Athens - Day two and Andre Rieu

 Our second day in Athens began with a stroll over to the Acropolis museum, with views of the iconic temple high above us. At the museum we were met by long lines of people and hordes of kids that put us off going inside, but we did view the ruins that lye below the museum.

So we decided to amble over toward the botanical gardens, passing Adrian's Arch and the Temple of Zeus.

We then entered the gardens and noticed how quite and shaded it was away from the City streets.We even saw wild colourful parrots hopping from tree to tree. We then came upon the impressive building of Zappeion hall, these days used for conferences. We stopped off here for a cooling drink and in the distance we could view Lycabettus hill in the distance.

As we were leaving the park a number of jet fighters roared overhead, along with other various aircraft, they were practicing for Next month's annual Greek day parade. The noise that the low flying jets made was deafening

After a brief lunch stop at Thea By Latifis for crusty bread rolls, the ladies then decided to go shopping and Rob and Steve headed to the narrows backstreets of Plaka. We came across a small restaurant called "Anefani" were stopped off for a couple of well deserved beers on their roof terrace over looking the City.

In the evening we jumped on Athen's clean and efficient Metro and headed towards the Marousi district of the City where we enjoyed a delicious meal at the Tavern Epirus. After our meal we jumped into a cab and dove to the Nikos Galis” Olympic Indoor Basketball Court" where we had tickets to see The Andre Rieu concert.

The concert was spectacular, with a talented "Johann Strauss Orchestra",  individual singers and even some comedy thrown in. The three hour concert was a vibrant and somewhat emotional experience, blending classical elegance with festive celebration.