Our second hotel in Greece turned out to be in an interesting choice; in a seedy part of town (close to the metro though). It was always a slightly faster walk at night when we were approaching the hotel, due to the heroin injecting on the side of the streets which you pretended wasn't happening. Athens does have its darker side.

The Greeks sure love their perfume / aftershave and wear heavy doses of it, even the pre-pubescents which is a mixed blessing at times. They also dress generally very well, which is typical of Europeans, so we felt quite shabby and unkempt next to them.

Have I mentioned the chips (fries)? What is that? Everything seems to come with fries including in their gyros (Greek fast food) and even in their traditional mezes which you expect to have a nice pork simmered in wine and then a bunch of chips are thrown on top. But other than that, I really can't fault the food or the people. They are very Greek if that makes sense.

Of course, the first thing we had to do the next day was see the 5th Century BC Acropolis and it didn't disappoint. Even though quite a bit has been destroyed by bombs from the Venetians in the Morean War in the 1600s. Gunpowder was being stored in the Parthenon by the Ottoman's and it was hit by a cannonball and exploded. (Whose idea was it to store gunpowder in it anyway!) The sheer size of the various buildings such as the Parthenon, is mind boggling. Right up there with the Pyramids in terms of a feat of human of engineering and all out of stunning white marble. Quite beautiful.

We spent the morning circumnavigating the rock and various sites and then the Acropolis itself. The afternoon was spent at the Acropolis Museum which is a must as it holds a fantastic collection of statues and artefacts from the Acropolis which hadn't been 'sold' to an English Lord by the Turks. What was more interesting was how they explained the extensive history and showed 3D representations on how it looked during the ages. They even showed what the colours would have been painted on the statues and friezes. It would have been a sight to behold in its heyday during the Hellenistic period.

That evening, we went to a traditional 'local' taverna and I had pork with the most amazing tasted roasted tomato...and chips of course.

The next day we got up ridiculously early to get a train to Kalabaka in Thessaly which is in the centre of Greece. Quite a mission, over a five hour journey each way. We went there as this village is right next to Meteroa.

Meteroa is a natural phenomenon. Many centuries ago, on these gigantic rocks with the breath-taking landscape reaching heights of more than 600 meters, it was formed one of the most important monastic communities of Greece. The Greek word Meteora means "suspended in the air" and this phrase aptly describes these remarkable Greek Orthodox monasteries. Meteora is a great place to experience, a spectacular landscape and byzantine monasteries (14th Century circa) perched on top of steep rocks that house priceless artefacts and frescoes. Today only six monasteries are active with a small number of monks (two monasteries have only one monk as they are up and leaving as they are sick of all the tourists), or nuns who reside on Meteora. In 1988, the Meteora monasteries have been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List and the Meteora-Antichassia area is part of the Natura 2000 network hosting some rare species of birds and flowers...and yes A Game of Thrones scene was shot here, and a James Bond movie scene...sigh.

It really is spectacular and well worth the money and journey. We went on a group tour which was pretty good though rushed as it had to be. The local guide was very knowledgeable as we zipped around taking photos or for two of the monasteries, Holy Monastery of Great Meteoron and the Holy Monastery of Holy Trinity, actually go inside. To get to the monasteries, you had to climb a vast number steps as they are perched on top of massive rocks. The Holy Trinity one nearly did me in. The Great Meteoron was especially impressive, with vividly fresh-looking frescoes completely covering the walls and ceiling of the chapel (no pics allowed unfortunately) and elaborately ornate golden jewels everywhere. It also had three museums which housed ancient manuscripts and artefacts. Amazing!

Before we knew it our time was up, and just as well as the rain started. The train ride back was not as good, due to a guy in front of us (from Albania we are guessing), insisted on playing his native music on his speaker and then videoing himself singing along (badly) not only once but multiple times. I pity the poor person who gets to view them. Plus, we had a constant parade of beggars on the train that would go backwards and forwards several times. It also didn't help that the train broke down for a bit and no one could speak English, so we didn't know what was going on. But that's travelling for you.

So, after a very late night return we had a slow get up the next day before heading to yet another museum. On the way we happened on the Greece marathon which we knew was on and by good luck we were just in time to see the winner come running like a lithe gazelle down to the finish line in just over two hours for a 40km run! It was strangely emotional for us too, especially when the crowd were cheering for the first Greek (6th place) to come barrelling in.

The Benaki Museum housed the usual stuff that we had been seeing but also some fantastic elaborate costumes and artefacts from the Turkish war.

We then walked around Athens and found some wonderful, though touristy streets and ended up having dinner at a taverna with locals. Plus to our delight a group of Greek musicians and singers casually singing and playing along to traditional songs. Along with ouzos and mezes this topped off the day.

Another early start at 5am to fly to Milan (on Aegean Airlines, not bad at all) and then a tiring 7 hour wait while trying not to spend any money at Gucci at the airport, before our flight to Morocco.