Our final evening in Athens was spent with yet another 5W family that owned a small taverna (and a pit bull) quite close to the Acropolis. We had a traditional Independence Day meal of Bucalou (yep, dried salted cod, which we blogged about while ago in Norway).

Up at 3:45am, we quietly tip toed by our four-legged pit bull friend and out the taverna door to roll our luggage along the early morning streets of Athens to meet the X bus going back to the airport. It was quite a long walk, but surprisingly, the city felt safe and it was really quite the experience to see the ancient ruins rising out of the early morning mist. We met our bus and it turns out that by the time we left the city center of Athens, this ridiculously early airport bus was full to the brim with red-eyed travelers and suitcases on their way to the airport for early departing planes. Oh the joys of budget traveling!