Quite a big day today. Out for breakfast then off to catch the hop-on hop-off bus. Part way through the journey we got off to go to the Cycladic Museum. Not sure if you have heard of Cycladic art as we have not so here is a bit of the history behind it. Cycladic art is from the ancient Cycladic civilisation which flourished in the islands of the Aegean Sea from 3300 to 1100 BC. We saw some of it in the museum of Delphi and a reference to this museum in Athens. ...

Today we went on a walk around the perimeter of the base of the Acropolis. This took us to a large long craft market, followed by a flea market and then a hardware market. As you might imagine it took quite a while to get through them with a couple of women in tow. During our trek we got dragged in off the street (as you do here) to have a drink at a roof top cafe which provided great views, coffee and beer (for you know who). The coffee in Greece is really goo...

First real day in Athens. We will have some time to look around and get our bearings before meeting up with Anne's sister Jane who is coming over from London to spend some time with us. While getting our bearings we were looking for a laundromat and also a sports bar so we can see tonight's ABs vs South Africa rugby game. The area our apartment is in (Plaka) is as good as we had thought it should be based on Anne's research. Lots of restaurants, cafes, shops etc ...

Ready for the bus by 8am then off to Meteora before returning to Athens. First stop though was a workshop (and of course a store for purchasing their products) for an explanation and demonstration on painting icons. The explanation was really good and included information on the wood carving, canvas, glue, gold leaf, and types of paint including some with egg in them. There was someone there painting but it was hard to know if she was actually doing it or not; lo...

We were allowed to sleep in as the wake up calls were 0730. The (more expensive) hotel for the 1st class travellers of our group was in town. After dropping them off we had to drive through the town then out for a couple of kms to find a turn around site for the bus. Then it was back to the town but at the entry to the town there was a road up the hill. While we could not see the view last night we certainly could this morning. We think we have done better than t...