Athens, Greece

It is Friday - I can't remember the date. It is around 8pm time in Greece which is 1pm EST.

Well, we finally got out of the US and were on Olympic Airways heading for Greece. We went over the Cape Cod National Seashore at an alt. 10,100m speed was 1,011 km/hr and the outside temperature was -48c. So for those family members in Cape Cod, I flew right over you at about 18:45 (6:45pm). Wine on the plane is FREE! The white wine was Moschofilere Boutare, it didn't have a lot of taste. Dinner was good however. After dinner the lights in the cabins were turned off. Now to sleep. There is a challenge. The seats had t.v. screens like Jet Blue, but the leg room was tight, and my legs are long and kept hitting the bar in the seat pocket in front of me. I really didn't get much sleep at all. By the time we landed, I didn't feel well. But, we are in Athens! The city is surrounded by three different mountains. It is sunny and warmish, however, breezy! The highways are similar to ours, traffic was fine. The signs are in Greek and English! That makes it nice. We left the airport with one of our tour guides Yani and then he trained office with a woman whose name more or less translates to Alice. She took us the Acropolypse which means the highest point. The Parthenon is there. It looks most impressive as we get closer. The interesting thing is that the Acropolypse with the Parthenon is actually the second highest, the Greeks used it because there was water there. How can you have a fort without water? The streets are narrow and some of the cars are so tiny! We make our way to the Acropolypse and walked to Mars Hill. The Apostle nPaul spoke here. It is amazing. The view is breathtaking. I can see out to the to sea, and then over to the Oldest Temple which is below us. There are ancient buildings mixed with the modern, and the buildings stretch all the way up into the mountains. The Parthenon. What can I say, I've always wanted to see this, and it is magnificent. It took 10 years to build, and with out modern tools! We can see out to the City's highest point where a small Greek Orthodox Church, St. George, is perched! We looked over to see an area where there were rock steps and this was where democracy was born in the 5th century before Christ! It is called the Abema or tribunal and can accommodate 10,000 people in the pnyka! There is what appears to be another small relic which is an old monument mausoleum to honor a rich prince of the 7th century! It was struck by lightning so there are now lightning rods around it! All this was built in the golden age. I walked up into the Parthenon. The Parthenon was built as a tribute to winning the war against Persia (Iran). It is currently being taken apart and refurbished, because the last renovation caused other problems. Further back is another smaller building with female statues that are columns they are called Caryatids. We saw the temple of Nike (they pronounce Nikki). It was just breathtaking and amazing. Pictures you asked....LOL tons!!!! I love architecture, so this was one place that I could get some close ups. There are are parts of an amphitheatre or "Theater of Antiquity" which was used for only music! There were many other places that we went in a short amount of time. One of which was the original Olympic stadium, which was just used again in the last Olympics. Being a fan of the Olympics and having attended the 2002 Winter Olympics, it was wonderful to see where it all began. The "Modern" Olympics restarted in 1896! The stadium like most of the other ancient buildings are made of Marble. We saw the embassies of the US, Turkey, and Portugal! We went by the Presidents residence (the former Kings Palace) and the guards. The President is only a figurehead, he has now power. Greece is run by a Prime Minister and a Parliament of at least 151+ members of his/her party! Greek Orthodox is the religion of 98% of Greece, and amazingly they too have a few million illegals living in their country! They are part of the original European Nation and use the Euro. Oh yes, we saw what was left (some columns) that were the temple to Zeus. We went by the Prime Ministers residence which is next to the Presidents Palace, The Parliament building, and the tomb of the unknown soldier, and many other interesting places. By the time the tour was done, I was really ready for a nap, I didn't really sleep on the plane at all, so it was a welcome relief to go to the Tatiana Hotel, and get a shower (love my hot showers) and brushed my teeth and took a 2 hour nap. I'm now killing time, because we'll be eating dinner soon (we are 7 hours ahead of EST). We'll be eating here at the hotel - a Mediterranean Cuisine. We did go to a restaurant here in the hotel called the Olive Garden and on the terrace we are able to look over to the Parthenon which is all lit up! It's off to the airport again, to get our flight to Tel Aviv. Did you know that if you get your passport stamped in Israel, it could prevent you from getting entry into other countries such a Egypt, etc.? How sad is that? You can have the stamp on a paper added to our passport! Can't the world get along? What a phenomenal day!!!!