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We woke up slightly later than planned but still in one piece! We made it to the train on time and were met at the other end in Athens by Wez’s house mate for next year – George the greek. I’ll call him George because that’s the English version of his name and I can’t pronounce or spell the Greek version yet.
We left our baggage at the train station in Athens and went to a nearby cafe for a cold drink and I was pursuaded to try Lipton ice tea (peach flavour) and liked it.
We planned what we wanted to do and went on to visit the Acropolis, the Temple of Zeus, the Ancient Agora and the Roman Olympic stadium (I think).
The sheer scale of these places is awe inspiring. I can’t even begin to imagine how they managed to build them with the tools available to them. What struck us most was the amazing organisation of the Greek civilisation, right for the sophisticated underground drainage system to their amazing political system – a democracy where new legislation was put up to vote before being passed.
It all kept us interested enough to be walking around Athens until around 5:30pm, at its peak the temperature reached around 40°C and believe me when I say that’s hot
We then caught a train to Halkida and then George drove us to the village where he lives. We met his Mother, Father and sister and they were extremely welcoming and were full of questions. They let us use their shower (beautiful bathroom in a beautiful house) and offered to do any washing we might need doing! (yey, washed my T-shirts!).
They took us out and paid for a Greek meal (which they ordered) The food was fantastic – simple and full of taste and I liked all of it!
We then went back onto the crazy roads of Greece to go into town and go to a bar on the side of the river. By tis time it was almost midnight and the town was full of life, right from children to the elderly! They don’t really drink beer (or whisky) in Greece which was a bit of a shock, but they do party all night and everyone is very chilled and very smooth.