First time in Greece

It's half term, which means lots of people are taking the week to reflect and relax. We thought we'd do that on our first trip to Greece! It's a 3 hr flight from London and it's a 2 hour time difference.

We've found that taxi drivers actually give you a bit of a preview as to the culture of the area. We had a very nice taxi driver, even after midnight. It's true, the people everywhere here have turned out to be the highlight - so thoughtful and nice!

Our first morning started with a walk to Hadrians Arch. It's hard to include all the stories of history here, sorry to not add much of that. Less than 100 yards from the arch is the Temple of Zeus. The arch seemed to be about 75% still in tact, whereas Zeus' temple was more like 15% still intact.

Then you walk through a great shopping area known as Plaka on your way to the Acropolis. The road is cobblestone and doesn't really have cars on it. It's just wide enough for a car and the shops feel like stands even though they're in buildings- lots of wide open entryways I guess. Food, clothes, jewelry, sculptures, pots, and plates are what I saw. I learned about old and new bronze, and alabaster. 

Then you arrive at the foot of the Acropolis and of course it's awe inspiring.  Imagine how many thousands of years and stories have taken place right here. You do have to pay to go up, it was around €20 for four of us. 

We walked through two stadiums on the way up. One is called Dionysus and the other is Herodeon, I think. Dionysus let's you walk through most of the "seats" which are marble-looking stone rows. The Herodeon is fenced off but you can see into it. It looks fully intact, compared to the 40% intactness of Dionysus.

We ate local donuts, souvlaki, gyros and baklava - all being delicious!

The next morning we woke up and walked to another shopping and historical area known as Anafiotika. The shops were more full sized and the streets had more cars on them, but still a great area. There's a photo you see of that area online but I must admit we never really found that central area, which I guess goes to show how many side roads are available in the area.

Then we walked to an area called Ancient Agora. This is a gated area where they're protecting history of over 5000 years. It's mostly low level stones and ruins and yet you can absolutely get a feel for what it used to be like. The two main areas to see are the Temple of Hephaestus and the Stoa of Attalos. Both are fantastic rectangular buildings completed surrounded by pillars and columns. The temple is empty and blocked inside, but you can walk through the Stoa which is full of pottery and many other artifacts from 2-5000 years ago. Amazing.

We walked back through Plaka that night since we loved it and now we're off to the next part of Greece...

More info soon...