"How great are the dangers I face to win a good name in Athens."
After an uneventful flight from London yesterday, we've arrived in Athens.
It is Ochi Day here. Ochi is Greek for "no". The holiday commemorates the day the Greek government told the Italian fascists "no" when Mussolini's ambassador demanded that the Greeks open their border to the Italian Army in 1940. The Greeks declined, the Italians invaded through Albania, and in true Italian military fashion got their asses handed to them by the Greek Army.
Of course, the triumph was short-lived because the Germans had a thing to say about having their dimwitted little brother thumped by the neighbor kid. The Nazis showed up the next year, and hung around until 1944.
But it's a nice story, and my word Athens is one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen.
We're staying in the Electra Palace, a swanky hotel downtown that gives us a view at night out the window of a fat, hirsute naked man watching TV across the way, and in the morning the most amazing view of the Acropolis you'll ever see while feasting on a Mediterranean breakfast.
After breakfast we set off on a hike to the Parthenon, with the best tour guide ever, our son Issac. Steeped in Greek history, its Roman overlay, and all that's happened since, he knows more than I've ever forgotten about the history of this, his favorite place.
So with Issac and Olivia marching ahead of the two geezers, we puffed our way up the hill to the Parthenon.
From there we made our way across to the Areopagus, to see where Paul preached the famous sermon in Acts.
If it looks like a big rocky outcropping, that's because it is.
Hiking down the hill and up the next, we saw where Socrates was supposedly imprisoned before making out way to the crest for an amazing view on one side of the Parthenon,
and on the other the Piraeus, where we'll meet our ship tomorrow.
Heading out again--it's not even noon!
Really liking this place.
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