We arrive in Athens and beg the lady at the counter of Austrian Airlines, she was fantastic with us and told us to comeback very early tomorrow, again its standby but at least the waiting lists are 5 people not 25 like in Turkey. We booked a hostel from Istanbul airport using the tinterweb and have slept here a bit, but now we are ready to see something of Athens. We’re in luck and the metro is only round the corner, its very clean, bright and modern and makes the London underground look like a squalid, medieval, plague ridden rat sewer.

The Acropolis hill, so called the "Sacred Rock" of Athens, is the most important site of the city and constitutes one of the most recognizable monuments of the world. It is the most significant reference point of ancient Greek culture, as well as the symbol of the city of Athens itself. Unfortunately its closing by the time we arrive, so we content ourselves with the scenic walk around the hill with its many views of the sprawling vistas of Athens.
It’s a beautiful golden evening, the air pleasantly warm without feeling close, here on the slopes of the hill a gentle breeze adds to the peacefulness and we sit and watch the sun set over Athens. Driven by our bellies we find a street side Pizza Parlor before turning in for a few hours before the dreaded wake up call at 3:00am.

Once again our lady of mercy is at the Austrian Airlines Stall, we stand waiting to see if there will be two people who don’t turn up for this flight. While we wait I listen to this most awful American woman threaten the airline staff with the sack, then attempt to ingratiate herself to them with complements on their eyes and then finally try to hand them a cash bribe to get her on a plane as she has had “issues” (i.e. overslept) and missed her flight. The staff explain the rules several times, then explain that yes the rules apply to American citizens too and there is a camera recording the whole event and would she please stop trying to slip them 20 USD. The check-in gates close, there are some glances our way and then YES, we are called over, there’s a mad dash to check our luggage in and we are on the plane to Munich and then on to Split in Croatia. Thank you Austrian Airlines.

We arrive at Munich airport and spend our transit time perusing the stalls and – oh yes – the DUTY FREE SEX SHOP in Munich Airport. You gotta love the Germans. Then our gate flashes on the board and Croatia here we come.