Stanley's pictures: We Were Up Early,

Looking at the port of Piraeus,

that leads to Athens,

we decided to have an early morning look as the ship docked,

and others made their way from port,

a quick look on the other side of the ship,

as a fuel barge maneuvers along side,

this boat caught my eye,

it is a hydrofoil that raises out of the water as its speed increases to lessen the drag in the water on its hull,

a small breakfast, and we were on our way,

the coach stopped outside of the tomb of the Unknown Warrior,

we were still in the coach when I took these pictures,

but when parked we got out,

for a closer look,

and a pose,

and a closer look at the grave,

there were two soldiers guarding the tomb,

also in the square so many pigeons, it reminded me of when I was a kid we would feed the pigeons in Trafalgar Square,

we then stopped at the arena,

for a few pictures,

it was huge,

with seating,

for 6,500 spectators,

a quick pose,

and a panorama of the stadium,

now a bit of fun,

as Diana prepares to spear me!

this was a work using pieces of glass to give the impression of a running man competing in the marathon,

our next stop,

the single track vernacular railway,

in we go,

as we go up,

another train comes down,

the cables look strong enough, hopefully,

the last part,

of the climb was on foot,

on the way,

I spotted this prickly pear in flower,

then we were there,

the views over the city,

spectacular,

we are on top of the highest of several hills that Athens is built on, in the distance the stadium,

the side of it,

and if you look carefully the place where Diana tried the spear,

we went to another viewing level,

it was all too much to take in,

the streets and houses,

looked endless,

but every so there were islands of green,

another stadium or amphitheater but in the natural contours of a hill,

time for a sit down,

and a pose,

from me,

and Diana,

outside the church at the to of the hill,

over Diana's shoulder,

the Acropolis and the Parthenon,

I zoomed in,

we made our way back to the railway,

I mentioned it was a single track,

well it was except in the middle where there is a passing point,

this looks like any other street around here on our way back, but if you look carefully the street is lined with orange trees, every street that we went through for some time were lined with these trees, there were so many oranges on the ground, it seemed so unreal,

past a real motorcycle dealership,

I have to admit I have forgotten the name of this church,

the tour over we were dropped off at the port, so we took a taxi a few kilometers along the coast to eat here,

with a waterside,

table we had a nice view of the harbor and boats, also we could feed the fish literally at our feet,

for our lunch, a seafood paella,

a happy Diana, well she always is,

before returning the the port,

we walked along the harbor looking at the boats moored there and came across this one,

from Southampton where we caught our boat from,

we made our way back along the front and caught a taxi,

stopping at one of the more upmarket marinas,

I mention before there are several hills in Athens, this is one of them, so steep,

we asked the driver to stop at the top of it for a photo shoot,

looking back to where we had lunch,

and a pose from us,

on to our evening meal, green asparagus with deviled egg and garlic toasts for Diana,

dill cured salmon with a Scandinavian dress and rye bread for myself,

for our main courses a sirloin steak for Diana with button mushrooms and a bearnaise sauce, for myself a grilled peppered lamb steak with hasselback new potatoes green beans and a red current jus,