Athens again - 23 March 2008

An early morning start was needed to catch the 7 a.m. ferry to Athens. The wind on the island was quite fierce and the weather during the trip was very indifferent: there was no incentive whatsoever to venture out on deck.

Arriving in Athens the sky did not look much better but by the time we had caught the Metro to our hotel, checked in and used the rest of our 90-minute ticket to get to the Acropolis station, the sun was shining quite brightly.

Being Sunday the Acropolis was, again, free to enter so we took the opportunity to, once again, wander through this imposing site, so steeped in history. Leaving the Acopolis we climbed Areopogos Hill where Paul reasoned with the locals (Acts 17:22) and converted Dionysios, (v34) who later became the patron saint of Athens, to the Christian religion.

After that it was time to meander through the pedestrianised streets in Plaka, the tourist-trap part of the city, then head back to our hotel for another of their wonderful Greek Salads. At least one of us had a Greek Salad every night during our stay in Greece and the best by far were those served at the Hotel Rio.

An interesting feature of travelling on the Metro in Athens is the amount of marble in the stations: whether this is a result of the 2004 Olympics or not, I do not know. There are also a number of stations where ruins were found while excavating for the stations. A very interesting one is Monastiraki station where the remains of an old river containment scheme were discovered.

Many more photos here