Athens, Greece

Well, as I mentioned in the previous post - Greece is awesome.

Seriously, though, I love it here. Cheap GOOD food, incredible history and cool ruins, nice people and great weather. Not much could be better.

The first full day in Greece was ... Full. We woke up to go on a walking tour of the city (thankfully the boys woke up because our alarm didn't go off, so the ladies had a rushed morning). Our guide was actually born in Texas (San Antonio! Whatsup) and has been living in Greece for 3 years. She knew a lot and we were grateful for a real tour after our disappointing experience in Vienna. We walked all day (really...) and saw Athens in its entirety (pretty much). It was absolutely incredible! This city is full of amazing history and I was glad to learn more about it.

For lunch we had my favorite meal of the trip - gyros. Not only was it the best tasting but we also got it AND a water for only €2! I was so happy. I need Abilene to get a Greek restaurant.

After walking around all day and seeing the Agora (Greek and Roman), Acropolis, the Olympic stadium, the Temple of Zeus, Hadrian's Library, the changing of the guard, Temple of the Unknown Soldier and SO much more, we went to dinner at a restaurant next to our hostel for 10% off, again, and I got another gyro. Love those things.

We then made our way over to Mars Hill - where Paul spoke to the people and leaders of Athens (Acts 17). Interestingly enough, so did many other government and Greek Orthodox leaders. Apparently they were having some sort of ceremony/remembrance for St. Paul. We went on the opposite side and sat to look over the city as the sun set and read Acts 17 to each other. It was one of the coolest moments of our trip thus far. Just getting to read Scripture from where it actually happened was awesome and inspiring. We stayed up there a while and then walked around the city before heading back to the hostel.

We were sad not to go to the islands, but there is already just so much to see in Athens alone that we decided we will just have to save it for another trip. We're thinking a Mediterranean cruise, complete with a tour of the Holy Lands.

The next day we woke up to head out to the coast and spent the day on the beach. It was very relaxing and we even had a nice little picnic for lunch. Later that afternoon we headed back to clean up and head to dinner (traditional Greek food, of course - my new favorite type of food). After, we went to "Socrates NOW," a performance by the renown Yannis Simonides of the Apology of Socrates. It was a cool experience and inspiring. I would recommend looking him up. The actor is extremely talented and seems to be an incredible professor. After, we walked around Athens a bit more, went to the hostel and played go-fish until we went to bed.

The next morning, today, we went to the market, saw a few more spots in Athens, had our last gyro, and headed to the airport for Rome.

We just made it to Rome and we will be here the night before we leave for Spain in the morning. Just enough time to watch the Italy vs Spain game - the final game for the EuroCup. We are pretty excited to because we will be in the winning country either tonight or tomorrow, win-win for us!