Italy and Greece Day 13
Italy and Greece
Day 13 - Thursday, September 20, 2001
The room at Delphi was very spartan. No real air conditioning alter 11 PM, they expect their guest to open the windows.
We got up this morning and had another continental breakfast, they did have some eggs, Vienna sausages but I just had toast, croissant, butter, juice, and coffee.
We got in the bus and went to 3000 feet on this winding road and drove towards Athens. We stopped and had a chance to get out and Michael had two bottles of liquor where we toasted our trip and had a chance to take a group picture overlooking the valley and a mountain town.
The road was very winding but finally it straightened out. As the bus weaved a lot I got a little nauseous at the back of the bus. We got on Greece's interstate #1 and stopped for 30 minutes for a light lunch.
I had nothing except water - just not hungry. We drove into Athens and it is a large city and it was 95 degrees. HOT and HUMID.
We got to the hotel, grabbed our luggage and went to our room. I went down to register for three trips and waited in line 35 minutes for a one minute sign-up.
Before our next tour we went out, I got a sausage and chips, 3 hot-dogs and french fries and Gennie got a Caesar salad, and we shared. Three sodas and slight tip for a total of 15 dollars. We walked back to the hotel, got in the bus and went for a tour. IT STILL IS HOT.
The tour was good in that we had a chance to see several things and see how large Athens is.
Initially, we went to the first Olympic Stadium, took a few pictures, and got back on the bus - there are sharks (sellers) out there trying to sell their wares.
We then saw the high priced areas, government buildings, past and present, and then by bus to the Acropolis where we had the opportunity climb all the way up.
We saw the Parthenon, Museum, the Temple of Zeus and Nike, and many other sights. It is impressive how they did all of this before the time of Christ. We were there for two hours on a guided tour.
We returned to the hotel, took a quick shower, and were ready for a night walk of the city at 7:30.
Michael took us around town to see some of the sites, down to the subway, downtown through the Plaka and then up some stairs to a folk restaurant.
We had a traditional Greek dinner of bread; wine; a yogurt, cucumber, garlic, olive oil dip; eggplant spread; olive leaf roll filled with meat; fried squash rings; Greek salad; and then the main course (Gennie) roasted pork, potatoes, and carrots; (Vic) pork kabob. For dessert Gennie had a sweet called baklava and I had watermelon and melon.
During all of this a band of three (accordion, guitar and mandolin) played. Four dancers came out and did traditional dances, then a singer came out.
We walked home at 11:00 and got to our room and it was still steamy hot as our air conditioner was not working properly.
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