From backpacker to ritzy hotel and it took 44 years!
My big holiday return to Athens
fishing boats unload at Ayr Harbour.
The reality may have gone – but the memories will always endure.
But, hey – don’t think this was any kind of Greek tragedy.
Athens had changed so much, this was a whole new experience – and Mrs Bob enjoyed her first visit to the Greek capital.
Athens really is where the ancient meets the modern.
Turn a corner on a busy main street and you find the Greeks busily excavating some ancient spa or temple, probably in use some 400 years before Christ was born.
The people are warm and friendly and the food and drink are memorable.
On Saturday evening, we walked down a street that must have had 50 tavernas in a row . . . and we passed the same again walking back up the next street!
That’s about 4000 people drinking, talking and laughing their way into the night.
I have never seen anything quite like it.
Last Friday, we walked up to the Parthenon where many of the marble rocks are shiny and slippery – worn smooth from millions of footsteps across 2500 years.
My thoughts turned to my backpacking pal Paddy who stumbled over these stones with me all those years ago. Sadly, he is no longer with us.
The trip was essentially a great city break – but deeper down, there was a ‘ bucket list’ desire to appreciate how kind life’s twists and turns had been to me.
Athens delivered.