The last week in August 2007, Kristi and I flew out to Greece’s capital Athens. We arrived at ten in the night and had made our way from the airport through the metro without any problems. Directions to our hotel could not be simpler, “Take the metro to Victoria station, the hotel is 100 meters from the station”. However, upon exiting we saw no sign of the hotel and proceeded to walk in random directions for 100 meters in an attempt to locate it. We were not best pleased, especially considering the neighbourhood appeared to be quite rough, and felt quite nervous carrying our bags down the dimly lit streets. After some querying of the locals and about 300 meters walk we finally checked in at about midnight.
The following morning we decided to head for the area around the Acropolis and check out the various sites. As soon as we emerged from the metro we saw the Acropolis looming overhead. The first sight of this ancient site tookk my breath away, catching me totally unprepared. We soon came to realise that you see the Acropolis from most places around the centre of Athens and after a couple of days it just blends into the scenery, but it is still quite something.
 Athens is littered with ancient sites. We only had to walk a few paces up the road before coming across the library of Hadrian and the church of Saint Asomatos. Something that astonished me was to the extent of restoration the Greeks are currently undertaking with these sites. They’re not just cleaning and touching up areas, their practically rebuilding whole structures. Many of the columns and walls we walked around were brand new, which although at first seems like cheating, it does aid your visualisation of what it was like, and gives you something more interesting to look at than a bunch of foundations.
 After looking round a couple more sites we made our way to the Athenian Agora. This is probably the largest ancient site in the city. Although most of it is just foundations now they have completely reconstructed the ‘Stoa of Attalos’, a huge building with columns along its facade. For me though, the main structure of this site was the temple of Hephaistos. Sitting on a hill looking down over the site, this one hundred percent original temple was by far the most impressive, and would have been quite a marvel to behold if it wasn’t so over shadowed by the ever present Acropolis.
 A couple of hours and litres of water later, we stopped at a cafe for some lunch before making the long hike up to the Acropolis. I was quite excited as we rounded corners and saw the ancient site get a little closer each time. When we finally neared the entrance to it I felt a little pang of disappointment as we saw the extent of the scaffolding surrounding the temples. It appeared there was some major restoration work going on, which kind of took away from the majesty of it all, not to mention getting in the way of potentially some great photos.
 Despite this I still found the Acropolis to be such an awe inspiring place. As we passed between the columns of Propylaea, or entrance of the Acropolis, nothing quite prepared me for my first glimpse of the Parthenon in all its glory. Just standing next to its giant columns gave me such a humble feeling. Walking round the plateau we took in the sights of temples combined with fantastic views across the city surrounding us. It made me quite glad we hadn’t got here first, as it would have made the other sites we visited pale by comparison.
 Once we had satisfied ourselves with what the Acropolis had to offer, we made our thoroughly knackered selves back to the hotel. That evening we decided to try out the hotel’s roof garden restaurant. Advertised with views of the Acropolis, we thought it should not be missed. However, as we later found out, because of its position at such a high point in the centre of the city, you would have to be very unlucky not to have a view of the Acropolis from your roof. Still, it was a lovely end to a great first day to the holiday.
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