Greece Donkey

I (Katie) decided to take advantage of the beautiful afternoon in Athens by creating my own walking tour. My two wonderful friends, Jill and Wayne, are coming to visit in less than a month so I figured it's about time to scope out all of the great places around Athens that I'd like them to visit. I decided to make the first stop on my tour the Panathenaic Stadium. It was actually very easy to find and it only took about 20 minutes from the American School. In ancient times this stadium hosted the athletic portion of the Panathenaic games and since then it has been used for many events including the 2004 Olympic games. Rob and I will get the change to run in the stadium as it will be the finish line for the 5K we're running on November 8th. Of course I had to take a self portrait while I was there...

Next, I headed down Vasilissis Olgas until I reached the Temple of Olympian Zeus and Hadrian's Arch. Now, let me just say that in the past 7 weeks I've seen a LOT of columns, but WOW these ones were giant! Unfortunately, I didn't get anybody in the picture for scale, but trust me....they're big! And yes, that's the Acropolis in the background (how cool?!).

After spending a few minutes hanging out by the temple of Olympian Zeus I decided I'd head down Vasilissis Amalias and take in the National Gardens. If you ever have the opportunity to visit Athens you will notice the lack of green space so the gardens are very refreshing.
My absolute favorite part of the National Gardens is the zoo! In the words of Steve Nass, "it gives Henry Doorly a run for it's money!" Hahaha, you'll see what he means if you visit. I do want to show you my favorite animal at the zoo:
Yep, it's the Greece Donkey. They entertain visitors by making donkey calls....it's hilarious!! If you have Rob's email address you should ask him about his Greece Donkey. :) All in all I spent about two hours on the walk and I think Jill and Wayne will really enjoy it!