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  • Day 2

    Athens

    April 5, 2017 in Greece ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Woke up several times during the night and had to pee but the toilet is next to one of owners room and I didn't want to wake him. - side note - he smokes a lottttt of weed, he has basically hotboxed his bedroom and I got a whiff every time I went to the loo. Made me feel a little queezy. The streets outside were very loud too.
    We got up at 8 and had left by 8:30 - we decided we would find the meeting place for our tour and then get breakfast. Hadrians arch was about 1km away and easy to find. We had breakfast at some resturant nearby and it made Will feel sick. He got scrambled eggs and they were dripping in butter. I got pancakes and they were pretty shitty too.
    We walked back for the start of our tour and got the tour guide we wanted - her name was Sam and she was originally from South Africa so her accent was easy to understand. She has lived in Greece for 26 years after coming for a 2 week holiday and meeting her husband.
    She was a great guide, very enthusiast and good with dates.
    We saw Hadrians Arch and Zeus temple. (Can't remember exact name but it's right next to the arch) we then walked on and came across an ancient bath they only discovered in 2004. I liked listening to the gross way they use to bathe by shaving their skin off into the water. Next we walked past the gardens which was the athletes village for the modern day Olympic Games - Sam painted a colorful picture of what it would have been like.
    We saw the Olympic stadium, but didn't go in. We plan on doing it another day.
    We went through another garden (there is only 2 in the whole of Athens) - Amalia, the queen and wife of Otto created the garden - seeds from all over the world were brought and planted there - there was also a zoo (mainly ducks and goats for kids), beautiful GINORMOUS bird nests and random parts from old buildings used as decorations. It was pretty.
    Next we went past the prime ministers house / not where he lives but where he works. We were fortunate enough that something special was happening so there was tonnes of security and a special changing of the guard ceremony. It is compulsory is Greece for all males to do Military service. I got photos with a guard; he didn't blink once, was kinda creepy.
    They do this ridiculous walk with Pom poms on their feet and a horse shoe on the bottom of their foot because king Otto was obsessed with horses. We waited for the prime minister/other to arrive but it took too long so we moved on but not before maybe 100 odd soldiers did a walking parade down the street.
    We walked past the House of Parliament and the tomb of the unknown solider which I want to have a closer look at another day and then onto some churches one being the metropolitan cathedral of Athens.
    We saw Hadrians library, the Roman Agora and this beautiful graffiti street. Street art is not illegal here - graffiti is.
    There are heaps of cats, but they seem to be well looked after or at least they haven't been abused. They come happily for pats and arnt scared of people.
    We walked through winding streets with little houses with breathtaking views. We finished our tour and tipped 10€. I found her to be a great guide.
    We had lunch at a resturant nearby.
    There was a cat in the resturant :)
    We tried a Greek entree platter which was actually delicious. The sausage was great.
    Will tried a few beer and he really enjoyed them too. I tried tomato soup for the first time, yum!
    We then started walking down to the acropolis entrance. I fell down the hill and received little sympathy from William, he was highly embarrassed but my knees hurt so much I couldn't stand up so I just sat there for a moment having a little cry lol. I did scrape my knees though so lucky I was wearing pants or it would have been much worse.
    We paid 20€ each to enter the acropolis which was expensive but it is one of the Main sites so..
    what can I say other than it had a lot of broken marble pieces along the paths. The signs unfortunately were mainly in Greek and didn't really describe what we were looking at but talked about its restoration.
    There was a fantastic theatre though and the Parthenon was super duper. Except again, disappointed in the lack of explanation regarding its purpose and how it would have been used.
    "A temple for Athena" doesn't really tell me why it's so significant.
    The rocks where very slippery though when we were walking back down, again, lots of cats and dogs. Will needed to pee really badly and so we stoped in an information center to use the facilities.
    On the toilet door was a sign "please don't put toilet paper in the toilet" ....... gross.
    We then went back home and I was so tired I fell asleep about 5pm without dinner and slept the whole way through. :)

    We found out Coco had been attacked by Zeus/Athena and had to be put down tonight. I feel so, so sad for Coco. The poor little thing. She was such a sweet and happy soul. I'm honestly gutted. I hope the family is ok.
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