July 5 On the buses – a draining day in the heat!

 We invested in a 72 hour ticket to ride the Hop-on Hop-off buses – it’s a good way to see the city and this ticket allowed us to visit the beaches as well as Piraeus.  Today was a scorcher of a day but we stayed inside the  bus most of the time where it was airconditioned. Difficult taking pix from a moving bus so I didn’t get a lot but at least we got an idea where things were. It was a bit of a hard day in the heat but we saw lots of Athens - going back for more tomorrow this time to the Acropolis. 

Everyone flocks to see the guards at the tomb of the unknown soldier

These stalwart military guards wear Foustanella, a cotton kilt made from 30 meters of white cloth, with 400 pleats representing the 400 years of Ottoman occupation (some wear brown ones). The design is taken from what the mountain men of the Balkans wore. They are beautiful to watch.

Lycabettus Hill in the background - the highest point in Athens

The Olympic Stadium 

Sadly a poor photo but this is the Olympic Stadium. It is the site of a simple racecourse built 330 BC primarily for the Panathenaic Games held every four years in  ancient Athens from 566 BC to the C3rd AD. It has been rebuilt a few times and was excavated in 1869 to hosted the Zappas Olympics the next year and again in 1875; these games were one of the first revivals of the ancient Olympic Games in the modern era.  After being refurbished in the late 1800s, it hosted the opening and closing ceremonies of the first modern Olympics in 1896. In 2004 it was once again used as an Olympic venue. It is the finishing point for the annual Athens Classic Marathon and also the last venue in Greece from where the Olympic flame handover ceremony to the host nation takes place.

The Academy of Athens with Socrates and Plato guarding the entrance below Apollo

Monastiraki Square - the flea market neighbourhood of old Athens

We hopped off and on the buses, this time for refreshments

We cooled off with a cold drink on the rooftop that evening - with a bite to eat. Lindsay had pork-belly gyros (served tacos style), I had salmon with black rice, curry butter and sweet potato. Quite delicious

Just look at that sky! During the day the hillsides are many different dazzling shades of white with glitters of light sparling in the heat haze as the spilling extract flues catch the sun.  It really is a city of light with a glorious violet crown in the evening.