Athens, our final destination

The 4 hr ferry trip from Milo's to Athens (Pireaus Port)  was not as bad as Mick had expected, the yelping dog 3 rows behind had not been expected. We made our way to the Pireaus Metro station and were on our way to Athens hotel. As we were passing through Pireaus and other suburbs, Mick remembered Steve Guthries advice "one day in Athens is plenty...it's a shithole!" (definitely the case with the port town of Piraeus!) The suburbs on the way to the city were pretty grim, and as we got closer to central Athens, the metro started filling up - and Mick's grip on his luggage tightened. We wondered why we had planned our trip this way, leaving the serenity of the Greek Isles for the hustle and bustle of a major

city.

As we walked from the metro to the city we saw so many police on the streets. As we approached the street that our hotel was on, we counted over 10 police waiting of the corner. Mick then remembered seeing a protest of some sort on the news (on the ferry over) but had no idea where or what it was about as it was all spoken in Greek (funnily enough). Mick also remembered that our hotel was just around the corner from the Greek Parliament... At check in, Mick asked the hotel manager if there was a protest on. The hotel manager looked rather confused; he went on to explain that given the hotel is next door to the Ministry of Economics, there are constant protests and continual police presence.

The evening was spent wandering the old streets of Plaka, and we had dinner at a restaurant that was at the foot of the Acropolis. As we ate we could look up and see the walls of the Acropolis towering above us. Damian ordered lamb souvlaki and said it was the best souvlaki in all of Greece. This gave Mick serious food envy.  

The following day we got up early to see the Acropolis. While in Santorini, an American tourist gave us a tip, which was to arrive at the Acropolis at 7:30am before the ticket office opened. Given we had seen the massive crowds at Italian tourist attractions, we heeded his advice and made sure we were there at 7:30. This was fantastic advice, we were first ones in the Acropolis which meant that we could take many photos without a tourist in sight ruining our pictures. We wandered around and saw the remains of the Parthenon (temple of Athena), the Karyatids (columns in the shape of women) and the temple of Athena Nike (the goddess of victory and running shoes ;) and many other bits of really old marble. It really is amazing to think these structures were created over 2,500 years ago and are still standing; and it was surreal being there. By 9am we were all done being amazed and inspired, our one touristy thing to do in Athens was done (and most of Greece was still asleep).

As we were leaving the Acropolis, we walked passed the Acropolis Museum. Mick thought our Acropolis tickets would get us access, and given it was still 9am, we thought we might as well go in. To Mick's disappointment, this wasn't free, but we paid the €5 each in order to enjoy the air conditioning (and to have our 2nd breakfast of the day). Apart from the air conditioning and the breakfast, this place was well worth the euros. The museum is on top of an archeological dig site, and has glass floors so you can walk on top of the ruins. The top level of the museum is  a space which is the same size as the Parthenon and houses the original and replica statutes that surrounded the Parthenon's structure (in their proper sequence), all within site of the original structure only 500m away. Again, it was amazing. 

We finished up around noon and didn't know what to do with ourselves, so we had a quick lunch and then went back to the hotel for a nap (we had been up since 6am). It was a lazy afternoon finished off with dinner back at the restaurant we went to the previous night. Mick was not missing out on that fantastic lamb souvlaki!

We ate dinner and reminisced on our month long vacation. We have seen a lot, travelled many thousands of kms, eaten WAY too much gelato and carbohydrates and have not had an alcohol free day the entire trip. We are contemplating Dry July and are wondering if there is an equivalent for potatoes, bread and pasta!