Athens

Got into Athens at Saturday/Sunday midnight. After a bus and metro journey we were at Hostel Zorbas and were welcomed with a shot of ouzo(which was very much appreciated) before heading to bed after a long day.

On Sunday I left my bank card in the cashline(Note: Don't worry Dad, I went the next day, they destroyed my card, and the other one is now in use!) which was a real pain in the arse! We headed to Syntagma Square to catch the number 4 tram down to Paleo Faliro. We visited my grandmothers old house on Riga Fereioura, where an elderly lady(a relative possibly?) with short grey hair shot out the house and round the corner to the local shop after I had taken a photo with my mobile. We then went up to the cemetry where my nanas ashes are and I spent some time there. It was a really strange feeling seeing the house and cemetry, I felt several emotions being in the place my grandmother grew up and where my mum went her holidays as a bairn. We then went to the beach at the bottom front of Paleo Faliro, passing past the church where my mums Uncle Kostas was married, and spent a good few hours topping up the tan, swimming in the sea, and watching the most violent game of beach football I have ever witnessed! We then headed back to the Hostel and then went out for a Souvlaki before having what was to be quite a session in the bar at the hostel.

We had planned to go to Aegina the next day, but after waking up late, chasing up the bank to see what had happened to my card, and both of us feeling horrendously hungover, we decided just to take up the easy option, sort out our rail journey to Thessaloniki and then retire to the beach in Paleo Faliro. Much to our annoyance we arrived at the train station only to find the trains were on strike! So off to the beach to suffer and enjoy the sun. After an afternoon on the beach, and feeling much better, we decided to eat in a restaurant in Paleo Faliro. The restaurant menu was only in Greek and the waiters couldn't speak English, so they actually phoned up a guy they knew could speak English to serve us. I found this particularly amusing because I can read a Greek menu very well! So we both settled for a Greek salad starter and then Bifteki for our main. Stuffed we headed back to the hostel to get over the final hurdle of the morning/afternoon after the night before!

Today, we got up and went out, stopping at the bakery and getting a Loukamades before heading on the metro down to Pireaus. We then stopped for lunch before jumping a board The Flying Dolphin over to Aegina. After a half an hour bus ride we were in Agia Marina where we spent the afternoon doing much the same as we had been doing before, sitting on the beach! It was really cool being back in the Marina, where I had been 9 years before, and where nothing has changed, even the building on the hillside was still far from completion! We caught the bus back to the main town in Aegina and had tea(Mousakka ;) ) before catching the boat back over to Pireaus.

Tomorrow we're finally going to get around to doing the touristy things, Acropolis, Parthenon, Plaka and then we are off to see Deep Purple at Terra Vibe Park in the evening. We'll also have to get down to the train station to organise our train to Thessaloniki and Sofia, which is going to be an absolute pain in the arse as it doesn't work well with our schedule grrrrr...

Good luck to the 'Lok tomorrow on their first pre-season friendly!

-Steven