On our last night In Albania, we had a group dinner to say goodbye.

Then it was on a plane from Tirana to Athens!

We met Jude and Julie to begin our 3 week Greek adventure. Our hotel was in a great position in the centre of the city and more importantly had a roof top bar with a view of the Acropolis and also a view from our room.

We had an early dinner then began to wander the city.We saw the Metropoloitan Cathedral of Athens. Construction began in 1842 and was completed 20 years later. Marble was used from 72 demolished churches to build the walls. The little Metropolis Church sits right next to the Cathedral. It dates back to the 12th Century and built from Greek and Roman marble blocks.

We continued to wander and came across Hadrians Gate, built in AD 131. It spans an ancient road leading towards the Temple of Olympian Zeus.

We then came across Parliament House or the Old Royal Palace which overlooks the Monument to the Unknown Soldier, where the changing of the guards take place . The guards are known as Evzones and stand on guard 24/7. They are chosen for their stamina, strong character and height of above 6ft 1 inch. Maybe Greg could apply. Their kilts have 400 pleats representing 400 years of Ottoman occupation. They must be pretty smelly standing there in the heat day in day out!

After that it was definitely time for a drink so back to our hotel to the rooftop bar for some night shots! It was rather spectacular.

Up early next morning for breakie. The bougatsa (cream / custard filled phylo pie) and the spanakopita were both delicious and fueled us up for the day that was ahead.

Greg of course wanted to check out the Varvakios Central Market. The fish, the meat and the vegetables all looked very fresh and quite colorful.

We then came across Hadrians Library, or what’s left of it! It was built by Roman Emperor Hadrian in AD 132.

It was quite warm, and we were feeling a little thirsty, so it was time to find the oldest distillery and bar in Athens. Brettos began operating in 1909 in the heart of the Plaka district. It was a great place to rehydrate in the colorful surroundings of spirit bottles and barrels.

By now we were in the Plaka area, the oldest and most historic neighborhood of Athens and filled with shops, restaurants and cobbled streets. We managed to find the oldest part of the Plaka, called Anafiotika, no tourist shops, only houses where the locals live, and situated right at the foot of the Acropolis. It was gorgeous.

We found a great spot for lunch, the stuffed eggplant and stuffed tomato and capsicum were delicious. All washed down with a very large cold beer.

We decided to return to our hotel for a rest before our climb to the Acropolis at 6pm.

Acropolis means “ high city” and we joined thousands of other tourists wandering the ancient monuments in the heat, including the Parthenon, Erechtheior, and the Temple of Athen Nike.

On the way down we caught glimpses of the huge extent of the city surroundings and also the Temple of Hephaestus, the best preserved Greek Doric Temple. In our opinion it was better than the Parthenon!😂

We enjoyed Athens. It was very busy, loads of people and traffic. Do we need to return at some stage, no we don’t think so but it is a tick off the bucket list.

It was then time to head to our first Island, the island of Tinos. Luckily it wasn’t too busy on the ferry and of course we had business class seats, no sitting with riff raff for us!

We arrived safely at Tinos and more about that later. We would like to thank Julie for her input in this blog! Thanks Julie, it saved us 20 minutes.😂

So Yia sou from Tinos

Lots of love

Greg and Rhonda

xxxxx