Today we flow from Santorini to Athens. Our flight was at 11:55am, so we slept in, had a nice breakfast and caught a taxi to the airport.
The Santorini airport is tiny. At this time of year there are only 5 flights a day. In the summer there are many more.
Ready to Athens. Our flight was only 40 minutes long. We touched down in Athens, gathered our bags and caught a Metro train to a stop near our hotel. We are staying at a Novotel business hotel.
After getting checked in, we headed down the street for some lunch. The hotel suggested a few restaurants nearby. We chose Tabepna Yhetapia. Brandon and Katrina enjoyed some roasted chicken. I had lamb.
Brandon plots out our afternoon.
This church sits on the square where we had lunch.
After lunch we walked several blocks to a nearby bus stop for the City Sightseeing tours. We enjoy these and have ridden them in several European cities. They give us a good overview of the city we are visiting.
These are the official Greek guards. They are stationed around the government buildings, residences and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Athens traffic. I arrived in Athens with low expectations. I had been told that it is just a dirty, polluted big city. It is a big city, but we found it easy to get around. It may have a pollution problem, but it didn't seem any worse than other cities we have visited. The city was not very dirty. It's a city, but there really wasn't random litter or garbage around like what we witnessed in Naples. I really liked Athens.
View of the Acropolis and some of the Parthenon.
We exited the City Sightseeing bus near the Athens market. This area if full of vendors, clothing and shoe shops, tourist trinkets, antiques and junk. This fruit stand looked very inviting, especially with all the fresh strawberries.
Athens Flea Market
This drumming group passed by as we were wandering the market area.
Roman ruins near the market.
Ruins at sunset
Another view looking up at the Acropolis and Parthenon
Roman ruins. Some areas in town are not Greek, but Roman.
As the sun set, we made our way back to the hotel for dinner and to rest. Tomorrow we will visit the Acropolis, as well as some other sights.
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