Athens
glorious Athens.... I don't know what is more exciting, the fact that
we are in this amazing city or that we are almost finished with our
contiki tour... Now don't get me wrong, we have had a great time on
this trip however, you can only take so much camping, only so much
bus travel and living so close to another 36 people can get a little
trying at times... But regardless of our mood we were keen to have an
amazing time... So we began with the momentous Acropolis or the holy
rock of Athens. The acropolis is the home of the amazing Parthenon
and the temple to the goddess Athina (who is believed to have given
the gift of the first olive tree to the Greeks)... We were also
blessed to see the most amazing views of Athens from this hill as
well and talk to the local animals.. Greece seems to be swarming with
street cats and dogs, they are just so friendly (a little thin and
scabby at times) but cute to say hello to :)
From here Dan and I set
off to see what we could for the remainder of the afternoon and this
included the Temple of Zeus - which was pretty cool...
We then had a
visit to the first modern Olympic stadium that was built in 1894 and
still used in the 2004 Athens Olympics, it was stunning.....
The rest
of the afternoon was spent exploring the old town and getting our
fill of amazing Greek cuisine... I cannot emphasize how many Greek
salads i have had over our time in Greece, but no matter how many i
am truly obsessed with the local feta and kalamata olives... So so
tasty!!!! We also had the opportunity to watch the change of guard in
front of the parliament house – The uniforms and drill is so
completely different to the Aussie army it was interesting to watch..
After a busy day we had farewell drinks with the contiki team and the
next morning said our goodbyes and after 22 days we are finally on
our own for independent travel again!!!! So what did we do over our
four days in Athens.... We checked into an amazing hotel and slept in
a bed and let me tell you it was fantastic!!! We didn't get up to
much over these last few days, lots of sleeping, coffee dates,
reading, eating and we even ventured to the outskirts of Athens in
search for a cinema where we saw The Hangover.... So after 4 days of
extreme relaxation we were prepared for our flight into Egypt to join
our last organised tour of this trip....
