Athens - Saturday 28 September

My word, what an amazing day we had in Athens! We had a more leisurely start than many others, having booked a private taxi tour with Athens Tours for just the two of us - a little more expensive (but still way cheaper than any other taxi or transfer we've used anywhere - David was sure I must have been mistaken about the price, and had me worried for the rest of the day). This gave us the freedom to see what we wanted and move at our own pace.

We were out of Terminal B earlier than my requested start time of 9 am. I had booked an 'extended half day tour' of 6.5 hours with this company that I had found on TripAdvisor. Having seen most of the key sights during our 2009 visit to Athens (and walked the soles off our feet in the process), I wanted to visit some sites that were more spread out and thus too hard to walk to.

As it turned out, our driver (Christos) was also early, and by 8:45 am we were on our way to my requested stops, and many more along the way. We stopped at the Panathenaic Stadium (a marble stadium build in the 2nd Century AD, the site of the first modern Olympics, and where the Marathon finished in the Athens Olympics).

We were driven up Lykavittos Hill for fantastic views from the highest point in the city. Being driven up saved us the E8 each for the funicular, each way, and was much faster. We did have to walk up the last few steps to the top for the amazing views across Athens in all directions. Christos stopped to buy us a bottle of cold water each before we began the climb, and was careful to point out any slippery sections of the steep pathway and steps.

We had a quick walk into the National Gardens, rather like some parts of Hagley Park, and very peaceful. We drove past the temple of Olympian Zeus, the Arch of Hadrian, Parliament and Syntagma Square (an area of recent rioting), and Monastiraki Square, all places that we had walked through in 2009.

We drove past other parts of the city that we had missed - Thissio (an upmarket area), the University, an area with meat/fish/fruit and vegetable markets and a flea market area.

We'd seen the guards on our previous visit, but this time we were taken past the Prime Minister's home in time to see the ceremony involved in the changing of the guards. They march as if in slow motion, and flick a leg out in front and lower it slowly (their boots look like they have giant pom-poms)! There is a long history involved here, related to the 400 year rule over Greece by the Turks.

Rick Steve's audio guide helped us tour around the key areas and highlights of the National Archaeological Museum in just over an hour (entry there was free for the day). We listened to him at double speed on my iPhone. It was very interesting.

We had a drive through different parts of the city, and then had a further hour at the newer Acropolis Museum, this time using a tour in Rick's guide book. This houses archeological finds from the Acropolis and surrounding area, and is very well done. This is the space they hope to use to house the Elgin Marbles removed from the Acropolis by Lord Elgin, and on display in the British Museum.

Lastly, we were taken on a long drive along the 'Athenian Riviera' (a long beach resort area) for a scenic tour and then a nice lunch at the Zaxos Restaurant, where we shared a great value lunch of a large Greek salad, and then a dish of sliced chicken with pita bread. Actually, it was too much to eat, even though we were effectively having lunch at 3 pm. We've noticed how amazing the tomatoes are here, really flavourful and you get served generous portions of goodness knows how many tomatoes.

I was getting a bit worried because we should have been finishing our tour at about 3:15 pm, according to the pick-up time. But Christos told us not to worry and assured us there would be no further charge for the extra time. Nevertheless, I was a little worried, because you hear these stories of Greek taxi drivers stopping before your final destination and demanding extra money. So we gobbled what we could on this amazing, hot day (unusually so, apparently, for the end of September), and got on our way again. Christos declined any lunch, saying it was too early for him to eat (!!) and that he normally ate around 10 pm at night, and the Greeks did everything late, and got up late the next day as well. As he drove, we asked about his family and found that his wife is Swedish and that his 18 year old daughter is going to live in Sweden next year with her grandmother. She will attend university there, and study.... Economics!

Christos toured us around the yacht area of Pireas, in no hurry, and then delivered us back to the ship just after 4 pm. Before we left him, he gave us a signed book about Greece and the sights to see, and a map of Greece including the main archeological areas and ancient sites. We managed to get a photo of him with his taxi, and another of us with him. He was an amazing host - a quietly spoken gentleman, with excellent English (he said he'd taught himself with tapes and books, and had been driving taxis for 30 years, after first doing the two years compulsory military training on a rusty bucket of a Greek naval ship).

It was nice to catch up with the Barrows over dinner, and hear about their private tour with a Cruise Critic group and a wonderful guide who helped Rick Steves write his Athens chapters! Then we attended a comedy show that had us all laughing.