Our tour guide is Maria Katerina. This group consisted of Catherine & Russell from NZ, Cheryl, Joyce and Frank from Perth, Judy from Sydney, Gail &  Rachael from California, young couple Jackson & Ketana from Rockingham and Henry & Gisa from Noosa. A WhatsApp group was created for our tour communication.

We had a large selection of hot, cold and traditional foods for breakfast. 

The tour started at 8:30 am for us to walk to Constitution Street where we met the bus with Christos our driver. The bus cannot navigate the narrow streets of this hotel area.

I took the opportunity to organise a group photo before we started the tour, Jackson happy to take the selfie.

There were some fund raising events happening so there was an obvious police presence along many areas of Athens. Like in Germany, shops here are closed on Sundays except in the major tourist areas.  

The bus drove us past some historic sites of Athens before reaching our destination of the Acropolis. 

I needed to buy a bottle of water and was told by Maria K that it will cost 50cent. When I got to the kiosk I only had the option of paying €3 for the bottle of sparkling water I found. I asked about the 50c water and the young boy behind the counter said that they didn’t have any small bottles. Maria K explained that it is illegal to not have 50c water in all Greek establishments and I could’ve taken the police to them  who would make an arrest if they couldn’t supply the required 50c water bottle.

It was too late to do that as we had started walking up the gentle sloped marble path to the Acropolis. It was important to have non slip shoes for this part of the tour because of the prolific use of marble underfoot. 

Apparently there were many cruise ships in dock and this created a surge of visitors to the ancient site….oh the humanity! I did enjoy though that I could hear a variety of languages informing their particular group.

Once at the stairs, heaving with people, there were no railings to hold onto so people with balance issues would struggle with this part of the ascent. There was a breeze but not as cold as yesterday, so layers were a good rule for the day. The temperature was around 22C. These pieces of ancient architecture were very impressive.

In 2009 an Acropolis museum was opened that housed many relics that have been excavated. We were told that this venue was also created so any items pillaged from this area could be returned like those in the British museum. They are still waiting for them.

There is also a glass floor which exposed the excavations and levels below. It is not recommended to wear a skirt or dress as there are so many places for exposure. It is also a bit freaky to see down but the glass is covered in dots so it reduces the feeling of nothing beneath you.

Maria K made it very interesting with her commentary and historical knowledge. This was a good size for our group and everyone was cooperative, friendly and punctual.

This part of the tour ended at around 1:30 pm and we had the rest of the day to ourselves. This was a good opportunity to rest for a bit, eat lunch and do the blog.

I asked Chat if I can find a place to buy some eyelash serum and it informed me that there was a Sephora not far from the hotel. Because we were in a tourist area, shops were open here. Once I found the shop, they didn’t have the lash serum with a ‘we don’t sell that anymore’! Apparently the EEU have the same rules as Australia in regard to these serums. 

So then I saw some sparkling jeans, that I didn’t need, in a store window which I had to investigate. I did not buy them. There were many people milling around shops or sitting in cafes enjoying the afternoon.

Before returning to the hotel, I went to the supermarket to stock up on sparkling water and supplies for the next few days.

A couple of things I recommend for any trip are to bring some zip lock bags that can be used to store food or other items safely. I also have a pair of folding mini scissors which must be packed in checked luggage but come in so handy for so many reasons.

After all the activity of the day, an early night was planned as we had an early breakfast and start for the next part of the tour tomorrow. Kalinýchta