Trip to Greece
Athens, Sunday, April 4
After arriving at the airport, we had to split into two separate cabs to get to our
hotel, the Best Western Athens Gate. Along the way, there was evidence of all the many
construction projects in the works for the Olympics this summer, and with only a little
more than four months to go until then, I have to tell you that it didn't look good.
Maybe they'll pull it off, but it certainly seemed like there was an awful lot left to
accomplish in a very short period of time. Among the projects it doesn't look like they'll complete in time is a rail line from the airport to the center of the city, which was still little more than a hole in the ground. |
Here we are (sans dad, who was taking the picture) at around 4:00 in the afternoon. After more than 17 hours in transit, we don't look too bad, do we? |
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Shortly before we got to the hotel, we
passed the ancient stadium, which has been restored in modern times, with the Olympic
flame burning in front of it. That was pretty cool sight!
After settling into our hotel, we went out for a walk to check out the sights and take in the fact that we were, in fact, in Athens. Our first task was to find a place to eat. We found a taverna just uphill from where this photo leftof Julian was taken. The food was excellent; I don't even remember what I had any more, just that it tasted heavenly. Better still, they had spaghetti bolognese; one of our concerns in bringing the kids was that they aren't familiar with Greek food, but we discovered that almost everywhere, there was spaghetti! |
| After finishing our meal, we walked up the main street that runs alongside the east side of the Acropolis. This used to be open to automobile traffic, but has been turned into a pedestrian mall in recent years. It's very relaxing and very pretty. By this time in the afternoon, the Acropolis and all the archaeological sites were closed (they are open only until 2:30 or 3:00 in the afternoon, which we later found to be really inconvenient), but Julian and Michael left me, Aurora, Vernon and Grandma Katie to bask in the sunshine while they tried to get a bit closer to the Acropolis. While I almost fell asleep lying on a concrete barrier wall (and Aurora did fall asleep lying next to me), they climbed up a marble outcropping known as Mars Hill, getting the photos shown below on their way. |
Acropolis from the pedestrian mall |
 Another view from the pedestrian mall |
 Acropolis from Mars Hill |
 Acropolis from Mars Hill |
 Agora and Athens from Mars Hill |
 Agora and Athens from Mars Hill |
| After Julian and Michael returned from Mars Hill, it was about 6:00 and we were pretty well beat, so we decided to head back to the hotel and watch our DVD on The Greeks for a while to remind ourselves of the history we were now steeping ourselves in. All of the kids conked out during the movie, but Michael, my mom, and I were hungry, so Michael went out and brought back some gyros and fries from a take-out joint. Delicious! Unfortunately, the kids didn't eat any, so they were up at 3:00 a.m. and starving. Luckily, a few of our snacks (apples, crackers) from the plane flight were left, so they ate those.
Go to Monday, April 5 |