Jamie – 14 July 2011

38 degrees celsius in Athens today.  Really dry heat.  The kind of heat where you drink a litre of water and feel thirsty again a minute later. We got some wise advice that visits to the Acropolis are best done first thing in the morning or very late afternoon.  Acropolis literally means “high city” and there is no shade up there – people regularly pass out.

We went up at midday. Figured a sleep-in was more valuable than our first layer of skin, and anyway, we had sun screen on.  Bec and I handled it well.  Foster and Sari pretty good.  Mylo wished he was back in the hotel room.

Mylo, halfway up the Acropolis

They sell small ice cold drinks up there for about $5 each.  Because they can. Simple economics – demand and supply.  One shop, lots of overheated tourists. Margins must be huge. Oddly enough it still felt like good value for money at the time.

The Acropolis truly is amazing and no trip to Athens is complete without a visit. There are about a dozen historically significant buildings up there, most of which were built around 500BC.  Bec had the children each sketching the famous Parthenon in their journals and I have to say I was impressed with their efforts.  Some of my father’s genes did get through.

Lesson for the day - draw the Parthenon!

Adamson family on The Acropolis