Athens

We flew to Athens from Barcelona and were taken by coach to our ship the MS Costa Neo Riviera on Monday. The next morning we were on our first excursion, "The sights and flavour of Athens". 

First stop was the Panathenaic Stadium which was the venue for the first "modern" Olympic games held in 1896. It is the only stadium in the world to be made purely from marble. It is on the site of a racecourse dating from 330 BC which was later developed to be a stadium for the early Olympic games with a capacity of 50,000 in 144 AD and then refurbished for the modern Olympics.

The next stop was outside the Greek Parliament at the front of which is the tomb of the unknown soldier and it is guarded by members of an elite regiment in traditional dress known as the Evzones.

One person at a time is allowed to have a  photo taken standing next to one of these soldiers as long as you do not touch, distract or talk to them.

No visit to Athens would be complete without seeing the Parthenon which was completed in 438 BC sitting on the rocky outcrop of the Acropolis. 

It is currently undergoing selective restoration and reconstruction.

A visit around the actual site of the Acropolis would have taken a day in itself and as we were only savouring the sights we could only come close to it.

However, we were also savouring the flavours and these came when we next visited a restaurant and were served with the dish above accompanied by a glass of wine...

...and a demonstration of traditional Greek dancing. A great day out!

To see the video of this and other areas we visited click HERE.