Georgia - Acropolis

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Geo: 37.9792, 23.7166

Day 12. Athens
Athens

We started the day with breakfast from a bakery nearby and ate them on a warm bench in the sun. We then went to the New Acropolis Museum which was excellent. It granted us a better understanding of the Parthenon and the Ancient Greek Civilisation. The top floor was most impressive, as it was a full size replica of the Parthenon, complete with the statues etc. that remain - and plaster casts of those in the British Museum!! (Lord Elgin who systematically stole/bought the artifacts from the Turks is unpopular here!) It also had magnificent views of the Parthenon.

We then bought our lunch from the same place as we had breakfast to take with us up to the Acropolis.

We started to line up for entry through the West gate when a lady came up and offered us a tour, she provided our tickets and we were able to skip the line! She gave us an excellent tour, walking very quickly up the steep path! We were all amazed that she does this so many times a day, in heels!!!

We reached the top and the tour concluded. We walked around for a while taking photos at leisure and ate our lunch with the company of stray cats. Matt has taken to calling them all "El Gatto"!

After Mum took seven billion photos we walked down the other side and stopped to take more photos on the Mars Rock with its magnificent views!

We then walked down the hill aiming to get to the Agora, except arrived 15 minutes before closing time! Instead we weaved our way through the Plaka, enjoying looking at all the dodgy tourist shops.

After an hour or so of this the boys were quite tired, so we stopped in a café for a drink and a bite to eat. Then they and Mum returned to the hotel, and Dad and I walked around the Plaka a bit more. After half an hour we too returned to the hotel for a rest.

We went out for a delicious dinner afterwards and had a lovely dessert of Lukamades, traditional Greek donuts, with honey and chocolate!

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