As they say, "It's all Greek to me", which exactly what the past couple of days have been. But more specifically, Athens, a city steeped in history as well as the birthplace of Classical Greece, and therefore of Western civilization.

Today began with an open bus hop on hop off sightseeing tour of the city. We started off at the Acropolis which is the ancient high city of Athens - a plateaued rock perched high above the modern city with amazing array of ancient architecture, the most famous of which is the Parthenon. The Parthenon is the largest temple on the Acropolis, originally dedicated to the goddess of the city, Athena, later converted to a church and then a mosque, and was build around 450BC, making it almost two and a half thousand years old. Also on the Acropolis is the Odeon of Herodes Atticus - a stone theatre structure which was originally a steep sloped amphitheatre and used as a venue for music concerts.

Following from the Acropolis was a visit to the Temple of Olympian Zeus, a colossal ruined temple in the centre of Athens that was dedicated to Zeus, king of the Olympian gods and was build in the 6th century BC. From there were some impressive views up to the Parthenon on top of the Acropolis, which towers above the city below. Nearby was the Panathinaiko stadium, which was home to the 1896 Olympic Games, the first held in the modern era.

The rest of the day was spent sightseeing more of Athens, including the National Library of Greece, a good traditional lunch, the changing of the guards at Syntagma Square (a hilariously funny ceremony) and the Ancient Agora, which is home to the Hephaistus Temple and picturesque views up to the Parthenon.

To end off a long, hot day - just been up onto the roof bar of the hostel enjoy a nice cold beer, while overlooking the city at night. Really enjoyed my day and a bit around Athens, despite being told that is was an ugly, dodgy city and not worth the visit. Everyone to their own I guess.

Tomorrow we have an early start - meeting at Piraeus, the port of Athens, at 06h00 in time for our ferry off to Mykonos for 9 days of Greek island hopping!