Greece Is The Word (06/06/2011)

We arrived in Athens at just after 2pm after flight that was just over 4 hours -very manageable after the first leg. Plus a couple of glasses of a French red helped pass the time. The passport check took forever - evidently Greece too has a problem with illegal immigrants, but a lot of them jet in with false passports so airport security is very tight for any suspicious characters. Fortunately we where not amongst them and were not escorted off to the side room as were some others. We were waved through customs - an honest face obviously counts for a lot here - and after a 45 minute taxi drive through increasingly heavy traffic we arrived at our hotel.
Talk about being surrounded by history - Hadrian's Arch (AD 131) is only 100m away at the end of the street, and we are situated at the base of the Acropolis hill. The hotel kindly supplied a complimentary bottle of French champagne, but after the flight that was a bit much so instead we had a nap for an hour & a half, waking up at 5pm and going out for a long walk around the hill. The views are quite amazing, and we are looking forward to exploring it tomorrow. Today we were quite happy just to walk around and get our bearings. Seeing its not dark until 9pm there is plenty of time to explore. It is still hot even at this time of day, so eventually we gave in to temptation and sat down at one of the street Tavernas to sample Mythos - the local beer (" A Hellenic brewed lager"). That helped quench the thirst, and also brought the appetite back. In keeping with sampling the local delicacies I had grilled octopus for tea, and Carmel had a Cyprus Pie. Then off to complete the walk, and back here to download photos, open the champagne and update the blog.
Tomorrow should be fascinating exploring the Acropolis, the museum and other sites. The weather is glorious, and we are looking forward to our first full day in Athens.