I would definitely travel to Greece again, many regions left to explore!

Whole lotta pics here!