Ah, Athens

We’re here! Athens is hot, noisy, but not nearly as dirty and crowded as some folks had warned us about…we think that the post-2004 Olympics Athens must be quite a different story than before. But first, to back up a bit…

Our plane landed at 12:45 a.m. this morning, and yes, by the time we got our luggage, the metro was long since closed. There was however, a handy bus (props to bus #95) that took us directly to the center of the city. Then, thanks to Google maps (which we’d used at Heathrow), and our Lonely Planet guidebook, we were able to walk to our hotel in just a few minutes. The streets were nearly deserted, but as we truged along at 2:30 a.m. we both noticed that it felt relatively safe. Can’t tell you how good it was to shower and go to bed once we were finally in our room…and then this morning, once we were up and walking about, we realized that the directions from the lady had been right on the money, if a little vague.

Today we did a walking tour that I found on Rick Steves website (nice to have him around, if only for a little bit). It was hot like…well, it felt less like walking sometimes and more like wading through the thick air. Certainly we’ll acclamate at least a little sometime soon….here are a few photos from the day.

This 12th century Byzanatine church is right in the heart of the shopping district. Niketown, McDonalds, etc. on the outside; full of icons on the inside. Also, we laugh when we see it because it seems like whenever we're a little lost, we turn a corner and voila, there's the little church again...

Lunch. Greek salad and spankopita. The feta was so delicious...

A very unlikely sign that proved to be 100% true!

This little path really did lead up to the acropolis, through a little village of whitewashed homes, made to look like the island homes of the original inhabitants...all right in the heart of Athens

Lo's dinner (mine was unremarkable): fried cheese and fried zucchini balls! v. tasty!

Tonight, we topped everything off with a few games of cribbage on the rooftop terrace of our hotel. The view of the well-lit Acropolis is amazing from up there, and the breeze finally picked up a bit. Sadly for me, the current cribbage score is Lo 3, E 2.

view from the roof, and location of the cribbage tournament this evening

Tomorrow we make our way early in the morning to the Acropolis to try to beat the heat and the crowds…today we walked all around it but didn’t actually go all the way up the hill. And, finalmente, a picture of some new finery we are sporting…