Another early start......the story of this trip!!!!! Off to the airport for our short flight to Athens.

On arrival at Athens airport we were met by our private transfer driver & in general chit chat about how hot it was & the thought of doing the sites in the heat was not pleasant he asked why didn't we book him to show us the sites .....it wasn’t something we had thought of. So after some quick negotiating & calculations we agreed on the price & set off in air-conditioned Mercedes van comfort to see the sites of Athens.

After dropping Karon at the hotel we set off driving through the streets of Athens towards the Acropolis. Our lovely driver Dimitris gave us a comprehensive history lesson before each site, complete with audio visual display in the van!!! He was a very organised tour operator.

We walked up the hill to the Acropolis site, it was incredibly hot but worth the effort. We walked around soaking up the history, very hard to comprehend the age of it. There was a lot of reconstruction / restoration work going on. Apparently it is a very very long term project....

Next we headed to the original Olympic stadium. It is very old & still in use today for sporting events.

After this we headed to the changing of the guard, a time old ritual. The guards are on duty for 1 hour over an 8 hour day. The changing of the guard is very ceremonious & quite a spectacle. The 'goose step’ & high kicks are something to see. Felt really sorry for the poor boys, they are quite all quite young & are the best of the best. They must be over 6 foot tall to be considered as a guard & cannot acknowledge the onlookers . Bit like the beefeaters at Buckingham Palace.

After the excitement we headed back to the van to cool off, did I mention it was hot???? Over 35C & really dry heat.

We drove around Athens past the parliament, court house & other government buildings as well as a few embassies. We went up a look up to get a better view of the whole of Athens. It is a very large city split by a hill in the middle. By this time we had had enough & decided it was time to head back to our hotel.

We had another rooftop bar, this one overlooking the Acropolis, it was an amazing site all lit up at night.

After a few prosecco’s (even though we left Italy it was still on the bar menu!!!) we headed to the back alleys behind our hotel for dinner. This area was recommended by our driver Dimitris & our hotel concierge. I have to say that most of the buildings in Athens were covered in graffiti, even the beautiful old ones. To me it was sacrilege & gave the feeling of being in a city of crime, but we were reassured that it was the work of artists & in no way gang related. Apparently Athens is a very safe city. After walking around it, especially in the back lanes I have to agree. Whilst it did not look the best I was surprised at how safe it felt walking the street.

Dinner was in a little square, where local musicians gathered to ‘jam’ until early evening then packed up, they were replaced by various restaurants entertainers playing guitar & singing, local music of course. It was very entertaining & a great way to spend an evening.