We went and had breakfast at the hotel and my, it was quite the spread! Breads, meats, cheeses, feta, olives, very yummy thick Greek yogurt with honey drizzled on top, all sorts of little sweet croissants and Danishes, sweet bread, scrambled eggs, boiled eggs etc. Chris and I got our €9 worth each by golly! Ha, the kids were free and put down quite a bit as well. Hailey ended up wearing her orange fruit (which was a darker orange color than usual and more squirty as well)-we had to go change her clothes and rinse out the orange.
We traveled not very far and already stumbled across some ruins:
And then, we saw this thing called the "Happy Train" so I convinced Chris we should do it. It takes you around for over an hour, past all the big sites and you can hop off at the Acropolis and hop back on (and one other place it stopped as well). It was only €6 for Chris and I (and the kids were free) and well worth it! The kids loved riding the little train and Chris didn't have to walk as far with Hailey in the pack and you got to survey everything and decide what you wanted to go back to.
The Roman Agora (Market):
Acropolis through the trees before we climbed up:
Ethan surrounded by olive trees:
Ethan and I outside the Theatre at the bottom entrance of the Acropolis:
Like father, like son (except Chris' legs are much longer):
Looking down on the Theatre and out across the city of Athens:
Temple of Athenian Nike:
Stadium for first Olympics in 1896:
Lunch at cute cafe--LuLu in the Plaka after we exited the Happy Train:
Lunching outside while the parakeets were getting it on in the cage next to us (Chris and I had a good laugh over it):
Places to go, people to see. Looking a little hangry here:
Chris was jealous of my Ferrero Roche dessert (his Black Forest one didn't quite measure up):
Olives everywhere! Who knew there were THAT many different kinds? Ethan is in heaven!
Temple of Olympian Zeus:
Hadrian's Gate (that Hadrian got around--we've seen his walls and gates several places)!
We walked through the huge National Garden. It also had a zoo inside with goats, turtles, etc. and a huge playground for the kids!
Thought this movie poster in Greek looked cool:
This place was near our hotel with a huge selection and a line out the door. Inexpensive and delicious!
The next day in Athens we headed to the Acropolis Museum. It is huge, pretty new and state of the art. We couldn't believe admission was only €5ea. for Chris and I!
Heck, most museums in the UK are around £12 (that National Motor Museum was around £25!). Anyways, there has to be some way that they can keep the low rate for Greek citizens and charge tourists from outside the country normal museum prices to raise money to pay back all that debt. They had the upper artwork that goes all around the top of the Acropolis laid out above at the museum. And tons of Roman ruins that you can view through glass floors at the huge museum entryway. Lots of statues with broken noses and missing heads and appendages. Crazy that some of these things were from Jesus' time!
We had a coffee and some lemon tart while Hailey slept in the borrowed museum stroller on their huge terrace overlooking the Acropolis. Then we headed to lunch and ate at this traditional Greek family restaurant on the Plaka. They gave us the option of viewing/picking dishes from a big tray they brought over or ordering from the menu. We chose the first option. I wish more places would do that--it's quick and easy and everyone gets what they want! Ethan loved his meatballs dish, Chris got a sausage dish, I got Moussaka that Hailey and I shared and we all had dolmas and bread with tzatziki--yum!
These street side cafes just have motorcycles and mopeds speeding past them all the time. It sure makes sense to have a motorcycle in this city! And accordion players or small quartet bands come around and perform for money.
Oh, just as Ethan finished up his last eye drops for pink eye, we discovered that Hailey needed to start the 5 day regimen. Thank goodness it is while Chris is around to help me. It takes two of us to hold her down and keep her eyes open/do the eye drops. Poor girl. Luckily there is just enough in the bottle for her as well.
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