June 30, 2010
7 A.M. Jenny & Lauren get the wake-up call and precede to get dressed and eat the continental breakfast which turned out to be fairly nice with eggs, some sort of grilled meat (we guessed ham), some slices of greek cheese, mushrooms, and baked tomatoes. Fueled for the day, we board only the biggest, tallest 2-story touring bus you’ve ever seen and Tyson, our tour guide, points out various sites of Athens. Our first stop was THE ORIGINAL Olympic stadium made entirely from the 2nd most expensive marble in the whole world. We reverently removed our clothes like the very first Olympians did and began competing. Ok just kidding. After that stop we went up to the Acropolis and the Parthenon which was amazing. Wow. Temple of Zeus. He invited us in and offered us gifts from his fellow gods, but we just snapped a few pics. We also saw the location that St. Paul first preached to the Greeks and where Pope John Paul II visited after 5 centuries of papal absence after the Greek schism. Lauren and I thought it was pretty cool to stand and look at the exact same place that St. Paul once stood! Lauren’s additional comments of the Acropolis: “is was SO hot and there were about 2.4 million people there touring J.”
After the tour we went to Monastiraki which is the popular downtown square area that has restaurants, shops, etc. And then we met and fell in love with the gyro stand. We’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. Our tour guide gave us some suggestions for the afternoon, so in unison Lauren and I agreed to shop. So we explored the Athens flea market. We were a little disappointed…everything was pretty commercial and the prices were not great. And most vendors wouldn’t budge. So no bargaining…bummer. But there were plenty of designer knockoffs, so we both ended up with a few small goodies. We stopped at a small shop for gelato which was really good. After we met back up with the group, we walked to the tram which took us back to our hotel. After a 20 minute power nap, we walked down to Glyfada which used to be the location of the US army base so it had a lot of English and Americanized influence. Restauranteurs beg you to come in and offer free wine and lots of extras if you patronize. We split a Greek pie and fried feta cheese which was nothing like fried things in the US. They served hot bread and olives (lucky for Jenny, Lauren doesn’t like olives! Heck yes). There was no breading, just looked like cheese that had been melted and browned in the oven and you eat it on bread. It was delicious! So the dinner lasted for over 2 hours. Europeans are so different about meals, they aren’t in any hurry and they bring out watermelon and honeydew like 2 hours after you’ve already finished eating. So after dinner we went back to the hotel and skyped J Tomorrow we drive to Delphi for a tour and board the night ferry for Corfu! Can’t wait for Corfu and the beach…
-Lauren & Jenny- aka Greek goddesses
Note: Our pictures are taking FOREVER to upload...we are attempting to use shutterfly. Will update ASAP!