Friday, January 21, 2011

Cairo again

Our flight back to U.S.A. was routed via Cairo, where we had to spend a night. Too bad I had to stand in line and get another entry visa, just for a few hours. It was worth it though since we were able to walk into town at night (which was quite safe with so many policemen around) and were able to eat at one of their more popular "fast food" restaurants - the falafel was quite delicious!


The Nile at night.

We walked across the bridge into town. Our hotel was on an island close to town.


 Ate delicious vegetarian food for dinner....



On our way back to the hotel, we came across a big group of local people celebrating the football match going on between Egypt .... and I forget which country. It was lovely to get a taste of how lively the local population was!



The view from our hotel room (I forget which floor we were on.... the 13th?)


 Doesn't this remind you of Bombay, India?

En route to the airport in the morning.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

The National Botanical Gardens

Just before leaving to the airport, we went to the National Botanical Gardens, in Snytagma Square, next to the Greek Parliament Building. One leaves behind the busy surroundings and enters a very peaceful place which is well manicured and maintained.







Ornamental oranges on the ground everywhere.



 Back at the Elefhtherios Venizelos Athens International Airport.

The University of Athens

The University of Athens was in a busy part of town. There were some nice buildings and statues there. They were having some graduation ceremonies while we visited there and it was nice to see the people all dressed up for the occasion.













Quaint stores

How easily one forgets the details of the trip if we don't think about it often. It has been almost a year since we went to Athens and my memory is already becoming foggy. We went to the marketplace where they had some quaint stores, a flea-market and outdoor restaurants, with a lot of activity. We also visited some little churches there.



 Good place for souvenirs.
 Lunch break for us.











This guy we saw was really tall!


 What a nice selection of cheese!