Тraveling Summer- The Final Chapter: Athens, Greece

To learn about the Greek flag- check out my post on Thessaloniki

Our final vacation of the summer was to Athens, Greece. Lots of people have said Athens isn't that great so go elsewhere, however, after living so close for two years, we felt we needed to see what Athens is all about. Our original plan was to spend two days in Athens and then take day trips to the island of Aegina and to Mycenae, however Mycenae turned out to be too big a cost/hassle, so we had three days in Athens. This allowed us a fair amount of down time, which was appreciated as we left for Athens only 4 days after returning from the Great Balkan Adventure and were still quite tired.

Much of our time in Athens was spent checking out the archeological sites- the Acropolis, Temple of Jupiter, etc- and eating. We had a good time, but were a bit traveled-out. Just as I am a bit written-out about our vacations. I don't think Phil will guest blog this one, so pictures it is.

Olympic stadium.

First view of the Acropolis.

Hadrian's Arch

Temple of Zeus

Athens' main government building.

Sundays there is a very large changing of the guards ceremony complete with the military band.

The military band.

Traditional military outfits. 

Statue of Damaskinos

Tower of the Winds

One the very top of the mountain there is a church. We climbed up there.

On our way out to the island of Aegina.

First views of Aegina.

The port at Aegina.

We swam in this water. It was beautiful. 

This was our ferry ship.

We visited the Temple of Apollo and had the entire place to ourselves.

The Temple of Apollo. 

Acropolis at night- our view from dinner one night.

This is the view we had from up on top of the mountain I mentioned earlier.

There is a church and restaurant on top of the mountain.

We went to Brettos bar that makes its own liqueurs and such. This is also where Phil got to meet his childhood hero, Dan Majerle. 

Our final day we spent the evening up at the Acropolis. While there were still quite a few tourists, it wasn't overrun and was quite the sight.

Entrance to the Acropolis.

Parthenon

The Erechtheum 

The Parthenon.

Someone needs to shave!

Best friends!