Athens

After a week in Hydra, we take a ferry back to Piraeus Port near Athens and spend two nights in Plaka, just below the Acropolis.
Rachel, needing a bit more space than the little airbnb that I have booked, finds another little apartment and she and Stella stay there together.
Athens is clearly a city in the midst of a financial and political crisis. Added to the number of homeless on the streets, there is a large refugee population who live around the port. The tagging is out of control. Monastraiki, where Rachel is staying, is a colourful, bohemian neighbourhood, full of old junk shops, deserted buildings and amazing street art.

We have a nice evening with an old friend of Roger’s, Greg, who is in Athens for the night. We sit on our roof top looking over the acropolis and drink beer then go out for dinner at a local eatery. It is always nice to have someone else to talk to.

The acropolis, as it was when I last visited in 1996, is covered in scaffolding. You’d think they’d be finished by now!

This is the beginning of our European sightseeing and the numbers of people are a bit staggering.
People are slipping all over the place on the slippery marble steps and waving their selfie sticks about.
Apparently there’s a limit to the kind of posing one is allowed to do in front of the Pantheon as we see a number of people reprimanded for getting too creative with their selfies.

We meet up with Rachel and hang out in a local bar which feels very much like being back somewhere familiar. It’s like an intercity walled garden that sells great wine and hot dogs so we’re all happy, except Roger, who is uncomfortable with spending money on alcohol when we can buy it at the local shop for a quarter of the price. Sometimes it’s nice to do something local that takes us out of each other’s hair.

Speaking of hair, Rachel has just stepped out of the Hair Salon which we all find very funny, especially as they have straightened her unruly hair.  But doesn’t she look fetching? Louie thinks so too and styles his hair in the same way. Note: Louie also needs a wash as you can see.