Day 1, Arrival and free day in Athens

Our hotel, Holiday Suites. Ready to go for a day's sightseeing on our own.

Waiting for bus 400, the Sightseeing bus.
The two-meter-tall blue sign behind Mei-Ching is the Sightseeing bus' stop sign.
Sightseeing buses are supposedly to run every 30 min, but the one showed up was 15 minutes late.

The building behind us is the National Archaeological Museum.
All sightseeing buses stop here, so we got off to get something to eat, also
went to the museum to check out, but did not purchase tickets to see exhibitions.
Did not want to sink in 2 to 3 hours in a museum after just arrived on an over-night flight.

Inside Tram #4, on the way to seashore.
If we had more time we could have taken Tram #5 for a longer ride along the seashore.

Bright blue water at Flisvos beach where we got off Tram #4.

Back from seashore to Syntagma Square. This is its center piece, the Parliament building.

Metro Station. We took Metro from Syntagma Sq back to our hotel.

A jewel shop in Plaka where we walked by in the evening.
The owner invited us in to take a look. Glass utensils crusted in gold.

The shop owner told us he used to live in Cambridge, MA.
He was very proud of the store's own design and craftsmanship.