Oh my goodness Greece is gorgeous! I’m currently laying by the pool, sunning myself in the slight overcast sun, taking a siesta from a day of quadding. Athens was pretty neat, but almost a ghost town when we were there due to the holiday. If things were open and the streets were busy, it might be different, but it wasn’t the nicest city I’ve been to. We took our tour of the city, walked up a hill to get a view of the city and the acropolis, and learned some history from the guide. We got a quick stop at the marble stadium, and at the Parliament building just in time for the changing of the guards, and had a walkabout dinner downtown. I’d like to have gone in the Acropolis, but that was out of our control. Hopefully there’ll be time to do it when we go back after the islands. We said our goodbyes to the Egypt people and had an early night to prepare for our early morning. Yesterday we caught our early ferry to the island of Ios, arriving to a gorgeous pool at our hotel. We were given welcome shots of blueberry vodka (it may have been noon), and spent the rest of the day lounging poolside with a beer or cocktail in hand. It was a lovely, relaxing day, and we spends the whole time posting photos to the contiki Facebook group to make the Egyptian counterparts jealous as they waited at the airport for their flight. We went for a late dinner at a traditional place, eating fried cheese, stuffed grape leaves, calamari and souvlaki before heading out drinks at one of Ios’s several pubs, Fun, where we played pool and giant jenga. We got a casual day today, of sleeping in and doing what we want. A bunch of us rents quads, and I’ve spent the day quadding around the island, exploring the town, the old town, an attempt at finding Homer’s tomb, and racing around the countryside. It’s absolutely fantastic, and an awesome way to see the sites and smells of this place. I’m gonna head off and do some more, I have the quad for the day and plan on seeing all I can. :)