We reluctantly climbed out of bed to be able to be up and breakfasted prior to meeting our Athens tour guide. Georgious met us at the hotel in a nice, comfortable black Mercedes. Nice. Older gentleman who said he had just two years before he could retire.

He began by driving us to the Acropolis. He dropped us off to climb up the road to the entrance. I wasn’t concerned as I had purchased the “skip the line” tickets ahead of time. Well, the documents I had apparently weren’t the correct ones. The guide sent us the documents by email but we couldn’t open them. Finally we had him send them by WhatsApp and thankfully they worked. Not sure that was actually any easier than just buying the tickets there.

Though we arrived at 9 am it was already packed. People everywhere. Hardest to deal with were the large bus tour groups that tended to clog things up. Alas, we snaked our way between them and reached the top to view the Parthenon. It was amazing to see after learning about it for years since childhood. What I also like is that can keep seeing views of it around the city.

Our guide took us to a large Greek Orthodox Church which couldn’t have been more ornate if it tried. So different from all the Turkish mosques. We continued around the main part of the city seeing the parliament (apparently Macron is here for a few days), other city buildings and churches. Then we drove up a large hill where we then walked up to the top by stairs (143!) and ramps to reach a church at the top that gave 360 degree views of the city.

Lower down once again we passed the national garden and happened to come across the changing of the guard. Now these were the most unique guards. As was their style of marching. They wore the strangest shoes that apparently weigh more than 2 kg each!

We then drove on to see the original stadium for the Olympics, constructed out of marble and seats 65,000!

At that point he drove us to his company’s restaurant for lunch which was actually quite a ways away. By the time we finished and were dropped back at the hotel we needed a rest.

Eventually Josie declared she was hungry so we mosied off to the bakery that our guide stated was the best in the city, called 72H. Josie got monkey bread and I a cinnamon roll. Delicious.

Post sweets we wandered all through the main shopping area, past the Roman Agora and into the Plaka neighborhood. Much quieter and easier to get around. We found a charming restaurant with outdoor seating going up a long flight of stairs. It was the perfect place to stop for a glass of wine.