Michelle's Journey to USA, Middle East & Europe

July 23: What can I say other than wow! A long day but very intersting and amazing!
Woke up after only two hours sleep, to catch a pre-oredered taxi to the Ben Gurion Airport outside Tel Aviv. Taxi driver informed me of the bomb blast in a resort town near the Sinai Desert in Egypt earlier this morning.
Caught an Olympic Airways flight to Athens - wasn't sure what to expect with anything to do with Greece including the airline, but at went smoothly...
mind you that was until I arrived at the Athens airport, and my pre-ordered driver didn't come to pick me up. Turns out the paperwork from London never arrived at the travel agent in Athens. A few phonecalls solved everything!

Hotel is south of the city of Athens in a resort area called Glyfada. It only costs 60 cents by tram to get into town, so no biggie... but it takes an hour.

Decided to check out the archaeological sites of Athens, despite knowing I would cover these briefly on Monday with my Contiki group. From past experience, we rush through important sites, so doing it on my own was far better.
Went to the Exhibition & Congress Hall, then walked to the Temple of Olympian Zeus and Hadrian's Arch. Lots of ruins, temple columns, bath houses and more.

Can't understand a word of Greek, but looks like Athens has had a major facelift. Everyone told me that Athens was dirty and not a nice place to be... I seem to disagree. The places are very clean and well, the signs of all tourist sites are in English and Greek... plus even if I don't understand a word, I can match symbols on a page and realise that that is where I need to get to.

Lots of ruins in Athens... and some of them are over three thousand years old!
Interesting learning about Greek History in high school and now seeing it for myself.
Had a quick bite to eat - food here is really cheap, despite being in Euro - and yes, they try to drain every cent out of you including a 1 or 2 Euro cover charge for water, oil and bread... turns out it's not always compulsory, so if I don't touch the extras, I don't have to pay. Takes a little bargaining, but they deal with it.

In the sweltering heat, I then walked around the base of the Acropolis, to the Theatre of Dionysos (like an amphitheatre), and then to the top of the very steep hill! The top of the Acropolis and Parthenon can be seen from all over town.
Interesting how all the buildings seem to be getting restored at some point in time - scaffolding everywhere.
The top of the Acropolis and the Parthenon building itself are spectacular! It might be a huge walk, but very worthwhile even in 40 degree plus temperatures. The view from the top is great too - can see the city of Athens, the Ancient Agora, Lykavittos Hill, the Observatory, suburbs and more.
The Acropolis Museum is also very interesting - with a large collection of statues found around Athens and the Acropolis at different periods in time.

And Beth, thanks for the break under the tree!

Walked back down the steps passed more ruins down to the Ancient Agora - a culture centre and meeting place. The Agora area has a Byzantine Church, Museum (with lots of statues and pottery from different periods of Greek history), ruins of civic offices, a gymnasium and other anicent buildings including the 'Stoa of Attalus' and a temple-like one very much intact (very unusual). The Roman Agora took over from this Agora round the turn of BCE/ CE era.
Also saw a tortoise walking around the grounds minding its own business. Took me by surprise - especially in the middle of nowhere, with not even a minute drop of water anywhere nearby. I know, they don't need water, but still!!?

Had a quick walk passed the flea markets in Monastiraki, then experienced the public transport system to Syntagma Square, where the federal parliament is located. Missed the changing of the guard, hope to see this tomorrow.
Caught the tram home, via Glyfada Square for dinner, and had an early night. Very tired from the heat and lack of sleep these last few days.
Note: Greece is amazing.