Welcomes! Please has the shrimps!

I am loving Athens!  I also thoroughly enjoy that almost all English speech is in plural - that will be a hard habit to break when I leave here.  Everything has an "s" on the end of it, but my favorite is "welcomes" because I hear it all the time as the people are so friendly.  I woke up pretty early this morning considering I literally passed out from exhaustion last night - after a fantastic meal of mushroom risotto at the rooftop restaurant with a stunning view of the Acropolis.

So I took an early morning jaunt to the Acropolis - missed it the first time and ended up on the hill across from it.  Walked through the woods and paths while it became closer and closer.  The sun was coming up and the parks and historic sites are very aromatic - don't know what it is I'm smelling but it's divine!  Arrived at the Acropolis before most of the tour buses and people.  I just don't even know what to say - it was amazing and the view from the top! You can see the entire city, the light fog in the mountains, the Ancient Agora and Thessieons monument and the hill that I walked through to get there.  Plus there are all kinds of interesting ruins at the bottom of the Acropolis hill (although getting used to peering over the wall at that height took some adjustment).  It was amazing!  Then I walked down the craggy Mars Hill, took a path and ended up in the Agora.  Damn was that amazing and there's a whole area full of mint that added to the already pleasant aroma.  Walked through the remains of the old Stoas, gymnasium, speaker platforms - just fantastic.  I am going again tomorrow because there is so much to see - there are some ruins around the Acropolis and on the second hill that I need to discover.  The only slight issue was a combination of disgust at the graffiti on some of the ancient walls outside of the preserved areas AND that I had to spend a portion of my stroll through the Agora with 50 screaming 13 year-olds and their whistle blowing chaperones.  I wanted to scream "shuts the mouths" but managed to avoid them where ever possible.  What would Plato have done? 

All in all it was an excellent morning - finally being in a non-Muslim country meant I could wear shorts which was nice considering I was hauling my behind up some pret-ty steep hills (it's warm here too) and off on the trails less traveled.  Being as clumsy as I am, I managed not to fall off or trip over anything - a few close calls, but I remained vertical - well done, me!  Everyone else was strolling along, but I ATTACKED the sites with fervor!  Sightseeing should be a sport...

This is a shot of inside the Agora which was filled with piles of architectural features.

looking from Thessieon through the Agora

Thessieon - and the location of the whistles and screaming kids

Thessieon from across the Agora

inside the Agora

Inside a church built in 1000 A.D. - old!

view from Acropolis looking down into this old stadium and wall

The Parthenon!

Me and the Parthenon

Temple across from the Parthenon

view from the top of the steps of the entrance to Acropolis - the Ancient Agora is down there

Another shot of the stadium and the hill in the background I walked through

ground view of a Stoa - the stadium is next to it

AnyIhatekids, I wandered back through the Plaka District and had a well earned beer before taking in some shopping and then a well deserved power nap.  This country is awesome and I haven't really even seen much of it - think I need to come back and hit a few islands (Santorini) and other areas within the country.  Love it here.


Drink of the Day - the wines and the beers - thank yous!