Athens Day 1

Athens, the trip which I couldn't resist and I have no regrets for giving into this invitation. It was a 3 hours flight from London to Athens and all of us had to take a cab at 4am in the morning to the airport.

At first, I thought Athens will be just 1 hour ahead of London. But no, it was 2 hours ahead.

The train ride from the airport to town.

First stop, check-in to our hostel, throw our bags down, change, put sunblock and off we go hunting for lunch.

We were so hungry at that point that we just decided to have lunch in this small little restaurant near our hostel, which was not a very good choice.

M ordered chicken with spinach. The spinach tasted really good. It was boiled with rice and from now on, I have another lazy dish to make, inspired by this spinach dish.

I had macaroni, which was not too bad.

This one is Carbonara, which tasted good but the cheese was a bit too much. F ordered spaghetti with cheese from the menu and it literally meant only cheese and spaghetti. It's surprising how people can just eat that.

In Athens, whenever you're seated at a restaurant, a basket of bread will be served for the table. Depending on how expensive the restaurant is, sometimes they just charge per basket but there were 2 occasions when we were charged for each person. However, at this restaurant, the bread was one of the best and it was free.

C ordered chicken soup which I cannot comment on the taste as I'm allergic to citrus fruits.

Found the Hard Rock cafe while exploring the town.

On our way up to Acropolis - Acro (big), polis(city)

Group photo

The view while we were on our way up was breathtaking. I couldn't resist taking photo with the yellow flowers I saw.

Church of Metamorphosis

Acropolis was built between 437 -432BC by the skilled middle class group. It was really impressive how such magnificent buildings were completed in a mere 15 years without any machinery.

Propylaea - the grand entrance to Acropolis. Acropolis was once considered paradise but sadly, most of the architecture has been destroyed by years and years of harsh weather and wars.

Right outside the entrance was a small temple of Athena Nike. Legend says that Athena Nike - the goddess of Victory was captured, wings cut off and locked here so that victory for Athens will be guaranteed.

Erechtheion - the place where goddess Athena planted the olive tree.

Our guide told us that the design of the Statue of Liberty was based on the 3rd statue from the right. All the statues here are replicas. The originals are preserved in the Acropolis museum except for one of them which is kept in the British museum. Negotiations are on the way to bring it back to Athens. There are many statues and parts of Acropolis scattered around museums outside Greece as many were taken and brought back by explorers in the past.

The Parthenon. Oh my goodness. I remember seeing drawings of this in the encyclopedia my parents gave me and now I've got the chance to see it in real life. It was magnificent.

The Parthenon is a temple dedicated to the goddess Athena. Apparently there is not a single straight line in this building.

Suddenly this group of soldiers came marching towards the flag.

Odeum of Herodes Atticus

Many famous opera singers and musicians have performed here. There is no need for sound system which gives the opportunity to test their vocals.

Sunset from Philopappou hill.

Acropolis can be seen from up here.

Greek letters are so confusing. Circle, delta, circle, sigma. Reminds me of mathematics.

Dinner:

Hungry people

Greece is famous for its seafood. To make up for our not so good lunch, we had a hearty dinner. Above is seafood platter with battered shrimps, calamari, anchovies, etc.

We were kept warm by these lighted lamps outside the restaurant. They were quite effective.

Tzatziki - traditional yogurt started with garlic, cucumber and dill in it. We kept on ordering this as it was really delicious to eat with bread.

Moussaka - oven baked mash potatoes layered with beed and aubergines. Really nice but I still hate aubergines.

That's it for Day 1. We were knackered by that time. Did I mention that the dinner time in Greece is 10pm till 12 midnight? But come to think of it, it's 8pm till 10pm London time.

Coming soon: Day 2-trip to Delphi.