Alma Athens

... time, this facility allowed the world to come together. Thoughts of conflict were set aside, hatred for a group of people lessened. Even though this was a short period of time...it was a start. During the Beijing games, American was in the middle of a heated election; this was cast aside. Taiwan was recognised by a government that has never done so before. It took hundreds of millions of dollars ...

... ancient civilization scattered in between modern Athens is quite cool to see.

Lunch was just something we needed to get into us so it was enough sightseeing and now for some Greek cuisine. We headed into the Plaka district to find us some grub. Note do not walk around Athens with a camera out …. Just screams tourist!! “Please come eat here sir, good food” We found this little restaurant which hurrah had English to go with the Greek! Had ...

... of leather sandals. A bit pricey, but I figure I was going to spend the money in Athens anyways on admission, why not continue to spend money in Athens. At Plaka, bumped into some people that teach at the British Columbia School in Egypt, a total surprise but very cool to see people you know on trips. Had a late lunch at a restuarant where we sat besides Americans who knew where Winnipeg was ...

... was being excavated ruins, pots, and buildings were destroyed because they did not know they were there. After that we went to see the Evzones on Syntogma Square. They are the guards for the Parliament of Greece. They have tasseled hats and wear tights and dresses. Also they wore shoes with pom poms on them. I got in trouble for saluting in a picture (who knows?) we also fed pigeons and I got scratches galore while feeding ...

... Luggage filled cabinets and overflowed to fill front and end of the cabin. We rolled into Santorini harbor in darkness after 9pm. This being the height of high season, all the pension owners must have filled their rooms with passegers from eariler boats, no one was there on the dock offering rooms. Luckily one of the tourist information offices was still open and directed me to a campsite on one of the black sand beaches. The so called waterfront bungalow is ...

... marble stone pavers. there was even a tortoise roaming around and eating the grass. Very bizarre! i bought a toasted sandwich from the cafe - my first real meal since arriving in Athens apart from a couple of dry biscuits and some milk i had bought last night (thats right, i found some milk supplies... yay!!!). i think my brain was still trying to to get around the fact i was in a completely different country and timezone, it hadnt even had time to think about food ...

... out over all the city with its twinkling lights. It’s much prettier at night because you can’t see the boring modern architecture and the choking smog. After hanging out a bit we wander back to the hostel and then go out to a nearby bar for some Ouzo, the national drink. It’s good and the place is really cool, with lots of multicolor bottles lined up on backlit shelves. Apparently their wine is good too, but we are only in Athens for one ...

... the bathroom. My kind of place!! The name of the hotel is The Grande Bretagne and I highly recommmend it! Right downtown and across the street from the Parliment Building and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Our first day in Athens we spent walking around town and doing some shopping. It's a busy city with many people, lots of cars and bad traffic. We had a snack and a drink at the Hard Rock and I was able to add to my collection of shot glasses. That night we ...

... no clue what the islands were. I feel really ignorant admitting to this but when I looked at a huge map of Greece I had no idea where Athens was! The map was in greek and I couldn't even figure out where we were much less figure out where I wanted to go. So we headed to the nearest reputable ferry company. They informed us that high season was just about to start this weekend so the Sunday return ships from Santorini which is generally the last island you visit because it is ...

... life, and three of the former buildings have been almost fully restored to their original state, externally, that is. These were the Doric temple of Hephaistos, dedicated to the Gods Hephaistos and Athena; The Stoa of Attalos, which now houses the Agora Museum; and the little but picturesque church of the Holy Apostles. The foundation stones of the other buildings were there but we had to put a lot of imagination into visualising what the Agora must have been like in its heydays ...