From Milan it was a quick two hour flight to Greece. A forty minute train/metro journey from Athens airport drops you off right in the centre of the city, where my hostel was also conveniently located. Athens was loud, noisy, busy, rushed, jam-packed and very very hot. With sweat dripping from every pore I was glad I had arrived at five in the afternoon when it was getting mildly cooler.

A smaller bag in hand having ditched everything at the hostel (except the most important accessorize in Athens in August – a water bottle) I wandered through the streets filled with bustling tourists exploring all the shops and stalls sprawled in every street and corner. Thankfully having a small bag means that I manage to resist temptation to buy lots of trinkets I would never use again. However most of my money over the next two days would go on regular ice creams (not as good as Italian gelato) in an attempt to cool down. This didn’t stop me from enjoying all the little ruins or temples or churches that kept cropping up around every corner.

With the evening sun beating down I headed to the acropolis using my student card to get in free (woohoo) but blowing half of the normal €10 fee on a giant lemon granita to regain a normal heart rate having walked up to the hill in the sweltering sunshine. The acropolis itself is quite beautiful and you have a great view of the city. It is absolutely packed with tourists so its hard to get a great picture, but on the upside if you are travelling alone it means that you don’t have to rely on your cameras timer and luck in finding a suitable stable resting place for that perfect snapshot. Apologies for the occasional pretentious shot, I’m still working on my timing and trying not to look akward when someone else is figuring out how your camera works…..

I continued down through the ancient greek ruin further down the hill (thankfully emptier with scattered trees for shade) found a more beautiful and quieter temple along with a happy little tortiose munching away in his field and got myself lost in all the small side streets again.

When I realised the sun was starting to set I crawled back up to the acropolis to the small rock outcrop beside it for the view of the sun setting over the city. Which at least 65 other tourists all had the bright idea of as well, jostling for space on the cramped rock. Its a nice view, but there are better places to watch the sunset.

There was a spectacular full moon for those nights that I was there making it look more mystical and beautiful, but I never really managed to capture it properly on camera. One late night drink in a bar off the left of the main shopping street and I was ready to call it a night, to be sung to sleep by a very off tune Italian guy in the bunkbed next to mine. The joys of staying in hostel dorms!