Athens in a day

We're staying in a little basement flat with it's own internal courtyard close to the Acropolis, and when you sit outside you can hear all the conversations, and bad music!

Athens is surprisingly green - at least In the inner city. Lots of trees have been planted on most streets, and in the morning you can see people out washing down their steps and the street outside. And yet it is very dirty - maybe just the result of a long hot summer, 4 million inhabitants, and 2 million visitors. And there's graffiti everywhere - perhaps because there is 25% unemployment, and most of it with the under 25s. There are people sleeping in the little park up the road, and many abandoned and run down buildings. But the rest of the place seems to be doing ok. 

We did the early morning thing and walked around the park underneath the Acropolis. So the Acropolis is the area on the hill, and the Parthenon is the famous building. When we were here last you could just walk up to it and we have photos is us on the steps. Now it is much more protected, which is a fantastic thing.

We were queued up for tickets before the opening time of 8am - I hadn't even had coffee! But it was amazing as we were up there before the crowds - a beautiful spot with stunning views.

We then spent a couple of hours touring the city on the hop on, hop off bus - we didn't do much hopping, but we did fry our brains upstairs on the open deck in 35degrees!

Cold beer time!

And tonight we're catching up with an old friend from Oz who flew in today - it's a small world.