After a full morning and early afternoon at The Acropolis and the new Acropolis Museum, our tour bus wound its way back toward the hotel, passing the Olympic Stadium, the Parliament Building, and the National Library. 
Since we had the afternoon “on our own,” Pat and I opted to take a taxi back down to The Plaka Neighborhood, which is the “old town” section of the city. I told the cabby to take us to Hadrian’s Arch, as that was the only landmark I had recognized as being near The Plaka. The cabby shook his head and shrugged, then went to summon another cab driver. The second driver heard me 
explain we wanted to go to The Plaka, right across the street from Hadrian’s Arch, and he suddenly nodded and grinned. “Adrian’s Gate,” he said to our cabby, and we proceeded without further discussion.
In The Plaka, we found a myriad of “Mom and Pop Shops” as well as a swarm of small cafés and gelato stands that kept us busy until time to be back at the hotel for our evening tour. We were having such a fine time exploring, going up one street and down the next (all blessedly devoid of vehicles), that we ended up walking all the way back to the hotel.
The Plaka is a quaint and very interesting little neighborhood, tucked into the virtual center of a bustling city. The tree-lined streets seem to follow an alternating pattern between souvenir shops and places to eat as you work your way among them. 
Since we hadn’t had lunch, and dinner was going to be sometime after 8 p.m., Pat and I found a little hole-in-the-wall place for souvlaki—which roughly translates to “meat on a stick.” It is common to wrap the meat in a pita, add a few vegetables and drown them in tzatziki (cucumber and yogurt sauce), and eat it like a soft taco.
But I wanted to “save” some calories for a stop at a gelato stand, so I ate just the meat accompanied by grilled sourdough bread. And at this point, I discovered I actually enjoyed eating lamb. Who knew?
And yes, both Pat and I had room left for a “healthy” serving of gelato. I opted for the dark, bittersweet chocolate, and if I hadn’t been so smart, I might have convinced myself that I was simply choosing to eat my antioxidants in frozen form!