YWCA (Xen) Athens

... of course, the Parthenon, in 105 degree heat and loving the (5 Euro/$7 US) frozen lemonade at the end of my four hours of exploring <br>~Being extremely impressed with the brand new, modern Acropolis Museum (so much glass, stainless steel and natural light in the exhibits and overall museum!) displaying so much great Greek history, sculpture, pottery, coins, jewelry etc. <br>~Meeting up with Sia on day three in Athens to take advantage of her company, local ...

... them having lunch and then walking around the Plaka flee market district of Rome. In the evening I took them to climb up a hill to see Athens at night but we didnt make it too the base of the hill and everyone was tired so we ended up having dinner and drinks and calling it a night. <br>Day 51: Climbed Lycabettus Hill which was where I had wanted to take the girls the night before. After that ...

well! what a first cruise! i am truly exhausted... not because of the work, but because of the ports. it was like, "here's the ship, here's your cabin, this is where you eat" and then BAM! PORT DAY! PORT DAY! PORT DAY! PORT DAY! i'm so used to the majority of my days being sea days that this is more like a vacation than a job. (please don't tell my boss that i said that!) i finally got into the swing of things about halfway into the cruise. i had a case of the first-cruise blues at ...

... mode, and it is great! This spring the Foreman's accepted the warm friendship of their Athenian friends' generous offer to visit and use an apartment in the Kalamaki district of Athens where wonderful times were spent five years ago. As we stepped off the plane and were greeted by George and Christian, we were struck by a feeling of returning to family. After a twenty-four hour travel day on Air France from Houston with a lay-over at Charles ...

... port, I found a TI on the same street. The staff member working alone was very kind and told me where the office was located. After booking the ticket, I went back to the TI. I had an idea to visit Olympia, but I was tired of ruins at that time. So I changed my mind and looked around Patras. In Patras, there were no must-see sites, but I checked some tourist spots. First of all, I headed for Kastro. When I walked up steep sets of stairs and went through the gate, a lady told ...

... We joined them and got some great views of Athens and the Parthenon. Areopagus Hill is famous because it was an important place for the spread of Christianity in Greece. Speakers used to deliver speeches and sermons from the perch to on looking crowds. After this we headed towards Hadrian's Arch and the Temple of Olympian Zeus thinking that we might be able to see them since they are out in plain view and admission would not be ...

... all we really need to take in it is sunscreen and the photo CDs (in case the hostel burns down while we're out) so we brought a bum-bag for him and he was all smiles. For lunch we brought our first Gyros (Souvlaki) from a restaurant selling on the street. It was VERY greasy but tasty and we figured we have been walking all day to compensate. Also it was only 1,70 euro! Athens is very cheap. Everything we have been going to buy elsewhere we have found here for about 1/3 of the price.

... to me, is the PERFECT TIME to visit Greece. It's nice that it is not too busy. We were told today that Tom Hanks, Brad Pitt and my friend George Clooney are looking at land at Antiparos which is a hop skip and jump away from here. Our TransAt agent bought some land here for $150,000 euros five years ago and can now get $500,000 euros for it (one euro is equal to $1.50). We met a young gal today from Quebec - she has ...

... to tourists like us but the cobblestone streets and the old houses with their porches and climbing vines made for a nice evening stroll. We had a restaurant I found in TripAdvisor but got lost somehow and stumbled another famous restaurant instead that served traditional Greek medzes or tapas. For 35 Euros, we had 1/2 a litre of wine, water, and a choice of 5 small dishes from a tray of about 10 that the waiter ...

... to attend. After dinner, all we basically did was go from table to table taking group photos one last time. We said our goodbyes to Jayson and Andria who were leaving tomorrow morning for their flight back to Seattle. Most everyone had started migrating back to their rooms to call it a night after such a long day. Erin, Roz, Rob, Kevin, and myself were the only ones left hanging out. We decided to go back to Erin and Roz's room to hang out for a bit. We spent ...