Early start – today was a morning walk to the Panathenaic Stadium, the very first stadium of the moderm olympics, made from marble ! It was a 30 mins walk from our Hotel.
Everyone was down on the street by 7:30am and then it was off, Doc was leading the way.

Good walk to the Stadium in the chill fresh air of Athens, finally reached there however we were 15 mins too early, had to wait before it opens. Finally they let us in. This place was amazing. The entire stadium built from Marble and the home of the first MODERN OLYMPICS!
Felt great being here.
Place was also being setup for tomorrow with cameras and all, the Paris Olympic flame was going to be handed over here.

Stadium tour and walk finished, time to head back and find a place for breakkie. Meeta had something in store, a very PINK coffee shop – Ellyz. Good news, it was super close to our hotel so that walk would not be in vain. A good walk back with the mandatory rest breaks

More walking and finally we reached Ellyz…. and was it worth it. This place is just another WOW!! Lots of flowers and lots of pink. Weird thing was, we were in our gym gear and everyone else were dressed up more nicely, well we did stand out ;).
We settled for some coffee and breakkie … service was super slow, the pink lattes & pink benedict were nice but nothing special. Overall the experience was super just not sure about the food.

Breakkie done, time to head back to hotel and then roam about. Today was a free day, we wanted to walk around the markets near our hotel and then to the big mall to look around.

We ended up roaming about with Jaynesh, Cheeky & Kosh. Doc and PCB had gone different routes.
First stop was the fresh meat markets, no where had we seen that type of meat variety. This market had all parts of the animals, including heart, liver, intestines and everything. As expected ladies did not enter that market.
Out of there and more strolling the quality of stores in that area was degrading. Decided to head out to the mall area, it was here we split with the rest and headed on our own.

After a bit of walkin, stopped for the mandatory coffee fix. Found a very nice cafe along a busy side street , great coffee it was.

Next was strolling and shopping in the Athens mall on Ermou Street. This is like the Brisbane Queen Street, only better! Nita did find some good things here.

Time passed and soon it was lunch time or maybe PAST lunch time.
We passed a place that had Soulaki and the place was packed…. waited to get a table and finally got lucky. As we entered saw Jaynesh and Seema about to get up… they gave the big thumbs up!! Nice. We ordered Gyro’s and it was the most amazing roll we have had to date. Unfortunately we were so busy eating it , did not get a chance to take a pic :(. But this place is amazing and highly recommended : Meat The Greek

Amazing lunch done, now to walk and burn away those calories. Ofcourse with some more shopping along the way. Ended back at the hotel – Doc, Jaynesh and I decided to head to the laundromat whilst we had some spare time. Found a laundry not too far from our hotel – literally a 5 min walk.

Laundry took a good hour or so, in between we headed to a coffee shop for more coffee and cake!
Am glad we did the laundry run, during this time we were discussing how we would get to our cruise tomorrow. One option was the train but upon checking , realised it dropped us too far. Jaynesh finally found a private transfer company and was able secure a large mini van that could also accommodate all our luggage. Phew transport sorted , one thing less to worry for tomorrow morning.

Back at the hotel post Laundry, wifes checked no laundry items were lost … but somehow Doc had got an extra underwear in his washing and was trying to find out whose it was …. not mine, he was the lucky owner of an orphaned undie 😉 !!

Plan in the evening was to meet up for dinner at a restaurant Tina had researched , we still had more than an hour to kill, good opportunity for Nita and I to visit the “Little Kook” area which Meeta was raving about the prior day.
Indeed this place is magical. It is like a mini disney wonderland, with restaurants, Gelato, Toy store and more.

Time to head back to the gang, meetup at the hotel foyer and we all headed to the evening dinner, that was suggested by Tina.
It was a bit of a walk and all along she was getting more and more nervous on what if it is crap.
Finally reached it and it was a nice spot. Got seated and we had the BESTEST GREEK Food.
Place is called Tzitzikas kai Mermigas. Highly recommend this place for an amazing night.

We went through a few wines and some great laughter.

Next we were back on the street and heading for some dessert. Agreed to head on to Mona Lisa L’Ateleir Del Gelato – this was closer to our hotel and we had been eyeing that since day 1.

Along the way to Mona Lisa, we lost PCB at an Art Gallery – he went shopping for an art piece at almost 9:30pm!! We continued to the Gelato cafe, place was great but there were no tables…. found some stools at the rear of the store and we made ourselves comfortable. Ordered two serves of mini waffle bites and Gelato…. it was soo yumm and was amazing seeing 10 spoons dig into two desserts!!! This is how dessert should be shared – love it!

A great finish to Athens, tomorrow morning post breakkie we are off to our cruise !!