Lola's Travelling Circus: Lauren- "Victory of Wisdom", Athena- Goddess of Victory. Have I come home?

Mrs. Humphries was my favourite high school teacher. It was during her classes that I learnt about mummification in Ancient Egypt, Hamilcar Barcar's extraordinary war strategems and the torturous custom of Chinese foot binding.

These Ancient History classes were one of the very few in my entire education that I actually looked forward to. I can recall hungrily immersing myself in the projects and presentations related to the mysterious and intriguing ways of life gone long before our time.

So bearing this in mind, you can perhaps imagine my reaction when we stepped out of the elevator and into the breakfast room, Day 1 in Athens, and there on the other side of the full glass windows was the Parthenon, standing majestically atop the Acropolis towering high above the city.

For the second time, in the space of two days, my breath was stolen from me.

Sitting there on the balcony sipping my Greek coffee, overlooking the Athenian Temple with the knowledge that it was constructed 2,500 years ago, was just... surreal.

Having arrived in the shadow of night, mum and I had no idea that we would be awakening inside a history book.

After breakfast (and photos), it was time to explore Athens on foot. Being the strong willed, totally capable and intuitive women that we are, we decided that we didn't need a map to find the entrance to the Acropolis, and off we set with great gusto.

The streets of Athens had a fantastic vibe to them- full of colour and with barely enough room for a person and a car to pass simultaneously, there were stores and markets on every corner.

Aaah, the fashion! The shoes! ENDLESS amounts of shoes, glorious shoes. As we didn't have time to explore the mainland of Greece and I really want to check out the old Olympic site (amongst other things), I am coming back some day and bringing an empty suitcase. A reeaaallllyyy big one.

But all foot decoration aside, the two of us did eventually reach a point where we questioned our location, and discovered that our wonderful instincts had led us towards wonderful shopping, but not the Acropolis. In fact, we had walked for an hour in the complete opposite direction!

This worked in our favour however as it gave us an opportunity to dissect the metro system, which I can now proudly say, we are total pros at.

Exiting at Acropolis station, we were greeted by a delightful trio of street musicians playing traditional Greek music (Saxophone, Accordion and Classical Guitar). I was overcome with a sudden urge to be there with my lover, dancing on the side walk beneath warm rays of golden sun.

Continuing down our path we glance ahead of us and are greeted by Hadrian's Arch. It is here that we reap the benefits of taking a stranger's photograph. The American couple had tour tickets (usually 12Euro each) allowing access to several different sites, including the Acropolis, which they very generously gave to us as they had to board their bus.

We flashed our tickets and entered the Gateway to Olympieion (site of the Temple of Zeus).

To give you an idea of size, there are now only 15 pillars remaining of the original 104!

Once again we had relied on instincts to locate the entrance to the Acropolis, and once again we had walked in the opposite direction. At least this time we were close by.

We wound our way in and out of side streets in the general direction and just as we were giving up hope of ever getting to the top, mum and I noticed a small hand painted sign saying “Acropolis” with an arrow. Well, I think there is a lot to be said for getting lost, because I'm pretty sure that we found a secret way up!

Our path led us along cobbled streets past private dwellings (the epitome of everything Greek) and offered splendid views of the city below. We passed not a soul on our narrow journey, and were accompanied the entire way by a delicate breeze and air so fragrant that it melted on the tongue.

Eventually we joined the main area and hobbled up cobbled marble steps toward the Parthenon.

Along the way we passed the Theater of Herodes Atticus – a stunning old theatre with breathtaking views of Athens – still used for concerts today!

Up several hundred more steps and you find yourself facing the Parthenon. It's big. And crumbling. And largely supported by Cranes. And yet all the same, just as impressive as you expect it to be.

My favourite jump shot to date (given, there is only four in the collection) was taken here.

If I were to do it again, I would come back at twilight – I am told that the way it is all lit up is well worth a second hike to the top.

On our way down we met a couple who were visiting from Australia with two friends. They are getting married this week on Paros, one of the Greek Islands. What a romantic notion!

If I ever decide that I am loony enough to wed, we may just have to escape with a close knit group to somewhere exotic and create a pretty damn special memory...

We find our way off the hill in the heat and reward ourselves with an ice cold lemon slushy each. Wandering back through the quaint streets lined with beautiful little terraces draped in grapevines, splashes of pink and red flowers smattered here and there, we are in search of lunch.

Calamari with Greek Salad fits the bill, and we rest our weary feet.

The sun is becoming low in the sky as we make our way back to the hotel to collect our luggage, then it is on the train to Piraeus Port, where we will be spending the night before our 7am departure to Santorini.

Keeping in theme with the day, our 1km walk from station to hotel evolves into 2.5km and as we stand facing perhaps one of the largest hills I have come across by road, we check the GPS and discover that once again, we are lost.

Mum wasn't very happy to be lugging her suitcase all that way, but how did she think I felt with a 17kg bag on my bag and a 7kg backpack on my front?

Eventually we found our hotel, dumped our stuff, and grabbed a bite to eat at Stefani's Beer and Grill. Our waiter Harry was such a sweet man and served us melt in your mouth pasta and even treated us to a parfait each on the house! I love this side of the world.

Today we were up bright and early and I've spent the ferry trip writing this entry and chatting to my neighbour, Luke from Canada, who is 45 and retired due to inventing portable battery car chargers and selling them off. He has advised me to start recording everything that I think of that could make an improvement to a current invention, or a new idea. Who knows, perhaps you are reading the blog of a future entrepreneur!