Athens by night

By the time we arrived at our hotel in Athens it was about 5.30pm and just starting to cool down from the very sweaty 30-plus degrees it had been during the day. We didn’t get the view of the Acropolis that we’d asked for (or the baby cot!) and we only had the one night to see Athens before flying to Santorini the next day. So first on our hit list was to see the Acropolis / Parthenon, but not until after we’d devoured a massive mushroom risotto from room service.
The walk up the hill to the Acropolis followed a series of winding cobble-stoned alleys and stairways. We found our way to the entrance just as it was closing so couldn’t get in, but we did get some good photos from a rocky outcrop just next to it, where we watched the sun slowly setting over Athens. Very pretty.

Before the sun completely disappeared we also managed to pass by some more recent (only about 2000 years old) Roman ruins on our way to the stadium that hosted the first modern Olympic Games. The stadium was originally built about 400 BC, but has clearly been restored since. We couldn’t get in to do a victory lap around the stadium but it was interesting to see and there was a nice square next to it with kids playing with paper aeroplanes.

We finally got around to having dinner (the risotto was just a “snack”) about 10pm…not too late by European standards. We ate at a really nice restaurant on the side of the hill leading up to the Acropolis. Live music was provided by two guys playing traditional Greek music with a guitar and mandalin. We had Mousaka (layered minced beef, mashed potato, eggplant and cheese…looks like lasagna), Lamb Souvlaki (shish kebab) and a big Ceasar salad. Served up with a basket of fresh bread with olive spread. Very yum! The best dinner in Europe so far.

Could easily have spent more time in Athens.