Destination: Sun.

I woke before the sun.

I left the apartment and pounded the pavement in pitch black darkness, my body shaking in its ill-covered layers, headed to catch the very first tube of the day to Heathrow.

About an hour later, I arrived, we successfully checked in and dropped off our bags, the true value of British Airways appreciated after endless RyanAir travelling. Never ending sagas of bag sizes, numbers, seating and the constant sales pitches the interrupt the in-flight prayers that your flight will actually make it to the next destination.

We meandered about giant Heathrow and watched the sun rising over the waking city as our plane took of thousands of feet into the cloudy air.

Luxuriously, we were served an English breakfast (my first since arriving here!) and we tucked into bacon, eggs, sausage, yogurt, fruit and tea to begin the 3 and a bit hour flight.

The sparkling ocean and lush mountainous ranges swelled below us and the plane started to lower (and at once stage dive, quite drastically) to the inviting new country below. Athens, we have arrived!

The language, people and heat, hit immediately. We hopped on our train and headed into Athens itself, blessed with some spectacular views along the way.

We scouted out our accommodation, a lovely hostel under the Acropolis and changed into some cooler clothes, the sun was shining! We headed out to walk the streets, get our bearings a little bit and see the sights! The first thing we saw, unmissably, was the Acropolis. Perched high atop the central hill, it was the very obvious centre of the historic town.

We decided to walk around the base, gathering a feeling for the place while admiring from below. We ended up walking too far and ended up in perhaps, Athens' ghetto. It was interesting. Let's just say you couldn't pay me to enter the crumbling buildings and Greece's economic crisis remained forefront in my mind.

After managing to navigate ourselves back to a decidedly safer, both cultural and structurally, area of town, we grabbed a Greek yogurt and devoured it in the sun, gazing up at the grand ruins. It was here that I suddenly became abruptly aware I was in a significantly less well-off place in the world. My yogurt seemed significantly less appetising when a man with a GIANT gash in his foot walked past begging. Hat for, I'm still unsure. Maybe a quicker alternative to death? With half his flesh and bone showing through, I can't imagine begging for money would be too worthwhile.

We moved on from him and went down winding, unknown streets crammed with scooters, tourists, Greek children kicking soccer balls and shops spilling out with traditional and tourist goods: leather bags, shoes, slippers and Greek flags everywhere.

Strolling back to our hostel, we relaxed and then grabbed some dinner, choosing an incredible place a block from our accommodation. We both ordered veggie burgers, full of zucchini, eggplant, feta, pepper and tomato -yummy!!

Chilling and planning our next few days, climbing a giant hill tomorrow! Anything is possible when its sunny...