We're Off - Athens

We arrived in Dubai at 3am on Thursday having not slept a wink except one or two of us who found 3 spare seats, lifted the arms of the seats and had a few hours kip!!!  Five hours later after having spent time in the Diners Club lounge we set off for Athens - a five hour flight.  We were most impressed with Emirates - the meals were superb and the cabin staff most courteous at all times and needless to say they looked beautiful in their uniforms even after an 8 hour flight!

One of the lovely air hostesses.  By the way it was with her permission that I took her photo!

                                                                                                                                                                        

At this point, let me introduce you to my two sisters. 

From left to right - Barbara, Moi, Lesley

And here they are with their hubbies Russell (behind) and Dave, of course disregarding the guy on the left who was one of our tour guides.

This is what happens when you've been all night without sleep!

ATHENS

We arrived in Athens at about 2.15 and were met by George from Manos Tours who were recommended by friends of Les and Dave last year when they did a similar cruise.  We were taken straight to the Plaka Hotel which we had booked from SA.  Undaunted by our lack of sleep, we dumped our bags and set off for the Acropolis.

The sacred rock of the Acropolis was for many centuries the most important religious centre of the city of Athens.  In the middle of the 5th century BC when Athens was at the height of its power, the Parthenon, the Propylaea and a little later, the temple of Athena were all erected between 447 and 406 BC.  The various temples built on the site must have been beautiful, lavishly decorated with marble and bronze statues dedicated to the gods.   The Parthenon survived the ravages of time pretty well, serving as a church and then a mosque, until finally it was used as a munitions depot during the Turkish Occupation of Greece. In 1687, during a battle with the Venetians, an explosion tore through the building and caused much of the damage seen today. There was also a damaging fire in ancient times.

Many of the columns have been repaired and there is on-going discussion as to whether they should continue restoration or just let it be!

The Amphitheatre

Here we watched preparations for a music concert to take place in the evening.

A view from the Acropolis over the city of Athens

As far as the eye can see, in all directions, stretches the city of Athens; one of the most inhabited cities in the world!

A quick change into warmer clothes (it was really cold with a chilly breeze) and we headed off into the Plaka (the old town) looking for a little restaurant suggested to us by the hotel where we were staying.

Thnasis restaurant

Here we all are looking a little jaded but not wanting to miss out on anything in our short time in this fascinating city.  Here they are well known for their kebabs and of course their delicious Tzatziki (ooh my mouth waters when I think of this Greek Yogurt sauce)!!

(Thnasis) Where we had our kebabs and Tzatziki

After a lovely evening we sleepwalked I mean set off to explore the "old city"  before a good night's sleep, or what was left of the night by the time we stumbled in to our hotel.  We were now looking for Baklava and didn't have to look far - almost every bakery, of which there were many on every street corner, had it in different shapes and sizes.  Mmm was it good!!!  Now for some typical Greek coffee.

Meliaztos Cafe

We came across this cafe, still in the Plaka, where we were greeted by a very friendly young lady and the cafe owner/manager who made us feel so welcome (of course)!  She explained how typical Greek coffee is made:
  
"The old traditional way of making a good Greek coffee was using a brass or copper briki, which is a long-handled coffee pot and then it was boiled on low heat to allow the flavoursome compounds to
dissolve.  Old traditional heating sources included a tray, about 10 cm (4 in) deep, filled with sand. The tray was placed on the burner to heat and when the sand was hot, the briki was placed in the hot sand. This allowed a more even and gentle than direct heat." (This is taken from Kopiaste….To Greek Hospitality)

Heating the brikis in the tray of sand

Pouring into cups

She explained the process to us as she was making it.  Sorry about the blurry photo!  Oh what delicious coffee this was.....

Russ and Les enjoying their cup of coffee

Dave and Barb enjoying theirs

The owner/manager then brought us each a little square of cake, no charge, which he called "Milk Cakes" very similar to our milk tart (melk tert) in SA but tasted completely different but delicious!

Milk Cakes

Bidding us farewell as we left!

Well, if we thought that we were going to sleep after this strong coffee, think again!  Absolutely nothing was going to keep me from falling asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Plaka Hotel, Athens

We managed to find our way back to the hotel and up to the roof garden we went to take this photo of the Acropolis lit up at night.  As usual, a photo does not do justice to the absolutely stunning sight.  We were fortunate to have a room that looked onto the Acropolis.

The Acropolis lit up at  night

THE NEXT DAY IN ATHENS

We had arranged to meet George outside our hotel at 10am so after a wonderful breakfast with delicious thick Greek yogurt and honey and a full English breakfast, we had a quick trot around town once again as Les and Dave wanted to show us the different market stalls selling an unbelievable selection of fruit and vegetables, nuts and olives and of course olive oil.  How I wish I could have bought!

Don't we look a happy bunch?

Fruit and Veges

Dried fruit and nuts

Just a quick note on George.  I have mentioned before that Dave and Les had done a tour with him on their last trip.  They found that he had grown up in Nelspruit, Mphumalanga and had gone to school in Pretoria so his English was perfect and he knew exactly where we all live in SA.  What a find for us!!  He was born in Crete and has lived in Athens for many years and was genuinely pleased to be showing us a small part of his country.  Little did we know what he had in store for us!!!

George collected us in front of our hotel to take us on a drive along the scenic coastline of Athens, passing through beautiful seaside suburbs with their marinas and beaches.  Many call it the Riviera of Athens.  On a clear day you can see at least 7 rocky islands out in the Aegean Sea.

Our first stop was Cape Sounion, the southernmost tip of the Attica peninsula in Greece.  This is the site of the ruins of the ancient Greek temple of Poseidon, the god of the sea in classical mythology.  One can read about the legend and history here about how Aegeus had leapt to his death off the cliff, thus giving his name to the Aegean Sea, an interesting story.  The temple whose columns still stand today, was probably built around 440 BC on a 200 foot hill.  The wind was howling and it was freezing cold so we did not walk up to the site but I photographed it from lower down.

The Temple of Poseidon

The two Daves and Barb braving the cold wind!

On the way here George let slip that he had a surprise for us if there was enough time!  So making sure that we did not spend too much time here, we were anxious to find out about our next stop. 

Oh wow, he treated us to lunch at Akroyial, (which means next to the sea) {thank you Maria} a restaurant where we had a typical Greek meal of seafood (prawns), shrimps, tiny little fried fish (can't remember what they were), many different breads and Tzatziki, not forgetting the Ouzo which he showed us how to drink!!!  Oh my word, this was probably the best meal I had on the whole trip. 
                            

George showing us how it's done!

The Greeks also speak with their hands!

Thank you again George, it was unforgettable.......

George then wrenched us away from this beautiful little seaside restaurant, packed us into his e-class Mercedes Benz Sprinter mini bus and delivered us to the port of Piraeus where we were to find our ship!

Hey, so I'm just a quilter trying to write a travel blog!  If you've enjoyed reading the beginning of our fabulous trip, please read my next post.  We will be embarking the Queen Elizabeth and our first port of call will be the Greek Island of Mykonos.