I have been going through my journal trying to decide what to type and what to just keep tucked away in case I ever want to read more. Not that there are a lot of personal things, but I scribbled away as the tour guide taught us all about history, art, politics, and more. I plan to create a scrapbook of our vacation, but this is my first attempt at narrowing down 2,637 photos and 93 pages of my travel-journal to something a bit more digestible and much less overwhelming. I am leaving a lot of the history of the places out of my text and linking to additional information in case you are interested.
ON OUR WAY:
We left the kids with my parents and Aunt Ann on Saturday, August 8th, and headed to the Dallas. After a quick lunch with Allen's parents, his dad dropped us off at the airport and we began the long flight.
Our first leg of the flight was from Dallas to Frankfurt, Germany, and was about 13 hours. We had a four hour layover, then another few hours on a plane to Athens. This is the Greece coastline as we approach Athens. Yes, I was getting VERY excited at this point. 
We were thrilled to find all our luggage arrived with us -- an oddity for us. We got to our hotel around 6:30 pm (10:30 am, Texas-time). I told Allen I wanted to shower and lay down for just a few minutes before we found dinner. We woke up in time for our tour the next morning.
Monday, August 10th, we ate breakfast on the roof of our hotel, then set out to find the starting point for our first tour: a half day tour of Athens. Look how awake I am at 8:00 am!
The bus tour was partly a drive-by-and-look-fast type tour, but we did get out to explore at a few key spots. The first stop was the Olympic stadium. This was built for the modern-day Olympics in 1895, is made completely of marble, and seats 67,000 people. It was used for the archery competition in the 2004 Olympics.
The bus tour was partly a drive-by-and-look-fast type tour, but we did get out to explore at a few key spots. The first stop was the Olympic stadium. This was built for the modern-day Olympics in 1895, is made completely of marble, and seats 67,000 people. It was used for the archery competition in the 2004 Olympics. Our second stop was at the Temple of Zeus, another wonder that seems to have been plopped down in the middle of the huge metropolis of Athens. It is amazing that small parks surround the ruins all over the city, but modern marvels spring from the ground just outside the gates. 
Our next stop was to the Acropolis. It was packed with tourists, but no less awesome than I imagined. The Parthenon was built to be awesome, and it didn't disappoint us. Since it is under constant reconstruction, we couldn't get many pictures without the scaffolding.
This is a photo taken from the Acropolis looking north over Athens. The mountain is Lycabettus and is the highest point in the city. The hotel we were staying in is on the side of the mountain. Yes, we walked. . . a lot!
The tour ended at the Acropolis and we had the option of riding the bus down to the center of the city or staying to do our own thing. We chose the latter, but I was sorry I forgot my pedometer that day. . . and more importantly, my city map. Luckily we were staying at the base of the mountain, so we just made sure we headed uphill until we found our hotel.
Our next stop was to the Acropolis. It was packed with tourists, but no less awesome than I imagined. The Parthenon was built to be awesome, and it didn't disappoint us. Since it is under constant reconstruction, we couldn't get many pictures without the scaffolding. This is a photo taken from the Acropolis looking north over Athens. The mountain is Lycabettus and is the highest point in the city. The hotel we were staying in is on the side of the mountain. Yes, we walked. . . a lot!The tour ended at the Acropolis and we had the option of riding the bus down to the center of the city or staying to do our own thing. We chose the latter, but I was sorry I forgot my pedometer that day. . . and more importantly, my city map. Luckily we were staying at the base of the mountain, so we just made sure we headed uphill until we found our hotel.Allen and I strolled down the Acropolis hill, passing the city walls, strolling through a bit of a forested area, and snapping photos the whole way. 
We found our way to a small cafe and enjoyed gyros with a view of the Acropolis. We strolled through the city happening upon small treasures. We stopped at Hadrian's Library (in ruins, but with beautiful mosaic floors partially intact.) We found the ancient agora and I was awestruck.
Although the Parthenon was neat, this was the first time, Allen had to remind me to shut my mouth as my chin kept dropping. I don't completely know what it was. . . was it that in my high school Latin classes, we always studied the ancient Greek cities and looked at maps just like this place? Was it the grandeur of the reconstructed stoa with brilliant white columns and a lovely garden at the end? Was it the view from the stoa, looking out at the ancient ruins knowing that the everyday people used to live life here and seeing the beauty of the trees that are hard to find everywhere else? Was it the close up look at the statues that were displayed?
Maybe it was that I could stand in one spot, see many ancient buildings and the Parthenon beyond them, everything old; then, I could pivot about 180-degrees, literally and figuratively. I would watch "old" in one direction, then turn around when I heard the metro train rushing by. Watching the modern train, I could look beyond it and see graffiti, cranes, and multi-level glass office buildings, apartments, hotels, cafes, cars and buses. . . Everything except old. I still can't identify the one thing that amazed me about the agora, but it held the "favorite spot" title for me for a few days.
