Arrival and first night- Athens - City Bus Tour

We arrived in Athens before our hotel was ready for us, so it was off to the beach - the quintessential experience of Greece for those who are not into antiquity. I was too jet-lagged to think about swimming yet, but enjoyed the ride out to Artemis. Below is the coach that took us all around. Zwölfer Reisen out of Austria - highly to be recommended.




Mediterranean life looks a bit different than life in Minnesota.

These pictures represent my first impressions of Greek life - random shots of daily life and scenery.

 

Olive trees were everywhere as was construction. The fact that rebar is sticing out of the top of the home below does not men they are still building.  Many houses seem to leave the rebar on the roof in case they decide to add an addition later.

 

 

 Fruit stands are also a common occurrence along the highway.

 The beaches are famous in Greece - the skies and waters a crisp inviting blue!

 

Our group answered the call and immediately went for a walk along the beach.

 

It is hard not to notice all the flowers, lots of oleander and other flowering bushes and trees.

Our bus driver and fearless leader enjoyed a brew and a fishy snack while the rest of us explored the region.

 

I decided to walk around the town. There are lots of white square buildings.

 

The fruit stands are amazing receptacles of intense color.

 

This seems to be trumpet vine.

 

Where there is no space for gardens, people plant balcony gardens full of pots with lush vegetation.

Then all too soon it was time to reboard the bus and head to our hotel.  

We stayed at the Golden Age Hotel in Athens.  They welcomed us with a complimentary glass of Ouzo or juice and we toastd to our adventure.

The rooms were clean and nice. We even had a balcony.

 

The view from the balcony was of a little park where you could see people walking their dogs and feeding the pigeons.

 

The lobby was comfortable and modern...

 

and you could look down on it from a little seating area on the floor above.

 

 

Breakfast the next day was quite good, although I found the coffee a bit acid and it made me sick.  Nonetheless, I did not want to miss a second of the city tour provided by a local guide. We saw a lot of important buildings, university and government edifices.

They have a kind of Buckingham palace guard box thing going, where the guards have to be very serious and can only move back and forth.

 

 

Of course the Parthenon was pointed out to us (which reigns over the city of Athens) up on the hill (the Acropolis).

Here was someone in traditional Greek costume welcoming the tourists.

 

Here is a closer view.

 

This is the temple of Zeus in a park in the middle of the city near Hadrian's gate.

 

We would first go to the Acropolis and then have a chance to wander around the city. I'll show that in the next post.