Looking through the porthole of our cabin this morning made it obvious: we were entering Turkish waters. Both a small tugboat and the Turkish Coastguard were on our sides when the ship entered the port of Bodrum, and it would be our first time ever in Turkey, thus in Asia. It was again a beautiful day and the sunlit slopes of the Bodrum coastal hills had the same amount of vegetation growing on them as in Greece - wich is almost none.

Before we docked in the new cruise port, located on the far east side of Bodrum's main bay, we went by the ship's reception to see if we could still participate in today's excursion. EasyCruise has excursions planned on all the islands and ports the ship visits, and allthough we were not really interested in them (we'd rather like to explore the place ourselves), this one was one we'd really liked to join! However the deadline for booking this excursion was yesterday, we could still join because of a few empty seats. The Bodrum excursion involved a busride through town, a visit to the famous St. Peter Castle and -most exciting- a boattrip along various remote bays and coves. It was especially the last we fancied, but it also appeared that on Monday, most of the town's museums and sights were closed, except for EasyCruise excursions. The 40 euros we spent on it would be completely worth it, as we would see later on.

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Today started with a quick peek through our porthole, seeing that we were still on the move to Kalymnos. The first night on board of a sailing cruiseship was a cold but pleasant one, thanks to our air conditioning (unlike the few extremely hot nights we had in the hostel). After a shower, we got out to the pool deck to see how the ship entered the bay of Kalymnos' capital Pathia. This small town is built around its deep blue bay like an ancient amphitheatre, with houses in all sorts of colours but never built higher than two stories. The surrounding hills were bold and desert-like, with very little vegetation. We were really keen to get off the ship and explore the island, but we had to wait until the ship had docked.

Meeting Iannis

First thing to do after we left the ship was getting some breakfast and buying a stash of drinks for the day. We had the opportunity to have breakfast in the restaurant on board, but considering the prices it seemed like a good idea to do this on land. Pathia has a lot of small shops, mini-markets and bakeries so it wasn't that difficult to get something to eat. We chose to do this at a small bakery on the far east side of the boulevard, joining the couple of other (Greek) customers that sat there, enjoying the coolness of the A/C inside. The waiter that served us was named Iannis, and very interested in where we came from. We asked the nice guy for fun where he would recommend us to go on Kalymnos, and he mentioned the beaches on the west coast. We could take a bus to them right around the bakery's corner. Iannis proved to be a funny guy, certainly not interested in ripping us of as many other waiters and salesmen in tourist-loaded areas throughout Greece would do (as seemed later). Iannis also adviced us a restaurant near these beaches for tonight, if we were still in the area. Off course he made a confession about the last, and told us he also worked there.

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Today was our first morning together with the four of us. After breakfast, Marjon and I took Robin and Alison into town to show them around. We have become quite familiar with Plaka's streets in the last three days, so it felt obvious to guide them along its most interesting points. Since it was also our last night in the Dioskouros Hostel, we had to pack up our stuff and check out before eleven. No problem at all. Our short walk after putting our bags and suitcases in a safe place in the hostel patio took us back to the Acropolis (wich again, we didn't pay a visit) and the Herodes Atticus Theatre, below the hill. This theathre dates back to the first century A.D. and is still being used for various plays and festivals.

Back at the hostel, we grabbed our stuff and rushed ourselves towards the Syntagma Square Metro Station. This is the same place where the bus from the airport dropped us off on Wednesday (July 9), and it lies right next to the Parliament Building, where people can see the famous Change Of The Guards, every Sunday. From here on, we took the metro towards Monastiraki Staion, where we swithced over onto the metro to Piraeus - Athens ferry harbour. The temperature inside the Athens' Metro is not that diffirent from the temperatures outside, so it's not exactly a place to cool down in. It was the more we were looking forward to set sail out to see, later that day.

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Yesterday, we woke up a little late. We almost missed breakfast at our hostel, and the sun had already found us when we left the building. Again, we decided not to visit the Acropolis for now. The way up is a bit long, and because of the heat and the many tour groups waiting at its entrance made us decide to either visit it on Saturday morning or after the week of EasyCruise on the Aegean Sea. Right now, I can tell you that we will do the last.

The entrance ticket we bought at the Temple of Olympic Zeus on Thursday grants you access to a large number of places here in Athens, and one of them is the Ancient Agora site. This place can be seen from Acropolis as it is right next to it, and was once the booming heart and marketplace of the ancient city, used for more than 700 years. Today, only a few buildings from that period have survived umong wich is the beautiful Temple of Hephaestus - the best-preserved classic temple in the whole of Greece. Its architecture has inspired others throughout the centuries and it's a miracle that it still stands here, right in the middle of a 5 million people metropole.

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Today started with breakfast at our hostel, wich existed out of simple bread, orange juice and coffee. We met a couple of our fellow guests who were primarily from the USA and Australia. We also met the two little kittens that live here. I don't know if they belong to the hostel or its owner, but everyone accepts them as they play through the garden and the hallways.

After breakfast, we decided to skip the Akropolis for now. In stead, we went to another ancient site wich is right around our corner: the Temple of Olympic Zeus. This was once an enormous temple, built over 2500 years ago. All that's left now are a couple of pilars and some stone walls. Nevertheless, it was very impressive to see. The €12,- entrance ticket should also grant you access to several other sites throughout Athens, among wich is the Akropolis.

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As the city 'cools' down after sunset, the heat still lasts in our bedroom at the first floor the the Diaskouros Hostel. We just came back from a little walk through our neighbourhood, wich is situated right beneath the eastern slope of The Acropolis Hill. I didn't notice it until I saw it as a backdrop for the hundreds of little alleys in the Plaka district. As always, it looks very diffirent compared to the millions of photos of it you see in travel guides. I find it an amazing sight. Even though the majority of Athens' architecture exists out of nothing more than generaly the same 1970's appartement stores, the are lots of ancient sites spread across the city. It doesnt require much of your imagination to picture yourself what it was like living here thousands of years ago.

We decided not to climb and visit The Acropolis tonight. We'll be doing that tomorrow morning. In stead, we just walked all around the hill where there was enough to see already for tonight. The Plaka district is proberbly the most touristic area in all of Athens, as it is situated within walking distance of the most famous sights. It has many small alleys (most of them for pedestrians only), wich are filled with dozens of restaurants, the so called 'Tavernas' . The place is built on tourists, and waiters try to get you in when you walk by with one having even better 'special prizes' than the other. Eventually, we found ourselves a very cozy restaurant wich we found in a less crowded part of town.

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