All Roads Lead to Rome - and Beyond!

And, now it is all Greek to me!!

 

Yesterday, I left Nice and flew to Rome where, after a 2 hour wait, connected to a flight to Athens.  This was my first time in this city, in Greece at all.  All the travel went smoothly, the taxi in from the airport took about 45 minutes and then next thing I knew I was checked in to the Hotel Grand Bretagne (a five-star) which the Voyages to Antiquity company uses.  To say that it is luxurious would be an understatement!  I settled into my room and then headed to the downstairs bar (The Winter Garden) for a celebratory glass of Prosecco. 

Afterwards, I went to the rooftop restaurant for dinner.  I was so lucky to get a table on the terrace with an amazing view of the Acropolis.  Wow!
 

Today (Wednesday), I join the cruise group and our first activity was a tour of the Acropolis and its museum.  We hiked all the way up and it was not as difficult as I thought it might be.  The guide was very informative - but don't ask me to repeat the myriads of facts she told us about its history, construction, restoration, etc.  At least I recalled the differences among Doric, Ionic and Corinthian columns from my long past Grade 7 social studies class!  It was good our visit was in the morning as it was not too hot or crowded at that time.  After we came back down the hill, we walked to the Acropolis museum and again our guide filled our heads with history. I don't think I retained even a fraction of it!

From the hotel rooftop at breakfast

 

 After we got back on the bus, there was then a brief tour of the city including a quick visit to the Olympic stadium built when the Games were restarted in the 1890s.  Interestingly, they were suspended in ancient times because they were seen to be honouring the Greek gods and the Christians were having none of that when they took power over Athens.  We also saw a number of neo-classic buildings, statues including one of Lord Byron, and Constitution Square and the main government building.  It is where the Greek guards change every hour.  The Greeks don’t have an official army and all young men must volunteer for a period of time.  This, the guide told us, is why Greece doesn’t participate in any wars other than defending itself.
 

 

The tour ended about 1:30 and, by then, I was ready for something to eat.  I had started talking to a woman from Australia (Brisbane) named Daphne who seemed interesting.  She asked me if I wanted to explore a bit.  So, after getting refreshed and obtaining a map, we headed off to find the Plaka district which was supposed to be filled with restaurants, shops, etc.  We had a glass of wine and I had a snack, we checked out the little alleys and shops before going over to Constitution Square to watch the guards go through their routine. 

 

 

 
By then, it was nearly 5 and my feet were tired and, no wonder!  I had done over 15,000 steps by then and 13 flights of stairs!