Athens V 2.0

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We are back in Athens after 2 weeks. it feels like we've come home. the view of the Acropolis from the balcony still leaves us breathless. Last night we got in at 8 o'clock after the shortest flight in the world from Santorini. Honestly i've been speeding over speed bumps and stayed in the air longer. Our last day at Santorini was spent driving around catching up on places we hadn't seen. Basically this meant the other end of the island. we took photos and got a whole new perspective on where we had been.

When we got in we grabbed a cab and came straight to the hotel and then to a local restaurant: MYSTIC PIZZA. Their big selling point is organic beer and pizza crust made from flour made from cannabis seeds. Unfortunately or fortunately (depending on your perspective) there didn't appear to be a reaction.
This morning we caught the Ferry to Salamina to see the place where the Greek fleet defeated the Persians in 479bc. All the way Liz is mumbling things like:
"you are completely obsessed."
and
"why do we need to catch a ferry to a place and then when we get there get straight back on again and return to where we came from?"
I don't think she got it somehow.

Salamis was one of the defining battles in western history. Xerxes had invaded Greece and taken all before him. The somewhat self-indulgent sacrifice of the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae did prove one thing though: the way to defeat the Persians was to confront them in a confined space where their numerical advantage would be greatly reduced.
The Athenian General Themistocles knew that the Persians could not operate without the support of their fleet and that a major defeat of the fleet would cause the massive Persian army to be reduced in size or even withdraw.
Salamis offered the perfect site for such a battle because the narrowness of the channel reduced the impact of the large Persian fleet.
Herodotus tells us that Themistocles was worried that the Pelopponesians would withdraw their fleet and so, in order to bring the battle on, he sent a slave to say to Xerxes that unless he attacked now, the Greeks would escape.
Xerxes fell for the bait and the rest is history. Had the Persians defeated the Greeks the whole of western history would have been different because the Persians would certainly have spread west and conquered the rest of Europe. The following year the Greeks defeated the Persian army at Plataea.

This afternoon we went to St Georges, the Highest point in the central area of Athens. It is a stunning view (i'm running out of superlatives).
Liz is currently re-packing in preparation for our departure tomorrow.
Today is our last day of the trip. The remainder is travelling home.
it has been a remarkable 50 something days.
i will try to do a summing up blog during the 8 hours we have in Hong Kong.

Look forward to seeing most of you soon.

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