Another hot day in Athens. We went down to breakfast at 8am in order to have a reasonable start for our hop on hop off bus tour. We had got the tickets before leaving NZ and Jen arranged for a 48 hour pass that covers the 2 lines. That meant we could still use the tickets the following morning as don’t join our boat until 2pm.

The Athens bus route begins in the square just around the corner so we made our way there and got ourselves seated upstairs. There are little earplugs that you plug into the system on the bus and dial up the channel with English. That was channel 2. There is this background of Greek music that comprises about 4 songs. All very good to start with but it got a bit grating by the end of the route of 11 stops and even worse when we switched to the Pyraeus line which has the same music.

The route takes in many of the major sites, as you’d expect, and stops at the foot of the Acropolis. We opted to go round once and then maybe go to the Acropolis. We changed our minds when we got back to that stop as it was perishingly hot.

You get great views of the various buildings. I was going to say monuments but most of them are still in use. As we went past the National Library I was interested to see a man painting over tagging. That would be a never ending task.

I don’t remember what most of the churches and buildings are but the mixture of ancient, old and new is interesting. I loved the tree lined streets and mass of buildings. At one point the commentary points out the prevalence of really ugly flat roofed, concrete apartment buildings in that, and many neighbourhoods. They were built in the 1920 s and thirties after the First World War. They were built to house lots of people safely and to withstand earthquakes and attacks. Unfortunately they have stood the test of time, although some are being modernised now. I had to smile when I saw the works being done on top of one building. The foreman guy who was giving the orders waved out. Worksafe would have an absolute fit at the guy on the edge who was ramming some pole thing in.

I was thankful to have a scarf I could tie around my neck as my hat wouldn’t stay on and the top deck was uncovered. They have seats downstairs but there is advertising all over the windows so you can’t get decent photos. The Acropolis stop is also an interchange for the Pyraeus Line which goes around the cruise ship port and nearby beaches. The port area is called Pyraeus. It’s also the area here most of the new venues were built for the recent Olympic Games. No wonder Greece is having financial difficulties! Mercifully, the bus that came had a canvas roof over the top so it was quite pleasant up there.

We went right round the Pyraeus route once and then back to the marina where our boat will go just to check it out. We were all a bit nervous about how we would get to the boat as the taxis were on strike for a second day and now the normal buses were on strike as well. In fact we suspect the rubbish people might also be on strike as particularly in Pyraeus the street dumpsters were dull to overflowing everywhere.

We selected a cafe and had a light lunch overlooking the marina and then caught the bus to the Acropolis at about 4.30. Yes it’s normal to have lunch between 2 – 4 here. The heat and crowds had subsided a bit by the time we climbed up to the Parthenon. It is not too big a climb as the buses go to the foot of the hill. The enormity of the Parthenon itself is amazing and also the other 2 bigger temples up there. We enjoyed looking and wandering. You can’t go in but can get close. The views across the city are fab. I won’t try and summarise any history. We read the various story boards and checked out facts on Google. I’ll leave you to do the same. From the lookout by the flag you get great views of the city. Our hotel is just to the right of the parliament building. It’s the one with 4 vertical rectangular windows set into a white concrete wall and some pillar things on the roof top.

We eventually made our way back to the hotel just after 8pm and then ventured down to the Plaka area which is where all the souvenir and tourist shops are. It’s just around the corner. We had a good mooch around. Mike bought a tee shirt and we had an ok meal on the pavement outside a cute cafe. I must admit that the narrow streets of Athens come alive at night and look fantastic all lit up. We passed a cocktail bar that looked fantastic. We were tempted but tired.

We were surprised to find we had walked almost a circle and were only 350 m from our hotel when we headed back. The heat takes its toll on us oldies ?