Athens is great.
In the morning, I finally dragged my fat arse out for a walk up and down the main road near the camping ground. I even lumbered into a run for almost 10 minutes. The things I do to use the second last hole in my belt instead of the last one.....
Another hot day in Greece but only to 34 degrees. We all took hats, sunglasses and water and sought out public transport.Overall, it was an easy trip to get to the centre of Athens once you figured out where you were and what train station you were standing at.And the tourist map didn't show all the train stations, like the one we came out of, so we were trying to figure out where we were for a few minutes.
As a side note, I think Athenian motorcyclists are insane. They don't drive any worse than I've seen before but half of them don't wear helmets. I'm not talking about puttering around but a bike carrying 2 people going at least 120km/hour.
We thought we did the smart thing and bought tickets for the 'hop on/ hop off' bus tours through Athens and not have to walk everywhere.We decided to visit the Acropolis first to avoid the heat of the day but where we joined the tour involved us taking 3/4 of the tour to get there.
Even though we were there before 11am, it was quite hot and slushy lemonade drinks were the call of the day. The site was great and we took some time to rest in the shade and enjoy the 2,500 years of Greek architecture.
We ambled down but missed the tour bus by minutes, so we decided to have lunch in the air conditioned bliss of a nearby restaurant and re-evaluate the second half of the day. I wanted to see the archaeological museum and Dee wanted to see the markets we passed when travelling to the Acropolis. I didn't seeing both but we didn't have time for that sort of nonsense. We finished lunch and had only 7 minutes before the next bus but the waiter took his time and we missed it. That gave us another 30 minutes to sort out when, where and how to meet up. That done, we caught the bus and I stepped off at the museum and Dee and Gene stayed on to explore the markets.
The Museum was great, the highlight was the death mask of Agamemnon.And the air con. I finished early, so I waited at the pickup point enjoying an ice cream and cold drink. I realised the bus was late and I'm sure it didn't pass me by. I started to text the girls that I was still waiting when the texted me saying that I'm not on the bus. From the tone of the text I thought they had jumped on the bus and I had this thought we would be circling each other through Athens on differing buses.
I tried to text but it failed (This isn't the time for a long drawn-out rant about our International mobiles but let's say I'm not impressed), so I tried to ring several times but I only received a recorded message in some foreign language. The texting and calls used up all my credit and it took a while to get that sorted.
I finally arrived at the stop where I was supposed to meet the girls and I couldn't see them but I had assumed they may be at the next stop. I had just sorted out the credit on the phone, rang Gene and, amazingly, got through. Even though I didn't see them and they didn't see me, they were still there. I got off at the next stop, walked the 500m back and found them.
Safely reunited, we caught a couple of trains and a bus and made home, a bit frazzled and weary but together.
That gave us a few hours to rest, have cool showers, wash the days clothes and play on the computer for a bit. I also realised we have only 1 out of 4 rubber, muffler hangers left. I we lose the last one, I can only imagine what would happen. That's job for tomorrow morning before we leave for SPARTA!
In the morning, I finally dragged my fat arse out for a walk up and down the main road near the camping ground. I even lumbered into a run for almost 10 minutes. The things I do to use the second last hole in my belt instead of the last one.....
Another hot day in Greece but only to 34 degrees. We all took hats, sunglasses and water and sought out public transport.Overall, it was an easy trip to get to the centre of Athens once you figured out where you were and what train station you were standing at.And the tourist map didn't show all the train stations, like the one we came out of, so we were trying to figure out where we were for a few minutes.
As a side note, I think Athenian motorcyclists are insane. They don't drive any worse than I've seen before but half of them don't wear helmets. I'm not talking about puttering around but a bike carrying 2 people going at least 120km/hour.
We thought we did the smart thing and bought tickets for the 'hop on/ hop off' bus tours through Athens and not have to walk everywhere.We decided to visit the Acropolis first to avoid the heat of the day but where we joined the tour involved us taking 3/4 of the tour to get there.
Even though we were there before 11am, it was quite hot and slushy lemonade drinks were the call of the day. The site was great and we took some time to rest in the shade and enjoy the 2,500 years of Greek architecture.
We ambled down but missed the tour bus by minutes, so we decided to have lunch in the air conditioned bliss of a nearby restaurant and re-evaluate the second half of the day. I wanted to see the archaeological museum and Dee wanted to see the markets we passed when travelling to the Acropolis. I didn't seeing both but we didn't have time for that sort of nonsense. We finished lunch and had only 7 minutes before the next bus but the waiter took his time and we missed it. That gave us another 30 minutes to sort out when, where and how to meet up. That done, we caught the bus and I stepped off at the museum and Dee and Gene stayed on to explore the markets.
The Museum was great, the highlight was the death mask of Agamemnon.And the air con. I finished early, so I waited at the pickup point enjoying an ice cream and cold drink. I realised the bus was late and I'm sure it didn't pass me by. I started to text the girls that I was still waiting when the texted me saying that I'm not on the bus. From the tone of the text I thought they had jumped on the bus and I had this thought we would be circling each other through Athens on differing buses.
I tried to text but it failed (This isn't the time for a long drawn-out rant about our International mobiles but let's say I'm not impressed), so I tried to ring several times but I only received a recorded message in some foreign language. The texting and calls used up all my credit and it took a while to get that sorted.
I finally arrived at the stop where I was supposed to meet the girls and I couldn't see them but I had assumed they may be at the next stop. I had just sorted out the credit on the phone, rang Gene and, amazingly, got through. Even though I didn't see them and they didn't see me, they were still there. I got off at the next stop, walked the 500m back and found them.
Safely reunited, we caught a couple of trains and a bus and made home, a bit frazzled and weary but together.
That gave us a few hours to rest, have cool showers, wash the days clothes and play on the computer for a bit. I also realised we have only 1 out of 4 rubber, muffler hangers left. I we lose the last one, I can only imagine what would happen. That's job for tomorrow morning before we leave for SPARTA!
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