Athens Day - One

 Sunday, August 16, 2026

This can be an easy morning, since our cohorts won't be arriving until noon or a bit later.  Time for yoga and a shower (I finally got all the squid ink out from under my nails!) and a leisurely trip down to the mezzanine for the breakfast buffet.  And what a buffet it is!  There is some of everything!  Many bread products, pastry products, yogurt and all the toppings, egss, fried, boiled, or scrambled, cheeses, bacon, sausage, potatoes, grilled tomatoes with cheese, croissants, pain au chocolat, brownies, cakes, and on and on!  There is one of those fancy coffee machines with cappucino and Americano and hot chocolate and... And there is orange, grapefruit, and sour cherry juice.  All in all, a lovely start to the day! The overall color scheme is green tones but the columns are what catch our eyes.  They are fabric covered but the pattern defies explanation as to how it was constructed.  There are lots of pentagons and triangles and I just don't know how it all works!

A And the textured wall paper is amazing, too!       

We spend just a few minutes back up in the room and then go out exploring the immediate neighborhood. Right across the street is the National Garden! What a delightful place to walk in the shade and the breeze and to be dazzled by the beauty of nature enhanced by someone's designer eye.  We hear music and just catch a glimpse of some uniforms but figure that by the time we get out of the gardens and to wherever they are headed it will be too late, so we just keep exploring.  

                                                   In front of our hotel.  Clever use of bamboo!

                                           Innocent bystander appearing to point at our hotel!

                                    Like we've never seen one before!  But this one is Greek!

                                                    So many lovely shaded places to rest.

                                                                         Unusual succulent

I've followed Ginger for decades.  Here she is leading me up a treacherous path when there were perfectly good paved ones!  But we wouldn't have seen the cat and we needed our feline fix!

                                                                           So many bees!

This will be a good place for people to come this afternoon, so we head back toward the entrance and go down the street toward the parliament building.  There is a crowd of people holding up their phones! Oh!  There are the guards that were making the music!  They are marching and playing and we wiggle around until we can at least see them in our phones that we're holding up, just like everyone else who isn't in the front row!  We catch just enough to feel that we haven't missed out completely!

                             This great shot is Ginger's!  In my next life - five foot six or seven!

                                         The Parliament and people still leaving after the parade

                                                          The Greek and European Union flags

                                                          I'm sure we'll find out what this is!

                                                                                Our landmark!
Then we check the map that we got from the front desk and see what else is close enough to walk to in just a little while.  We're heading for the Adrianos Gate but along the way we encounter the ruins of an ancient Roman bath!  I guess whenver you start a new constructio you run the risk of encountering something you dare not disturb! This site was going to be a Metro ventilation shaft!

                                          Sign of the times.  At least they aren't hating the US!

                                                         The vegetation is much like home!

The gate is the perfect place to practice our selfie skills!  Ginger is really getting good!  Me, not so much! 

                                                                 "Rode hard and put up wet!"

                 My cousin used to teach at SUNY-Stonybrook.  Who knew there was a Greek campus!

It's time to head back so that we're at the hotel when our friends' bus arrives.  It's only five or ten minutes away and Dave has been keeping us posted on the WhatsApp group.  Sure enough, there they are!  The check-in process is always a little complicated.  There should have been two rooms with king sized beds and there's only one.  Neither couple wants single beds, of course, so that gets straightened out and eventually everyone has a room and they are all close together!  Ginger has already packed her stuff so that she can move into Art's room and Jan can move in with me.  Dave and Patty have the other king room and Sharon and Kathy are rooming together.  Ginger is in room 307 and we're in 308, so quite convenient. We've all agreed to meet in the lobby at four, so there is lots of time for people to organize, shower, nap, and whatever before then.  I have time to blog so there isn't so much to do tonight, thank you very much! And Jan takes a nap although she thought she wouldn't.

Each room got a goodie box!  

So many treats!  Olive oil, olive. oil soap, pistachios, organic and vegan breadsticks with kalamata olives, thyme and oregano, a key chain, a huge cloth something that could be a table cloth or a wrap or a beach towel, and a pendant

                  Our contact person in case you are thinking of a Greek tour!  She's pretty great!

We all reassemble in the lobby at four and head across the street to the National Garden. Although Ginger and I had been there this morning there is so much to see and this afternoon's visit is completely different from this morning's!

                                                                       Cockspur Coral Tree

                   Kathy was clever enough to bring kitty treats!  Note to self - add to packing list!

       There were millions of these green parrots (?) flying free and nesting in the big brown masses.

Finally we succumb to the siren call of ice cream and even though Patty left us early, she finds her way back to us at the ice cream place! 

                                                                 Equal opportunity graffitti!

Our tummies satisfied we go down to Hadrian's gate and as usual there is stuff I completely missed the first time.  I was so fixated on getting a good shot of the gate that I never notices the ruins of the Temple of Zeus behind us.  It was the largest religious site in all of Greece, though only fifteen of the columns are still standing.

                                                                               Olives!

                                                                              Olive tree!

                                                                           Olive grove!

                                                             Hadrian's Gate from the side.

                                                                  So many tourists now!

                                                                    Note the Ukranian flag!

Back to the hotel in time to freshen up and go up to Whispers for our eight o'clock reservation. It becomes apparent that there will be lots of appetizers shared and that everyone will have an entree.  I was just going for the bread basket from last night and the aubergine tart;  but that plan is out the window so I order a pork gyro to see how different it is from those at home.  And I have to begin with another Athenian Spritz!  The appetizers are all delicious.  The gyro is quite different in presentation from those in Tarpon;  but the amount of meat is gargantuan!  I'm embarrassed by how much is left but I can't help it!

               Aubergine tart with Lefkada salami, caramelised onions, and Grevena anevato cheese cream.

                                                          Interesting kind of DIY pork gyro

Dave, who suggested sharing appetizers, has also decided that one person can pay the check each time we do this kind of thing and he will build a spread sheet to make sure all expenses are evenly divided.

People drift off and we'll see each other at breakfast, before our guide picks us up at EIGHT!! We're going to the Acropolis for two hours and then to the Acropolis Museum for another two.  The afternoon is free time.  But tonight I'm trying to get this finished before I collapse.  (Just looked at my step app for today - 9,500!)