Port Rating:

Accommodations were expensive and of modest quality. Most people we encountered smoked cigarettes on the streets, in cafes and most everywhere else except for the subway which had it's own horrors, being filled with rapacious pick pockets.

In our particular case, my friend had her camera lifted from her purse while we were on the subway. BE WARNED, the pick pockets work in teams of three or four. When you are spotted as a tourist they zero in on you and separate you from your travelling companions so that your view of each other is restricted and then they go to work. Don't let anyone help you take your suitcase on board the subway.

While we were stuck in Athens we visited the Acropolis and found the statues defaced. We think Lord Elgin did the right thing by removing the frescos to his estate and then to the British museum. The Acropolis itself was dirty and uncared for. The statues were filthy and the pathways were strewn with cigarette butts and other garbage.

Unfortunately we happened to be in Athens during the riots and the general strike but I don't think that coloured our opinion of the city. Athens is one place I will certainly avoid in future travels.