Checked out of the hotel although both Amex cards declined despite calling them before we left to ask they don’t block the cards.
Shuttle bus was on time surprisingly and the trip to the airport only took 20 minutes so had breakfast at the airport – very expensive ($5 small coffee) but we had to eat and get rid of our Turkish Lira.
Checked in with plenty of time to spare, plane was small and full but the flight only an hour so no problem.
We are getting the 05:30 flight to Santorini tomorrow which means getting up at 03:30, so we’re staying at the Sofitel hotel which is in the airport so we don’t have to rush.
Checked in and then out to the Acropolis and the Parthenon. The train ticket was quite pricey for Europe, about $20 each return, and the trip took about 40 minutes. Weather was overcast, chilly and had recently rained, but the sun came out and it was warm enough for a t shirt. Got off the metro and walked round the corner to the museum. This was built in 2010 to house the sculptures and other artifacts from the Acropolis. It was only 5 Euro and was very informative.
Out of the museum and up the hill to the Acropolis. I had last been here in 1972, but didn’t remember much about it. The ruins were a lot bigger than I remembered, and were being renovated so there was scaffolding and construction equipment around. It was still very impressive, it’s amazing to think they’ve been there for 2500 years. The views over Athens were magnificent so took loads of photos. Wandered around for about 30 minutes and it looked as if rain was coming so headed back down the hill to get something to eat. We decided to hop on the metro and move away from the tourist area and went one stop. We soon found a place and I ordered a 3 kebab on pita bread with yogurt and tomato sauce, Song ordered pork stuffed with tomatoes and feta cheese. We also ordered pita bread and hummus because we were both very hungry. I also ordered a beer because it is my mission to drink a local beer in every new city – here it was Mythos, in Istanbul it was Efe.
The meals came and they were huge. They were very good and we did the best we could but had to admit defeat. We’d passed an ice cream shop on the way and I was looking forward to getting one but there was no way, I felt like Mr. Creasote (Monty Python, Meaning of Life).
Managed to make it back to the metro and got the train back to the hotel, fell on the bed and tried not to move.
Forgot to take the fitbit but I reckon we walked about 5 or 6 km.
Very early start tomorrow.
