Having been continuously inhabited for at least the last 5,000 years, Athens is a city that needs no introductions other than this one.
We arrived just in time to see the redundantly elaborate changing of the guard.
Having read only bad things about life in Athens, it was really nice to see people getting into the Christmas spirit. In the centre of Plaza SÃntagma, a constant stream of people piled up gift hampers faster than the trucks could carry them away to those less fortunate.
On Christmas Eve Eve (23rd December) we had a tasty Christmas Eve Dinner.
Of course, Athens is all about the ruins. And although we've spent a lot of time in Greece before, it is only here in Athens that we could really appreciate the achievements of the many great toga-wearing artists, architects and philosophers.
The Temple of Zeus (6th Century BC).
The Stoa of Attalos (2nd Century BC, rebuilt in the 1950's AD) which sits to the East of the Ancient Agora.
Temple of Hephaestus (415BC)
The Roman Agora
And of course, the grand daddy of them all, the Parthenon.
The new Parthenon Museum brilliantly showed how the monument used to look. Unfortunately we had to pay an admission fee, which is disappointing as some great museums allow free entrance, for example the superb British Museum of London.
On Christmas Day we ascended Mount Lycabettus...
and wandered past some of the neo-classical buildings built soon after Greek Indpendence was won in 1822.
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