Athens - the land of the gods

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Traveling to Athens took a whole day of driving and on our way there we got to see the Corinth Canal which was a bonus. The Corinth Canal was hugely deep and long, they carved that out in 1881-93 and it's 6kms long. It's deep because it's at sea level so there's no locks needed, but these days it's too narrow so hardly any boats use it. We got up nice and early to make the most of the day, we all caught the bus into the city centre and got a little bit of a tour on the way - helped us to get our bearings and also saw the Roman Stadium where the 1896 Olympics were held.

Our first stop through the famous city was the Temple of Zeus where we also found a turtle randomly waddling across the grass - a bit odd, but very cute. From there we wandered up (past a few shops) to the Acropolis entrance. Due to the Easter holiday the gates didn't open until midday but we got a pleasant surprise when they did, because there was no entrance fee! Such a bonus when traveling.
We walked up past the amphitheaters, and took in as much information as possible, quite ingenious how they engineered and made such calculated decisions hundreds and thousands of years ago.
After the steep climb up to the Acropolis in the sun, we were wowed by the huge structure (and of course scaffolding is everywhere in Europe so we got to see more of that too), as well as the views right across Athens. It was a beautiful sunny day, so we all wondered around for a while then moved on to see what the rest of this ancient city had to offer.

As always we managed to get ourselves a little lost but fortunately ended up in the heart of the markets. We couldn't buy much due to baggage restrictions (our backs can only take so much), but we had a lovely time walking through and chatting with the stall owners. We found a shop that had a lovely lady in it, not a word of English - nor us with Greek, but somehow we all made friends and she gave us some magnets as gifts for free, very sweet! We did a lot of walking around, so by the time the bus came to pick us up we were all exhausted! All in all, wonderful city!

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Photos

Greek flag flying proud
At the Acropolis.

Angie and Niki at the east view.
(and it's barely half way up to the top!)

The Odeon of Herod Atticus
I think that's what it's called, to the west of Dionysus.

Niki & Me posing
On the wall at the Acropolis (on the other side was a 20meter drop!)

The famous Caryatid ladies
These aren't the real ones, but there is a couple within the museum - protected from the weather.

More Dandelions
Brenna, Suzie, Jane & Sam.