Greece

The end of the Holy Month of Rammadan in the muslim calendar ends in a string of holidays.  In Kuwait, the country effectively takes the entire week off.  Since we have vacation, we thought it was a good time to visit somewhere new.  This year, the holidays were in September so Europe seemed like a good choice.

Since we managed to see the pyramids in the spring, I thought that seeing another ancient site would round out the year.

My pick was Greece.

Here is the view out of our Athenian hotel.
As you can see, the streets are narrow.

You can see the Acropolis from our hotel breakfast room.

As we walked to the Acropolis, we passed other ancient structures.

This amphitheater can only be entered when performances are held. 

It is the odeon of Herodes Atticus.

Othe Acropolis in front of the Caryatids.

Here is the parthenon.

There is lots of scaffolding as it has been under restoration for awhile.

Some of the carvings still have good, clear features.

Dante posing on the acropolis.

Heading towards the ancient agora, we see the long structure of "Stoa of Attalos".

This is a nice, intact temple of Hephaistos.

This is the Odeon of Agippa.  It is also known as the Palace of the Giants.

The church of the holy apostles.

This is in the ancient agora....the ancient marketplace.  This is inside the Stoa of Attalos.

After months of sunshine, Deanna finally saw rain.

After lunch, we took in another view of the acropolis.

Here you can see the acropolis from the Temple of Olympian Zeus.

This building was in the middle of the Athenian pedestrian zone.

This is the ruins of a Roman forum.

Now for some sights in the National Archaeological museum.  They actually let you take pictures inside.

Freaky.

Nifty.

A nice courtyard inside the National Archaeological museum.

Most of our sight seeing was done so Dante and Talyn are ready for lunch.

As is Nyssa.

We are off to see some Greek Islands.

The kids spend start playing cards while waiting for the boat tour to start.

This is Hydra playground for the rich.

The tourist area is full of shops and restaurants.

Beautiful water.

Deanna insisted that at least one photo had me in it.

This is Poros.

Another very small tourist area.

This is a temple on Aegina.

Quite the picturesque setting.

Aegina grows pistacchios. 

Talyn is enjoying homemade pisctacchio ice cream.

Church of Agios Nectarios

It had beautiful gardens.

Squids are drying out on the squid line.

Here is another shot of the acropolis.

This is in the national garden.

Palm trees line the walkways.

The kids wanted to take a time-out to play on the playground.

We had some time to kill so we stopped for a coffee.

No trip to Athens is complete without saying good bye to Yoda.