1/1/2011
What a beautiful day for a drive. It is 220ks to Delphi, and according to the GPS will take 4 hours. The route we are taking is the back roads. After a big breakfast and one of the best cappuccinos we have had so far, we leave Olympia to Delphi.

The winding roads make me feel that we are lucky to have the Saab. Most of the roads are like a race track. No long straights, just lots of corners. The trip involved crossing the Rion-Antirion Bridge. 12 euros is the toll.

The road now hugs the coast, so the views are spectacular. Its not long before we arrive in Delphi. A quaint little village perched on the side of a mountain. The view of the valley below is stunning. Our hotel room is on the top floor with a balcony overlooking the valley. Very peaceful.

After checking in we walk about 4ks to the Archaeological site for the Temple of Apollo, only to find out it was closed for the public holiday. The ruins of the Gymnasium and the Temple of Athena were free to walk through. This gave us a good view of the ruins above. The day has been cloud free till now. It is late afternoon with a setting sun, clouds forming and the temperature has dropped to close to Zero. We head back to the Hotel where the room is nice and warm. A rest is now in order as the legs are a bit sore.

2/1/2011
Left the hotel at 8.30am so we can stop off at the Museum and the Temple Of Apollo, which is on the way to Athens. The hotel gave us a small gift, a small bottle of local Ouzo, a bottle of the local red wine and a CD with a lot of professional photos on it of the sights. (Just remembered the Hotel in Istanbul gave us a box of Turkish Delights and a pack of teas including glasses.)Luckily for us it is Sunday, and admission is free, a saving of 15 euros. This site is pretty well preserved in parts, and the museum had some amazing displays. It is starting to rain just as we finish walking around the site. It is a 2.5 hour drive to Athens, and it did not stop raining all the way. At times visibility was down to 100 metres. Luckily the rain did easy when we dropped the hire car back. The hotel was a 1k walk, and the rain eased a little for us.

After checking in we walked to see a few sights. The rain started to get so heavy, the gutters started to flood. This did not stop us. Returned to the hotel to dry out, we got thoroughly drenched. Around 7pm we decide to take in some sights around the Acropolis as it is all beautifully light up. The rain has subsided and it is a really cold and misty night, making all the sites more mystical. Cannot believe how many people are out walking in the cold.
Will sleep well tonight, must have walked 7 or 8 ks.

3/1/2011
With sore legs ( Alan has blisters on his toes) we visit the Acropolis. The climb to the top really tests your fitness. What spoils the Acropolis is the amount of construction activity. Anyway the view is worth the effort. It is mid-morning and the crowds are building. Forgot to take the umbrellas, and of course it starts to rain, be it only lightly. We visit the Ancient Agora before we grab some lunch. A 2 euro Giros is a great feed. The coffee from a Café called Everest is excellent. We walk through the flea market at Monastiraki. It is welcomed change not to be hassled by every store owner you walk past.

After a short rest back at the hotel, we begin another sightseeing walk. This is interrupted by more rain, so we head back to the hotel. The hotel is quite generous, as they allow the guests to have access the tea, coffee and some really nice Greek cakes and biscuits. We try not to make pigs of ourselves. The floods in Queensland are the Main Headline news on all the news channels here. It certainly looks bad.

4/1/2011
Looks like today will be the best wether wise. Sunny, with some clouds, and low teens. Great day for walking. Today we visited the following, Temple of Zeus, Hadrians Arch, then onto Odeion of Herodes Atticus. Walked up to the Philopappu Monument with spectacular views of Athens. We just managed to visit Hadrian's Library before it closed. Nearly all of the sites in Athens close around 2.30pm, so if you don’t get an early start, you miss out. Grabbed a great Yiros and coffee for a late lunch. It was a very pleasant day, with lots of sunshine. To finish the day off we wandered through a few stores, as today is the first trading day for the New Year. Not many bargains were seen. Lots of people looking , but not many buying.
Not looking forward to tonight. Our flight departs to Jerusalem at 1am, and arrives at 3am. We will wait at the hotel, and catch the subway to the airport at around 10pm.