We met with Emma, Steve and Reuben Bent in Athens; friends of old and our boys born within two weeks of each other. A funky spot to catch up on four or so years. Athens was on the list partly to satisfy Max’s Greek mythology interest born out of being an avid Percy Jackson fan. He was surprised to find there aren’t temples on every corner and Anya couldn’t really understand why we were wandering around broken buildings. There was more dog poo and tagging then we expected but once we were amongst spring wildflowers, skidding around on ancient marble monuments, and eating olives, grilled sardines and fabulous crepes – all was right with the world.
The Archeological Museum was a beautiful building with a beautiful view filled with beautiful pieces of marble, and us beautiful people of course.
We visited the Temple of Sounion which is dedicated to Poseidon. Oddly it also has Lord Byron’s very own tag scraped into it from his visits there. Patridges and tortoises strutted around, as well as Roger and best mate, Steve.
A spring day arrived and we strolled the Athenian and Roman Agoras and the Acropolis and Parthenon. Max narrated us through some of the Greek God stories as we came across busted statues, which was brilliant; we didn’t need a guide! There were some amazing decorated pots at the Athenian Agora that no one but me wanted to marvel over, so we went and ate moussaka and watched the cats stretching in the sun instead. There are a lot of cats in Greece!
Onto a small island off the coast – Aegina – extremely picturesque and low key – we loved it!
The Monastery of the local saint Nektarios was very well kept, particularly his extremely elaborate tomb room.
We walked through the old island capital of ruined stone houses and paths, abandoned except for a few tiny churches still in use.
Easy place to enjoy! Our accommodation on the island top right in photos below.
Roger took some particularly excellent photos of the Temple of Aphaia, whilst the rest of us had bailed out to eat pistachio icecream.
Such a lovely time with the Bents – thank you!
And then they left and we had a couple more days beside the pool at the gorgeous Fistikies hotel and exploring the small port town.
Then off to London, with crazy haired girl…..
GardenofBeeden RTW 