Baklava sugar high!

So many days away from a computer! We've spent the last 2 and a half days in Athens. People here are very friendly, as we found out when we were personally escorted to our hotel by a man that saw us looking at our map (true tourists!) in Syntagma Square. We are finally starting to get over being sick, just lots of phlegm now (yum, I know..). Tex; from Florida, arrived yesterday, and we immediately drug him out to conquer the city bus system (metro strikes for a couple of hours a day here it seems, just when we want to use it!), explore the Plaka and see the National Acheological Museum. We thought the best way to get him over his jet lag was to get him full of beer and baklava. We had to try every kind of baklava in the patisserie in order to decide what we liked the best, so Jeff had some strange, sugar-induced dreams last night!

Today we woke bright and early (after Jill slept through the alarm, and Jeff kept us up all night with his snoring..) to tour the Acropolis, Ancient Agora, Tower of the Winds and wander through the Monastiraki area. Jeff finally got his gyros, although it sure took us a long time trying to figure where he was going to get a "hero" sub in touristy Athens! The Parthenon is pretty amazing, there is tons of reconstruction going on all throughout the Acropolis and it just makes you think that much more about how much work must have went into the original construction, without the use of cranes and other machinery. The views of Athens from the Acropolis were pretty breathtaking as well (we'll have lots of pictures of that once we finally get around to posting some..).
Tonight is our last night in Athens, so I'm sure we'll be hanging out in the Plaka (where our hotel is.. location, location, location!). It is a cool "traditional" area, near the Acropolis, but it is packed full of tourists. Fun to hang out in though, the tavernas stay open really late and you sit outside drinking wine and stuffing yourself with olives and tzatziki (and bread! Jill can eat bread!) while Greek musicians play.

Tomorrow morning we are up (way too early!!) and flying to Leros for a day lounging on the beach and taking a break before we are off sailing. We're ready for some beach, and non-touristy islands. The cities have been amazing, especially London, but we're in need of a slower pace for a bit. I'm looking forward to the Leros break to gear up to socializing with the 6 new people that we'll be living with on the boat for the next two weeks.

Hopefully internet in Leros will be as cheap as here in Athens. Despite a somewhat long walk to the internet cafe from our hotel (we ate gelato on the way to spur us on) it is only 2.80 euros per hour to use the internet. As opposed to 1 pound per 10 minutes at the airport in Luton! Next post will hopefully be some pictures!