Day 04 - Friday 28th August - Part B

We went upstairs to the hotel restaurant at about 8:30 for a delicious breakfast on the balcony looking out at the Acropolis.

At about 10am, we left for the Acropolis. There is an entrance about a block away from our hotel. After paying the entrance fee, we followed the path past various ruin sites such as the Theatre of Dionysos and the Odeum of Herodes.

The path took us to the stairway on the eastern side on the way to the hilltop that contains various ruins such as the Parthenon. It is a fabulous site that thoroughly makes the trip to Athens worthwhile. It was another beautiful warm sunny day that made it possible to get views over the whole city and out to the Mediterranean Sea.

Just before 11am, I realised that my wallet had been stolen from my back pocket – see my separate blog on this subject. He went back down to the police station and the hotel. After contacting Westpac about the stolen credit cards, we headed off again.

We stopped for lunch at a café in the Plaka area. The food and wine wasn’t as good as the café we went to yesterday.

Next we walked to the Monastiraki area which is another suburb containing delightful tree-lined streets, plazas, shops and cafes. Adjacent to this suburb is an area of ruins called Ancient Agora. It contains a temple that resembles the Parthenon, a museum and a valley full of ruins.

The museum staff gave us directions back to the road around the base of the Acropolis towards Filopappos Hill which is a hill about the same height as the Acropolis hill on the southern side of the Acropolis.

There were no crowds on this hill. In fact, we saw almost nobody. We guessed which was the right path to find the monument at the top of the hill and had success. When we got to the top, we found that a Canadian couple had been following us thinking that we had known where we were going. I told them it was a classic case of the blind leading the blind.

By the time we got to the monument, we were panting from the climb. It was worth it. The views of the Acropolis, the city and the Mediterranean Sea were truly breathtaking (in more ways than one). We could see why the Michelin Green Guide gives it their top 3-star rating.

When we got back to the hotel, we needed a shower to freshen up after the exertion of the day. For dinner, we went back to the Plaka area and found a very nice restaurant, Café Estia, for dinner.

The café is in one of the tree-lined streets. Soon after we arrived, a brass bound started playing in the middle of the open-air café. We ordered the fish of the day which was delicious. When the waiter delivered the meal, he deftly deboned it for us at our table.

The atmosphere was just about perfect. It was one of those “does it get any better than this” occasions. Then again, it is possible that the house red might have contributed to the formulation of this assessment.

During our time at this café, there were a couple of blokes in the street trying to sell fake handbags. At one stage they suddenly disappeared and then a few minutes later two policemen wandered up the street. The street venders are obviously very alert to impending danger.

We returned to our hotel and packed ready for an early start tomorrow leaving Athens to fly to Italy.