Athens, Greece - Day 2

Friday, August 6th, 2010

What a great day in Athens! We were up bright and early for our morning half day tour. George was our tour guide and Stavros our driver. The tour brought us in an air conditioned coach as the temperature was already 30 degrees at 8:30 in the morning. We enjoyed seeing the sites and landmarks from our cool bus. We did exit for pictures of the ancient Olympic stadium. It was cool to think that this is where Niki from our church ran with the torch when it changed from Greece to Canada. Afterwards, we went to visit the Acropolis and walked through the ancient ruins. It was so worth having a tour guide as they receive degrees in Art History, Geology, Ancient History, and Current Affairs, so they are very well informed about the landmark and all that it entails. We were there for a couple of hours – Mik really enjoyed making connections with the ancient stories of the Gods from Percy Jackson and other myths. Zoe preferred the air conditioned coolness of the new museum – which was outstanding – highly recommend the visit as the new design allows visitors to see the ruins underneath the museum.
After the tour we returned to our fab hotel and had a great afternoon nap. Then a swim in the awesome pool was in order – we agreed that we were in Heaven as the temps were great, the pool glorious, and the fitness centre was open 24 hours a day.
Later in the evening we ventured out to the Plaka for some dinner and had lots of fun getting the best offer for dinner. We finally decided on the restaurant that included a free glass of wine for the adults and free ice cream for the kids. The girls both enjoyed pastitso while Oliver tried swordfish and I ate tuna and Greek salad. There was live music and a great atmosphere which really made it a fun evening. We finished off the night by taking photos by Zeus' temple and making our way back to the hotel in order to pack for our ferry the next morning.
Both girls expressed a desire to stay in Athens longer as there was just so much for them to see and do...yet the heat limited our time when we could be outside comfortably. We will definitely return to Athens again.