Christian Museum; National Garden; Panathenaic Stadium (Olympic)

Our first stop today was at the Christian Museum where we saw a number of byzantine icons - artifacts which are centuries old drawings on wood. From there we walked to the nearby National Garden which is quite large and had a few small animals on display, but it's no longer kept up.  In better economic times it was probably well looked after and a popular place to spend lazy afternoons.

One of the many colourful icons, some of which were carried during processional walks.

National Park

Now that's a bale of turtles

Next we walked over to the Panathenaic Stadium which is entirely made out of marble, we can only imagine how it must have looked when it was in it's glory.  In 2004 Olympics the Archery was held here, as well as the finish for the Marathon race.  Now it's only used for select events and occasional concerts, and of course it's one of the main tourist highlights here in Athens.

It's inspiring imagining how it must have felt being a competitor, and a spectator.

Olympic Rings 

Nobody can resist the temptation to stand on the First Place podium at an Olympic Stadium!

Athens - Day 2

The Hop On, Hop Off bus was the order of our day so we figured out where we wanted to get off first and headed out.  It was Saturday Market day so it was a bustling square with all kinds of items and food for sale, including a flea market alley and a street side lined with junk sellers.  Last night we went to the Museum of the Acropolis - today it was visit to the Museum of Illusions.   Interesting enough for a short visit but then back on the bus for several more stops.

Random deserted archeological ruin amidst a busy street

It was unreal what some people were trying to sell piled atop their vehicles.

Ted in a kalaidascope 

Hanging around...

Honorary guard outside the Presidential Residence.

Next stop was to walk up the 200  steps to take the funicular to the top of Athens highest hill called  Lycabettus Hill.  We stayed for dinner at a restaurant on top so we could enjoy the incredible view and sunset.

City of Athens 

Beautiful sight - Acropolis and Pantheon at night. 

Athens, Greece

It was a short flight over from Santorini Island, then our driver picked us up at the airport and brought us to our apartment - a good decision as Athens is huge!  We're staying in the Plaka neighborhood which is in the center of all the ancient sites so they're very walkable from here.  It's a very cute area with lots of outdoor restaurants, after we dropped our bags off and had lunch we walked up to the Acropolis.

                                                             View from our terrace

We passed by this beautiful amphitheater on our hike up to the Acropolis, there was a band there doing sound checks for their evening performance and the acoustics were unreal.

Almost there...

Spectacular views from the top

Parthenon

Our destination for tomorrow 

Ted on top of Mars hill where the apostle Paul spoke from.

Dune Buggies

For our last day together of our our European vacation the four of us decided to explore other parts of Santorini Island so we rented a couple of dune buggies.  They were good in that we didn't take a lot of room on the narrow roads when big tour buses passed by, but man are they noisy!

We drove to the highest point on the island on a very narrow road with a terrifying cliff off to the right side of us, there was a very old monastery up there.  After that we came down and drove over to  the lighthouse on the very tip of the island, then it was straight to the beach for lunch and relaxation!

Lighthouse

 The views from the top were incredible, but a crazy drive getting up there to see it!

Relaxing in the Aegean Sea

Volcano Island and Donkeys

We’ve traveled by trains, planes, automobiles, boats and now Ted can even add donkey to the list.  We began the day with a three hour boat tour which took us over to the volcano island in the middle of the caldera, and also a stop at the 'warm springs' where Ted jumped off the boat and went for a swim along with others.  I stayed topside to record it all on video and photos.

After we got back to the pier Ted took a donkey ride back up instead of the gondola,  he said it was quite the ride.

Santorini Island, Greece

FirostefanI and Oia

As soon as we get dropped off at our hotel here in Firostefani we walked over to the edge and looked at the view we were struck by the beauty of this place.  Everywhere you look out it’s breathtaking, just as great as any photos of it that I’ve ever seen.  Ken and Shirley are staying in Oia about 10 kilometres north of here and the views from there are just as amazing, we really like this island!

Lots of cruise ships nearby

Yes we had our feet kissed, too funny!

I’ve seen a lot of posing on the rooftops so I had to get in on the act!   ;)