This morning we visited Athens star attraction, the Acropolis. Our first sighting of this famous place was from the street just after getting off the metro and I must say that first glimpse was a surprise, I had not expected it to seem so big. Those outer walls seem enormous from below.

From the station we walked to the entrance and waited around with a small crowd of other tourists for the gates to open and discovered that we had managed to pick one of the 4-5 days per year when entrance is free (one Sunday per month in the off season). We spent a couple of hours wandering around the hill top looking at the Parthenon and other buildings, reading about the restoration work etc. For most of this time Nina was out of communication with her earplugs in listening to her iPod and a Rick Steve's audio tour of the site. All in all we were impressed by the site despite all the hype we have heard and read over the years.

Next stop was the National Archaeological Museum. Here the crowd seemed a little larger, or at least was squashed into a smaller space. Again entrance was free (how lucky can we get) and again Nina wandered around with ear plugs in trying to follow Ricks tour. Meanwhile I wandered around looking at things that caught my interest. I must say I found the statuary and other stone work fascinating, such skill.

Finally we took the train out to the port area of Athens (called Piraeus) to check out the ferry terminal for tomorrow mornings early morning ferry. After all we don't want to get lost at 6:00am in the morning.