The Greek islands are faaaabulous, Darlink, if you've got more than a week, but for a break of 3-4 days Athens is perfect. The mix of culture, good food and shopping, blended with Mediterranean sunshine, is a win-win combination!

Travelling as an airline employee on standby can be nerve-wracking, especially to a destination with few daily flights, as you never know if you will have a seat until minutes before departure. We managed to squeeze our toned buns onto the last 2 seats of our flight, but we couldn't have been seated further apart - one on the left-hand side of the front row, the other on the right-hand side of the back row! Still, beggars can't be choosers, so we smiled gratefully and settled in.

Four hours later we were touching down in what should have been a beautiful, ancient city bathed in the midday sunshine of early Summer, but turned out be totally overcast with temperatures about 10 degrees lower than the norm for that time of year. A bit disappointing, but we hadn't come to a resort so sunshine wasn't mandatory for us to have a good time. I'd had the foresight to book the Intercontinental Hotel - in a city where Acropolis / Parthenon views are promised by many hotels, few can really back it up unless it involves Cirque du Soleil-type gymnastics and a periscope!

A bit of subtle groveling at the Reception desk can never do any harm in these places, so I engaged the pretty girl at check-in in conversation, complimenting her on her lovely Prada glasses and asking how to say "Hello" and "Thank you" in Greek (being a world traveler I'd already checked this out on the web, but she wasn't to know that!). I then slipped in the matter of whether or not our room had a view, which it didn't, but she did that "Let me juuuuust cheeeccck..." as she frowned at her computer screen and tapped at her keyboard. Success! - she managed to change our room to a better one and the Acropolis could be seen in the distance!! Hurrah!!

Bizarrely, both El Gordo and myself had forgotten to pack our trainers, and as our afternoon exploring the old town wore on, and there was some light rain, we discovered how bloody awful it is to walk in normal shoes on wet cobblestones up and down hills!! OK, if we'd given it any thought we'd never really have suspected it would be a pleasant experience, but you know what I mean! 'Forced' into some impromptu shopping we ended up buying in overpriced tourist shops but our toes were thankful - we practically skipped down the little street in our new trainers!

I love Greek food, but never really make it myself and good Greek restaurants are few and far between, so I was really looking forward to eating out. Like any big city with tourist attractions, restaurants dealing with visitors can be overpriced and the service and selection can be poor, so I usually search a little off the beaten track (trying not to put my life in danger by wandering down dark alleys near the port!). Places full of locals are always a safe bet, even if you do feel a little self-conscious when you walk in - a couple of glasses of the local vino will soon sort that out! We found a great little place, with a small terrace on the roof. Yummy feta cheese, olives, lamb, stuffed vine leaves...the menu had me drooling! Room had to be left for some Baklava for dessert, of course!

There's something enchanting about seeing a world-famous attraction like the Acropolis ‘in the flesh' - it's an image that we're so familiar with, usually a photo of some friend or family members with a glorious blue sky, bathed in sunshine, standing on a white, dusty path with the ruins in the background. Not quiiiite so enchanting in the rain....

It was a bit disappointing throwing open the curtains on that first morning to see deserted rainy streets (and, of course, the obligatory Greek ruins in the background!). I could foresee a day of ‘holiday hair', i.e. when your hair soaks up the humidity and as the day goes on it gets bigger and frizzier. I was little short of donning a rain hood, but then remembered I was in Athens, not Athlone, so a bit of a challenge to find a rain hood.

All I needed to do was wait ‘till I got to the Acropolis, which was swarming with American pensioners with beige trousers, big squidgy white shoes and...rain hoods!! I could've just charmed one right off Mabel Liebschultz's head as she posed with her husband, Norman for their ‘us-in-front-of-a-monument-shot'...

True to form, the sun came out in the afternoon and the whole place was transformed (I was tempted to nip back to re-take that famous ‘Acropolis shot' of the two of us, this time with sunshine, but El Gordo firmly assured me he could Photoshop our piccies once we got home, adding blue skies, sunshine and even the Eiffel Tower if I wanted - I suspect all the walking was getting to him, despite his new footwear!). We took a ferry from the hectic port of Piraeus over to a nearby island, Aegina. El Gordo was highly amused at the name, insisting it was spelled with a silent ‘v' - schoolboy humour, what can I say? To be honest I did laugh the first time he said it, but as the day wore on the joke wore off.

Aegina is so pretty; it's a taste of the ‘Real Greece' and when the weather is good even the ferry trip across is pleasant. You can easily stroll from the ferry to the small port or around the coast to some small beaches, but we hired a scooter and spent a few hours investigating the island. They've even got their own Acropolis up in the hills!

Thanks to the Greek penchant for late night partying, we had time for a siesta before glamming-up and hitting the town. The Greeks are a very attractive race, although the men are so macho they are living caricatures of themselves! Handsome, hairy and horny, they hang out on street corners and declare undying love to hot girls who don't even blink as they strut past - I could watch it for hours. I suppose they've got centuries of same-sex culture to try to live down, and every tourist shop will have copies of ancient pottery with saucy decoration to remind them and us of that fact!

We decided to have a couple of drinks in a local bar, but surprisingly the area around the hotel was pretty deserted after dark. We eventually found a place that promised a "live show" although most of the information was in Greek. I was getting impatient, so in we went and discovered that it was a drag bar! The show was colourful and the clientele even more so. Mind you, I'm sure some of those ‘girls' curse their Greek roots with all the depilation they have to do, not to mention the permanent 5 o'clock shadow to be covered up (think of the barmaid from ‘Shrek' and you'll have an idea!). The drink measures were very manly however, the reverse of our own (the measure of alcohol equal to our measure of mixer!) and before long we were merrily chatting away with the ladies. We moved on to the fashionable Gazi district, full of gorgeous bars and restaurants, many of which are converted houses with roof terraces and interior patios. I have to admit that Athens' ‘beautiful people' weren't quite as friendly or as entertaining as their trannies, but when it comes to mixing culture and fun it can't be beaten!