It is hot and sunny when we arrive in 'Marina Zea' near Piraeus. Athens is a bit overwhelming it seems to be limited to a six story height limit. It is all white and spreads for miles with a population of 4 million.
We are berthed into the Marina squeezed between large motor launches opposite bars and restaurants.
Marcus and MB take the bikes and head off a couple of Kms for a swim. To finish the trip off we had our usual hilarious pirate party with Marcus dressed up as captain Jack Sparrow. Randal invents his own pirate character with long hair and a blackened tooth. We head off to a seaside restaurant called 'boubalina's' which was not particularly good food but we still enjoyed our first dinner in Athens. We head to the 'Grande Bretegne' hotel for drinks and an amazing view of the Parthenon from the terrace. Lachy, Randal, JB and MB head off to find the worlds first Discotheque 'Boom Boom', however we get there and it is closed. The taxi driver suggests we go to 'Villa Mercedes'. This turns out to be a very sophisticated club. Everyone except MB is into club mode dancing and laughing. Randal is outrageous dancing on the dancers podium and filling Janet and Lachy with G and T's in copious amounts. MB has had enough by 2pm and leaves the others to it. They arrive back but have little memory of how they got home and what had happened! Must have been a good night.
Thursday, after a slow start and heavy heads from the party goers we all head off to the St. George Lycabettus hotel at Kolonaki, a neat suburb right next to the center of the city. The heat is quiet oppressive so we visit the acropolis museum. A beautiful new museum that houses some of the masterpieces of the classical period of Athens around 400 BC. We have a great dinner at restaurant 'Daphne', that Randal recommends. This turns out to be a fantastic restaurant and we are surprised how inexpensive quality eating is in Greece.
Friday, We take the red bus tour to understand the city. This is well done and an easy way to do a tour when it is so hot. We then visit the 'Benaki' museum which was founded in 1930 by a preeminent family and is housed in their beautiful large private home. This is a real stand out. It hosts exhibitions of work dating from prehistory all the way through to the Byzantine period. One of the great exhibits was of several gold leaf crowns or Diadems and beautiful gold jewelry. We spent many hours here and had an excellent lunch on their 4th floor terrace.
We have dinner on the 6th floor terrace of the hotel, with a view of the Acropolis and the sunset, magic.
Saturday, JB still feeling under the weather after her big night out, so MB sets off for a big walk through the old center of Athens, including a very large market area and ancient Agora to the Acropolis. This is quiet spectacular even though in the early morning it is very crowded. The rest of the day is spent around the pool. Marcus's cousin Rex Hoban and his wife Julie arrive. After we go to mass in a very wealthy suburb north of the city, we meet them for dinner on the mountain of St. George church overlooking the city and the Acropolis, at the restaurant 'Orizontes' on Lycabettus hill. We all share several really fine traditional Greek dishes with local white wines.
Sunday we head back to the black pearl at marina zea. It is good to be back on the sea and have a swim after the hot concrete city. We then head off to 'Glyfada' 17 Kms east of Piraeus. The traffic is busy with everyone heading to the beach on this sunny Sunday. There are only 8 golf courses in Greece, Glyfada is the one we go to. It is average, flat and not very difficult but still very enjoyable. Five greens are under repair. MB starts well but JB'S steady game wins the day. European cup 2012 is now equal.
We have said goodbye to our dear friends Randal, Marcus and Nora who we have had so much fun with. Our Harvard friends arrive tomorrow.
JB and Mick