Mario and I left Josh asleep at the hotel and headed out for Sunday breakfast.

A gyro stand in Monastiriki.

The Monastariki flea market was busy.

Vendors of all types were out selling their
wares.

The crush of the crowd looking for bargains.

Mario couldn’t stop shopping!

Hadrian’s
Library...or what’s left of it.

Back at the hotel to fetch Josh, I snapped a pic from our 4th floor balcony.

The Hotel Candia, our humble Greek Home.  (Noisy as HELL.)

To the east of the Acropolis, the towers of the Temple of Olympian Zeus can be seen.

We took the long way around the park, stopping to see the sights along the way.

A church nestled in the grounds.

A modern track seems both out of place and appropriate here.

The Temple of Olympian Zeus.

Temple marker.

The temple is the largest in Greece and took 700 years to build.

A couple of the remaining upright columns frame the Acropolis.

While other columns lie in ruins.

Josh is dwarfed by the 17m high pillars.

All that remains of the original 104 Corinthian columns.

Each column has a base diameter of 1.7m.

Even Mario was stopped in his tracks.

What impressed me the most was the precise alignment of these things.

The temple was finished in
AD 131.

Heading out of the park.

The statue of an athlete keeps watch over our next stop...

...the Panathenaic Stadium.

This stadium was built in the 4th century BC.

It was the site of the first modern Olympic games in 1896.

Um...no Olympians here, I’m afraid.

Continuing our trek to the east.

Near the Evangelismos Metro Station.

The climb up Lykavittos Hill was as tiring as it looks.

Luckily, someone thought to build a funicular to take us to the top.

Riding the funicular.

The tunnel through the hill.

The view from the top is stunning.

“Lykavittos” means “Hill of Wolves”.

Not as famous as the Acropolis, but the view is better.

Looking south to the sea.

Josh takes a few photos of his own.

Athens
panorama.

There’s even a nice restaurant up there.

The Chapel of Agios Georgios sits at the top.

Mario rests from the climb.

While Josh continues to watch the sunset.

The Greek flag watches over all.

A literal sea of apartments.

The weather was gorgeous.

The Acropolis and the Parthenon at sunset.

Just below the summit.

We decided walking down wouldn’t be so bad.

And it wasn’t.

The view back looks amazing.

Josh lets me know what he thinks of all the steps.

But I have no clue what he’s thinking here!

The Sunday crush at the metro.

Hadrian’s Library and the Acropolis in the distance.

Our last dinner in Athens was a delicious plate of kebobs.

Strolling through a marketplace at night.

Josh poses for photo...Greek gangster style.

After a few days, our room was a wreck.

Finishing up the trip with a visit to an Irish Pub.

And a friendly game of darts.

Josh wins, but not by much.

The Athens airport, as we head home.