Athens May 28 and 29

We had rwo nights in Athens and the main focus of the visit was the Parthenon and a quick bus tour to see the main buildings of the city. We did manage a few short walks on our own to get the feel of this very busy and crowded city. Over 5 million inhabitants, housed in 70's style high apartment blocks. Our tax driver as we were leaving Athens the following day told us that so many classical buldings were demolished to bui,d these blocks to house the thousands of people who left the countryside to seek work and live in the city.
The highlight of the visit was indeed the Parthenon- words cannot do it justice. I will let the photos speak, only to say that there is continued reconstruction and renovation of this treasure.
The museum which is new and modern houses many of the statues. The photo above depicts the statues which held up part of the Temple- the missing one is in the zBritish museum as part of the Elgin marbles - a very sore point with our guide (perhaps the only time we were in agreement with him!)
Afterwards we walked through the Monastiraki and Thisso area, so busy with tourist shops! The fascinating part was that there are large areas of exposed ruins around every corner.  Athens is a living archaeological site!!!
We finished the day with a farewell  dinner which was OK, but the accompanying Greek musicians made for a jolly  evening.
And so ends our 3 week tour. We said farewell to our fellow travellers who were all going their seperate ways the following day.
We are looking to  the next week of relaxation.  

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