Greetings from Athens Greece

Hi everyone,

I have just arrived to Athens Greece, which was a four hour drive from Olympia. Athens is a very sad derilect place at the moment, due to the political corruption. There are half built buildings, buildings which have been vandalized and nicely maintained buildings. There is a lot of rubbish everywhere. My room balcony looks out to a roof full of rubbish.

I am looking forward to getting out of the city and going on my harbor cruise tomorrow around three Greek Islands.
Unfortunately we are not going to Santorini the most photographed island with the white buildings and blue ocean. But I am sure the other islands are just as good. I am finding that when you get out of a busy city, the places of interest are better and much more scenic.

Yesterday we arrived to Olympia. Olympia is a small village area famous for the Ancient Greek Olympics. This area of Greece was easy to get around. There were lots of souvenir shops and it was very safe. I bought a pashmina Greek scarf with the traditional Greek artwork on. The art work means eternity, ever lasting.

This morning I did the archeological site tour. It was very interesting because we got to see the remains of the temples, stadium, race tracks, swimming pool, etc. After this tour I found a post office and sent two large parcels of souvenirs back to New Zealand. Postal facilities are very hard to find here. Stamp shops are a mission, postal shops are even more of a mission. After I posted my parcel I bought these gold earrings in the traditional Greek pattern.

Tonight I am going to a flavors of Athens Dinner with my tour group. I am enjoying the dinners out and I have a great tour group. If I need anything from the supermarket we go together as a group. We all tend to look out for each other and the group is very inclusive.

Food prices in Greece are very cheap:
Today I bought:
A bunch of grapes
2 bananas
2 peaches
1.5 litre bottle of water

In total I paid 2 Euros and 15 cents.
Very cheap, but I wonder whether there was any tax I paid on these goods.