Adrift in Athens.

While the bike is enjoying a cruse in the Med I have a day to burn in Athens.  With a father who loves all thing ancient Greek I have heard a lot about Athens, well, the Acropolis.  So it was time to see what the years of hype where all about. 

It really is quite something.  Very different to the Roman style that I’ve seen so much of in Jeresh and Umm Qais.  To my untrained and extremely unqualified eye it strikes me that the Greeks spent a lot of time raising statues to themselves and celebrating how awesome they were.  The work that went into producing the ancient city of Athens is simply extraordinary.  The Acropolis museum is very well co-ordinated and has a huge number of very interesting stands that show some of the processes used to build and decorate ancient Greece.  A work of warning though; if you are British for Gods sake don’t let on.  It turn out that the Greeks have not forgotten about the Elgin Marbles.  I heard a number of guides almost spit with rage when they spoke about the terrible theft of said sculptures.

With my morning taken up wandering around the Acropolis other ancient sights I decided to skip lunch and head to the Hellenic Motor Museum for a break from the heat and busy streets.  It’s is a fantastic museum, full of brilliant cars and I had it all to myself.  With that done I decided to take a walk back to the hotel via the “changing of the Guard” at the tomb of the unknown soldier which is quite an affair.  I can’t help but think that I would injure myself trying to get my leg up that high and hold it as they do.

By the time I got back to my hotel I was reasonably foot sore and took the opportunity to head to the roof top pool and look at the “magnificent view of the Acropolis”.  Well the pool turned out to be the size of a large bath and the view of the Acropolis was possible with a bit of neck stretching.  That’s what you get for a 25 euro a night 2 star Best Western.  Lesson learnt.  After catching up on my blog I was ready to eat so headed out to the most traditional of Greek meals in the Hard Rock Café.

I’ve never been to one before and without adult supervision I was able to indulge in loud classic rock music, beer and a burger.  

It'll be lovely when its finished.

Men in pom-poms...

I'll take the red one please.