Celebrating in Athens

For me, Saturday morning started with a bang. I was sharing a room with my Nan in Athens and for some reason she slammed the wardrobe door that was next to my sleeping head. Needless to say it wasn't the most pleasant way to wake up! Sensing that there was no way I would be able to fall back to sleep I padded downstairs to find my Mum rolling out a red carpet. Saturday was my Aunts 50th birthday, the reason we had all gathered in Greece and we needed to get the house decorated before she arrived. We covered the coffee table with gifts and cards for her whilst banners were hung randomly throughout the house. 

Once she'd arrived we cracked open some bubbly and settled down to watch her opening her presents in the sunny garden.  Mum had also made a delicious brunch, it was slightly different to the standard full English. Mainly as the sausages were a different flavour and she'd had to siphon spinach and carrots out of the baked beans. But it was tasty regardless!

Later on the cake was brought out and we sang Happy Birthday to her. I'm not a cake person but this one was so good! It was a mousse so it wasn't too heavy and was made up of a layer of chocolate and a layer of raspberry with a gelatine coating.

That evening we made our way to the Hotel Grande Bretagne which supposedly has the best restaurant in Athens. Half of my family had left early to go for a drink so we ended up waiting for them in the foyer of the hotel. I was blown away by just how 'Grande' it was. Mosaic patterns and expensive looking rugs covered the floors whilst cabinets displayed an array of ornaments. Once we'd been joined by the rest of our party we stepped into the golden elevators and whizzed up to the top floor.

We were seated in the rooftop garden restaurant, from my chair I had the most beautiful view of the Acropolis as the sun was setting. I think I'm going to save my experience in the Grande Bretagne restaurant for another post as it really was my favourite meal I've ever eaten. If you're in Athens for a special occassion I would highly recommend it. Once we'd finished tucking into our dinner, a few of us nipped outside to take a couple of photos with the Acropolis glowing in the background. 

We finished off our lovely day with a few drinks at the Melia Hotels Sky Bar. After a day of good food and plenty of drink I was ready for bed. I just hope that my Aunt Jacky enjoyed her day as much as I did, 50 is a pretty big milestone!