We reached our goals today and boy were they good goals!! We managed to get up in time to exit our room on the cruise ship at the early hour of 07:00 and eat breakfast. Little did we know that we would be “cooling our heels” for hours while waiting for the passengers with the yellow luggage tags to be called to exit. Of course, the colors called went in order: fuchsia, green, pink, then yellow and blue. While we were not last, it seemed like it. We soon found our ride and were quickly back at the same hotel in Athens we left just a few days earlier. Not able to check in at this early hour, we deposited our luggage at the hotel desk and set off exploring. Our next goal was to see the changing of the guard at the Monument of the Unknown Soldier. We have a great video, but unfortunately, we cannot download the entire video to the website. Instead we recommend you watch this video, Changing of Guards, Athens (2017) – Bing video (less the music instead imagine lots of car noises)
Another goal reached, now what? Well, something to drink, a bathroom – always on Kathy’s mind – and maybe a bite to eat. Stopping by a small café, we had water, coke zero, a short stack of some amazing pancakes for Kathy and the best bathroom in all of Athens!! Sitting casually, we just enjoyed resting at the table, until, of course, one of the ubiquitous smokers came along and drove us away. We then walked to Hadrian’s Arch and the Temple of Zeus. Heading back to the hotel, we checked in and rested for a bit before heading back out to climb to the tallest point in Athens. Walking to the Lycabettus Cable Car, we rode up to the tallest point in Athens. This was a big goal achieved as the walk was uphill during the hottest part of the day, but oh! what a good goal. We were amazed at the top of the mountain to see the panoramic sweeping views of the city of Athens. Seeing the Parthenon across the valley, one side the sweeping views of mountains, and another view of the Mediterranean Sea. Wow!!! We also watched a small forest fire crop up on top of a far ridge. It was contained rather quickly and Dave lamented the days when the odor of forest fires meant big paychecks would be heading his way.
Deciding that we had reached our goals, we needed a new one and decided to hoof it down the mountain instead of taking the cable car back down. Sounds tough, huh? Not really, but we still accomplished the goal even though it was an easy one. Stopping on the way back to the hotel we had an early dinner of Mexican food. While on this trip we have had Greek, Egyptian, Italian, Mexican food and pizza. A trip around the world for our stomach!
Soon we were back to the hotel to chill again for a while. It was a nice pace for us today. Finally heading out to look for dessert, we headed out and soon found ourselves in Plaka, which is part of the old town. It is a series of small streets lined with stores and restaurants. It was a good way to end our day of reaching a goal of exceeding our heart points and steps on the Fit app. All in all, we walked over 9.7 miles with over 20,000 steps. Way to reach our goal! Tomorrow we spend some more time in Greece with a package tour in the morning and then in the evening, we head to Turkey. More than halfway through our trip!!