After we explored the agora for a good part of the afternoon, we headed toward our hotel -- uphill, all the way, remember? Along the way we went though the central market where vendors were starting to close up for the afternoon. We saw lots of fruits, nuts, olives and spices for sale. Then for some weird reason, I took the street of the meat market. What a sight -- and, I can't say I enjoyed it. Unlike our grocery stores where the meat is behind clean glass in a refrigerator, the beef, chicken, and lamb were on shelves and the butcher was in front of it with hacking away at the meats on a big bloody chopping block. Since, I watch too much TV and read too many suspense novels, this was sort of spooky to me. It didn't help that I had to hold my breath so I wouldn't smell the stench of old blood, and I had to watch where I was walking so I didn't slip on some stray raw organ. We walked about two blocks through the covered alley searching for a way out. We could've gone back the way we came, but we had already seen that, so we walked the other way. Full carcasses were hanging from hooks, but nothing was a creepy to me as the skinned lamb staring at me through dead eyes. I walked a lot faster after that. When we got to the end of that labyrinth, I breathed the clean air and burst out laughing when Allen pointed out the sign at the entrance: "Please to meet you and Meat to please you!"
We found our way to a small cafe and enjoyed gyros with a view of the Acropolis. We strolled through the city happening upon small treasures. We stopped at Hadrian's Library (in ruins, but with beautiful mosaic floors partially intact.) We found the ancient agora and I was awestruck. Although the Parthenon was neat, this was the first time, Allen had to remind me to shut my mouth as my chin kept dropping. I don't completely know what it was. . . was it that in my high school Latin classes, we always studied the ancient Greek cities and looked at maps just like this place? Was it the grandeur of the reconstructed stoa with brilliant white columns and a lovely garden at the end? Was it the view from the stoa, looking out at the ancient ruins knowing that the everyday people used to live life here and seeing the beauty of the trees that are hard to find everywhere else? Was it the close up look at the statues that were displayed? Maybe it was that I could stand in one spot, see many ancient buildings and the Parthenon beyond them, everything old; then, I could pivot about 180-degrees, literally and figuratively. I would watch "old" in one direction, then turn around when I heard the metro train rushing by. Watching the modern train, I could look beyond it and see graffiti, cranes, and multi-level glass office buildings, apartments, hotels, cafes, cars and buses. . . Everything except old. I still can't identify the one thing that amazed me about the agora, but it held the "favorite spot" title for me for a few days.After we explored the agora for a good part of the afternoon, we headed toward our hotel -- uphill, all the way, remember? Along the way we went though the central market where vendors were starting to close up for the afternoon. We saw lots of fruits, nuts, olives and spices for sale. Then for some weird reason, I took the street of the meat market. What a sight -- and, I can't say I enjoyed it. Unlike our grocery stores where the meat is behind clean glass in a refrigerator, the beef, chicken, and lamb were on shelves and the butcher was in front of it with hacking away at the meats on a big bloody chopping block. Since, I watch too much TV and read too many suspense novels, this was sort of spooky to me. It didn't help that I had to hold my breath so I wouldn't smell the stench of old blood, and I had to watch where I was walking so I didn't slip on some stray raw organ. We walked about two blocks through the covered alley searching for a way out. We could've gone back the way we came, but we had already seen that, so we walked the other way. Full carcasses were hanging from hooks, but nothing was a creepy to me as the skinned lamb staring at me through dead eyes. I walked a lot faster after that. When we got to the end of that labyrinth, I breathed the clean air and burst out laughing when Allen pointed out the sign at the entrance: "Please to meet you and Meat to please you!" As we zig-zagged though the streets, we found a place we passed on the bus tour and I was glad to revisit it for some photos. When we got up close to the neoclassical university building, we found beautiful paintings on the front that we couldn't see from the bus.
Just next door, at the Academy building, we found intricate sculptures peeking down at us.
Just next door, at the Academy building, we found intricate sculptures peeking down at us. We kept climbing uphill meandering through the streets and found a pretty church and took some pictures. If you aren't aware, I love photographing churches on our travels -- the pictures have been my favorite souvenirs since I started snapping them when I was 18. This church wasn't too far from our hotel and is named for Athens' patron saint, Saint Dionysios. Just like on other churches and buildings we had seen, the paintings on the outside entryway, and the intricate details of the carvings were awesome. 
We made it back to the hotel and were exhausted. We probably walked over 10 miles, and since we had walked only one way, it was mostly uphill. We cleaned up, and I enjoyed coffee on our balcony while I updated my journal. We had a delightful, yet late (for us) dinner at a nearby restaurant, then went to the rooftop of the hotel to try to get photos of the acropolis at night. When we went to bed that evening, Allen commented that it was weird to be going to sleep before the markets even closed (CNN was one of the few English-speaking channels we found.)
We made it back to the hotel and were exhausted. We probably walked over 10 miles, and since we had walked only one way, it was mostly uphill. We cleaned up, and I enjoyed coffee on our balcony while I updated my journal. We had a delightful, yet late (for us) dinner at a nearby restaurant, then went to the rooftop of the hotel to try to get photos of the acropolis at night. When we went to bed that evening, Allen commented that it was weird to be going to sleep before the markets even closed (CNN was one of the few English-speaking channels we found.)That was our first full day in Athens. Soon I'll post photos and details about the second day, but I have to go deal with present-day life now. Since DAY 1 took me two days to write up, I hope to have the trip completely summarized by the end of September.
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