Athens - Christos Aneste!

We arrived in Athens on Easter Sunday - somewhat inauspiciously I came over all weak and feeble walking up the ramp out of the plane - and Mark had to carry my laptop bag, which felt as if I had filled it with leaden bricks.

I had spent most of the flight reassuring Finn - who is afeared of flying - that when the plane wobbles as it banks over Surrey, it is not planning to plummet down again, and I also warned him about likely turbulence over the Alps.  He was relieved about that; he had the good sense to buy us some mini-Chupa lollipops to deal with the pressure changes and was just generally a pretty good companion.  He hasn't moaned much yet, although he has been annoyed about the slightly odd wifi signal here.

The journey was in clear skies, mostly - sereno as the Italians say - so we were able to see everything - the Medway, Whitstable, Herne Bay, Pegwell Bay, Ramsgate Harbour - then a whisk across the sea and across Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, crossing the Austrian Alps - which were beautifully snowcapped - then down the Adriatic, with lots of rocky islands and beaches on the Croatian (?) Coast.  We crossed Greece, seeing the geography laid out below us - including a solitary, tall snow-capped mountain - Olympos? That was what I guessed, but it can't have been.  Soon we were flying over Attica and saw the great miles of Athenian sprawl beneath us.  I hoped we could make out the Acropolis (you can see the Colosseum when you fly over Rome), but instead I saw the harbours at Piraeus very clearly.   The long spine of Mount Hymettos separates Athens from the new airport.  It sounds such an evocative name, but I don't really have any connections with it.

Nice taxi driver - I tried my best Greek phrase on him,  "Then milo Hellenika... " but I have "ligo" in fact... after a while I realised "ligo" was derived from "oligos" - a familiar ancient Greek friend, but one's ancient Greek friends are dangerous - the pronounciation is incredibly different and the meanings have been updated..

The most beautiful thing was seeing motorways signs with  "Kale Pascha - Christos Aneste - "  couldn't read the 3rd line, but Happy Easter, Christ is Risen.... the idea one could see Christ is risen on any public place in UK is incredible.  I felt rather emotional at this public witness of faith.

We drove for ages through suburban Attica and finally arrived, turning a corner, the driver said "This Athens!"  Then we drove down wide boulevards lined with trees and vast 19thC neo-Classical buildings, and narrower, more modern streets with shutterd shops and "to let" signs.  Eventually we reached Omonia Square, and turned into some tiny narrow streets to Monastiraki, there was the modern hotel, with a manager who spoke excellent English and we went up to our room.   We do not have a view of the Acropolis from our room - but we can see the square below - the Mitropoulos Cathedral and in the distance the Lycabettos hill.  Which is quite enough.