We made it!! 24 hours from Kelowna to Athens. That was a LONG way folks. We caught the metro from the airport to Monastiraki, the location of our hotel. We walked out of the station and looked up. At the first sight of the Acropolis all thoughts of long flights and jet lag disappeared. Oh so good to see you again it’s been a long time. So good to be back in Monastiraki and Plakka. So lovely to wander through Anafiotika, the ancient streets that wind their way up to Acropolis. So wonderful to smell the oleander and olive trees in the Ancient Agora and imagine the glory days that went before. We are back and it feels so right to start our travels here.
We set our alarm for an early start on our first day. The Acropolis opens at 8am, way to early for the tour bus crowd. We were rewarded with a queue of 20 in front of us. Very soon we were walking up to the great entrance, and through the enormous columns we caught our first glimpse of the Parthenon, in all her ruined glory.,
Returning to Plaka through Anafiotika. Feels more like you are on the islands not in the heart of a massive city. It is quite hard to find so many tourists never know it is there. 🙂 a kind of secret place.
The underbelly of Athens is not so pretty. It is a fierce, filthy city full of poverty and need. There are many people who call the streets home, many children begging which is always hard to see. It was this way when I lived here and nothing much has changed. Greece has plunged further into strife since I left. Still her future is in the balance as political Europe continues to navigate uncertain times. One thing that I was surprise to see was the street art and graffitti that is literally everywhere. Some of it is incredible. I took some pics of our favourites.
I did my first post hehe – its quite hard to do !! they will get better with practise. Catching the boat tomorrow early to get to the islands see you there.