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Published: February 4th 2014
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5 June Key Tours Day 3 Spent the morning at Olympia, a very interesting site. Was great to see the stadium where the games were held in BC. Another warm day. We spent the morning there, there was a special sports museum, then at the end, another museum with relics from the digs. Lunch stop was at a buffet restaurant, nice for 12 E, sat in the shade afterwards. Drove to Delphi in afternoon, a very scenic drive with rural and coastal views, and a stop at the new bridge at Patras. The road to Delphi was amazing, winding up the hills to the top. We were in a lovely hotel with a view right over the valley, millions of olive trees and then the sea in the distance. Had a swim in the pool and a walk to the small village. Bought a greek plate of Artemis and some Mavro Daphne. Dinner at the hotel was delicious, stuffed tomatoes, and then chicken and potatoes with a good eggplant, zucchini and tomato side.
6 June Key Tours Day 4 Set off for Delphi via a picturesque mountain village. First visited the lower site with the Temple of Apollo then the upper site
which was fantastic too. Very impressive place, set high on the side of the mountain, views were amazing. Final stop at the museum, then to lunch which was disappointing as the souvlaki meat was tough. After lunch we had a big drive to Meteora, up over mountains and valleys, got there about 6:30. Time for a swim before dinner, which was very good agai, hotel was quiet, we were the only group in the dining room.
7 June Our final day with Key Tours! Explored Meteora, our tour took us up to the tops of the mountains where the monks had built monasteries perched on top of sheer rock! Visited 2 monasteries, St Stefans and Holy Trinity. Amazing places with stupendous views. Big drive back to Athens, lunch en route at self service place which was very good. Bought some loukoumi and some shortbread for later. Dropped off at President Hotel about 7, long drive back. Overall, the tour had been great value and taken us to places we never could have got to in such a short timeframe.
8 June Back in Athens. Luckily after checking our itinerary, we discovered our flight to Sarajevo was one day before
we thought it was, so cancelled our idea of going to another Greek Island and booked another night at the hotel! Found a laundrette not too far from the hotel, great to have all our clothes clean! Went to Post Office, and finally posted our parcel home. Had to reduce it to 2 kgs once we got there! It was chaotic there, a big queue as it was closing, and so inefficient ! Went up to the Acropolis, what an amazing place, with few people around as it was about 3ish. Overcast with lightning in the distance. Went up to Syntagma Square see the Changing of the Guard at Parliament, very interesting style of marching! Monty Python's Ministry of Silly Walks comes to mind. There was a big Protest at Syntagma Square, against austerity. Dinner at a place recommended by Ian and Robyn. Delicious meatballs wrapped in eggplant slices with tomato sauce, and zucchini fritters, yum, so cheap too. Took a stroll to the Thession district, where there were great views of the acropolis at night.
9 June In Athens, after breakfast at hotel, stored our stuff at reception and went down to the metro, rang Alister using free
wifi, sitting out on a wall next to 6 lanes of traffic! Quite hard to hear him! Went to Sytagma and took a little train ride around the Acropolis area, then had lunch at Montraki. Got bags from hotel and took the Metro to airport. Our flight to Sarajevo was via Belgrade, all good, no hassles, despite being a budget airline (Jat). as we didn't arrive till late we had arranged transport from airport. Kenan was there to meet us, an Australian Croat, interesting guy. Dropped us at Markale Hostel in town about 1030. Excellent hostel.
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