Greece-Athens

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The flight from Crete to Athens was only an hour. But as with nearly everwhere in Europe, it was delayed arriving at 8:30PM. The Athens airport is now about 20 miles from town. We decided to take a cab, having been warned about the tricks cabbies play with the meter. Sure enough, a few minutes into the ride our friendly cabbie tried to switch from the '1' rate to the double-time '2' rate. Jeff caught him, but didn't make a big deal about it.

We checked into the Holiday Inn downtown, perhaps 1-2 miles from the historic sites. It was late, so we followed the concierge's recommendation to a local tavern serving grilled lamb chops, fried zucchini, Greek salads and, of course, Mythos beer.

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Friday, June 22 was our only day in Athens. After a quick breakfast we walked to the Acropolis. Along the way, we passed many public art pieces created for the Olympics. One features a speeding runner, blurring past. The piece was created with broken, stacked panes of glass. Very cool.

The walk to the Acroplois proceeds through a charming neighborhood called the Plaka. Great dining and shopping. The Acropolis lives up to the hype. We spent several hours viewing the Temple of Dionysus (an amphitheater-he was the God of wine and pleasure after all), Parthenon, Erechtheion and the Acropolis Museum.

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The afternoon found us crossing Syntagma Square near the Greek Parliament on our way to the National Archaeological Museum. The quality of the sculptures, in particular, was outstanding. We saw Parmian marble and bronze work. The museum also had an outstanding section on Minoan culture.

Athens has a new metro system, which is helping to cut some (but not most) of the city's infamous smog. Not a bad system for staying out of the heat.

After sightseeing, we spent the afternoon swimming in the hotel pool. We stopped at a bakery along the way and tried an assortment of Greek pastries and baklava.

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We turned in early Friday night, since we faced a long drive to Olympia on Saturday.