Wednesday Decided in the end to drive to the airport, and the entire journey was pretty smooth. Met up with David in Luton airport. Once we'd got through to the departure gate, we coincidentally met George, who was on the same flight. We parted ways again in Athens airport, and David & I picked up the car. This was followed by our first exposure to Athens traffic, and I think I take a kind of perverse enjoyment from it. Rules seem sparse, but somehow it all seems to work. Just as long as I remember to drop the tricks when I get back to UK traffic. Spent a little while trying to locate the hotel (Ilion), then a little while more trying to locate somewhere to park. Finally, we went for a night-time wander, found food, and got a glimpse of the Acropolis. Oh, and a pack of stray dogs. Thursday Woke up at 6.15 instead of 7.15am, due to setting my alarm clock an hour ahead by mistake. Doh! Set off for Delphoi, and began to realise we'd mis-guessed the distance somewhat. On the way, we drove through Arachova, a picturesque littlvillage/town on a rocky hillside. Anyway, we eventually arrived, and a very spectacular place it is. A number of ruins on the hillside overlooking the valley below. Among the most impressive of these were an amphitheatre, a set of columns, and a stadion. Many of the stone blocks strewn around were covered with intricate carved writing. It is easy to forget, when wandering around these slightly overgrown stone ruins, that they are around two and a half thousand years old. Equally impressive were the exhibits in the museum that was architecturally more than a little reminiscent of the new Getty Museum overlooking Los Angeles. Intricate little statuettes and patterned pottery had survived the improbable amounts of time since they were first made, with barely a scratch. Tonight, David and I should be meeting up with Evangelia, George, Alistair and possibly some others, for food. We did indeed (writing this a little later). We got ourselves some food, and then, after a little fun getting a taxi to get us to where we wanted, met up with the others. In the end, one of the other party SMSed David in greek, which he then showed to the driver. Met up with Evangelia, George, Alistair, Bessy, Evangelia's sister and some others. We stayed in a nice little bar until about 4am with, somewhat improbably, a DJ with an Indie bent. Who also happened to be a friend of Evangelia etc., so played requests. Friday Met up with Alistair, and drove to see the Temple of Poseidon. Had lunch at a restaurant overlooking the temple. Then we drove down to the beach in Sounion, and had a swim. After that, we went back up to the Temple to watch the sunset. A little more crowded than it had been during the day, but a cloud obscuring the sun caused most people to give up and go down. We stuck it out, and were rewarded with a vivid orange-red sun sinking between the columns. A most impressive sight. Saturday Met up with Alistair again, and drove to Xalchida and Eretria. Spent a very pleasant afternoon with lunch, then drinks, then dinner, by the sea on the island of Eva. Our hunt for ancient sites here wasn't very fruitful, but we did see some spectacular views. Had a slightly unfortunate mishap with the cars; Alistair hit the back of ours. Ours escaped impressively unscathed (Clios++), but his has a rather nasty looking dented front. Got phoned for the second time by a mystery caller from the UK. I've decided to ignore incoming calls, as they are somewhat expensive to receive. Sunday, the day of the wedding. In the morning, we are going to go up to the Acropolis. Then back to the hotel, change into ridiculously hot attire for this weather, and then off to Saint Perekevski's church. It was an interesting service, though a little over our heads as to what was going on in Greek. As well as the familiar rings, the couple are crowned with two crowns joined by a white ribbon. These were then symbolically swapped back and forth between Evangelia's and George's head by Bessy. This was followed by three sips from a cup of wine for each, after which they processed round the church, being showered with rice grains. We then exited the church, and all guests were presented with a bag of sugared almonds. After greeting the bride, groom and their families (long queue!), we went on to the reception at Daphni. A beautiful setting; around 30 tables each seating 10 in a courtyard underneath a hill sloping up behind the head table, populated with tall conifers. A few more symbolic events of the marriage occurred here at the reception. Evangelia & George cut the cake together, fed each other a piece, then each held up a glass of champagne for the other to drink, with arms intertwined. Finally, the DJ put on a waltz, to which they danced together. Directly in front of the head table (where Evangelia, George and their families sat) was a dance floor, upon which much dancing took place after the meal. The meal, self service, was an impressive array of goodies, for which there was barely room on my plate. Gradually, most of the guests evapourated, leaving the younger guests around the last table that hadn't been cleared away, chatting and drinking the wine that was left. At about 4am, we went our separate ways; the happy couple to go off on a honeymoon on one of the Greek islands. Monday Today was a little relaxing recovery from last night's partying. David, Alistair and I had a delicious lunch in Athens, then we fled the city for a beach. This turned out to be a good idea, as the rain that started during lunch turned steadily into a downpour as we drove out of Athens. Hailstones about 1cm in diameter clattered off our cars, as we drove through streets that were rapidly becoming rivers, about 2cm deep at the time. Looking on the news this evening, it appears chaos reigned (hoho) while we were away, with water reaching about a foot deep in the city. We, on the other hand, relaxed on sun loungers under parasols on an idyllic beach near Alepochori. The sea a fantastic gradient from cyan to deep indigo. The bay was surrounded by successive layers of hills, each a different shade of grey. We relaxed there, swam a couple of times, until the sun sank across the sea, starting with a brilliant yellow reflection off the water, which was a vivid cyan from the reflected sky. The sun cast spectacular shadows through the few clouds that were in the sky. It reddened, and sank as we watched, until it disappeared behind the spit of land in the distance. We then walked a short distance up the road to a restaurant with a similarly spectacular view of the bay, and ate a very nice dinner (successfully ordered despite the total language barrier in this case) as the light faded behind the hills. Afterwards, we drove back along twisty hilly roads, to return to a positively steaming and humid Athens, as the water on the damp roads evapourated. The floods appeared to have subsided, but the roads were still wet in places, and parked cars were surrounded by silty deposits that then torrents of water rushing downhill had left behind. Tuesday Went to Mycenae, looked around the ruins there, then on to Nafpoli, where we climbed 1032 steps to a fortress high on a hill, with spectacular views all round. In the evening, we drove back to Dasos, and met up with Bessy at Evangelia's house (met all the family again, minus Evangelia and George). We then had dinner in an Italian restaurant, and moved on first to a bayside bar, and finally to a club for one final drink. Wednesday Drove east of the airport for one final lunch and then drink sitting on the seafront (I could really get used to this). Then drove back to the airport, returned the cars and checked in. Now sitting in the departure lounge, updating diary and waiting to get on the plane back to sunny Oxford. We did in fact end up staying in Athens for the entire week, but we still managed to see and do enough interesting things to fill up the stay.