Kalamaki Beach

... eats. The following day was to be our Big Athens Tour Day. It was to begin at 7AM with tours of the archeological sites, and end at 23:00 aboard a ferry in Patras, several hundred miles away. We arose early and headed straight for the theater of Dionysis where we coughed up 24 Euros for two multipasses which granted access to the Acropolis along with 11 other less impressive sights. We clambered around the ruins ...

... of sleep. Jared and I crawled off the train when it came to a stop at 6:00am in Athens. Our legs, back and butt cramped in unimaginable ways, but at least we were there! Jared and I immediately wanted to get our return tickets for Sunday to Thessaloniki so that we would never have to endure that again. We waited in a line crammed full of people for a while until we realized that this group was only for same-day departures. A woman at another booth said that if we ...

... to catch a cab back to my hotel, until I bumped into a Kiwi couple that was catching a bus into town and then cabbing from there to their hotel. The bus was 3.20 euros so quite cheap, and in the end it saved me about 25 euros. That's it. That was my day. Did I mention the six bottles of beer I drank at the beach, plus two bottles of Smirnoff ice I had at the airport. I was a little tipsy when I got to my hotel. I slept like a baby.

... fish, drink cheap wine and beer, and spend hours in the middle of the day sitting at cafes people-watching while enjoying a frappe or ouzo. We couldn't help but wonder if they don't have to go to work or school! We're not sure how anything actually gets done in Greece, but it sure seems like a nice way to set your priorities! - some of our best times were just spent relaxing in cafes with a drink in hand and soaking up the atmosphere and surroundings

... people will be honoring, remembering, and protesting the event tomorrow so there are already police everywhere on Friday the 16th to prevent any riots. luckily, we leave early the morning of the 17th for Mykonos so we will be safe. people in Greece are very passionate. when we got back to the hostel we tan into Anna, the awesome red head from California we met in Bari when we were waiting for the ferry to Greece. we ended up ...

... exist! This zone is full of life, with lots of shops (gifts, clothes, shoes,etc), people (locals and tourists), restaurants... It's lunch time and we eat a good and cheap tyropita as we walk through the strait streets. Then in the afternoon we visit the old district, Plaka, the best part of Athens in my humble opinion! clean, well kept, with its charming small and tortuous cobbled streets (full of souvenir shops but logical, there's thousand of tourists ...

... thing in particular dragged me back so fast (and then out of it again)......HARRY POTTER. Woke up on the 21st and already had our plans set for the day. i had done the research ie. found the biggest, best, most likely to stock english books, bookshop in Athens. Went there first thing in the morning and there it was!!! it set me back a bit (damn euros) but definately worth it (it also weighs alot though). Havent really done ...

... restaurant, Milton's, was right in the centre of the neighborhood called Plaka, it is second oldest part of Athens, and is now full of tourist shops and flea markets. DAY #2: The Sights of Athens & Mum Arrives - Karen and I took a sight seeing tour of Athens. - Stop #1: Ancient Olympic Stadium. It was remarkable in size and was completely made of marble. I could totally picture in 766 the ancient Athenians finishing their marathon here ...

... 2 euros, after looking around we found the same water for 50cents. We were able to get out of the Plaka area and find food at a more reasonable price, but the euro still kills the wallet. It was really neat to wander around and recognize shops and restaurants that we had been to before. We found the Ava hotel that we stayed in last time, it was $40 Canadian when we stayed before. It was pretty dumpy, we remember the room was dingy and there was a large hole in the top of the ...

... next hour debating Australian politics. It was mostly Rob and Erin going back and forth. Roz and Kevin had fallen asleep while I just listened intently. It was way too late to get into such a heated debate for me. Eventually, Rob and I left deciding to just call it a night. We left Kevin in there sleeping not wanting to wake him up. I would learn the next day that he stayed there until 4am not wanting to disturb his roomate Michael who was having one last night with Claire.