Posts tagged: Athens

Our 2 night stay in Athens finished by taking the ferry from Piraeus port in Athens to Chania in north west Crete. We took the metro to the port and whilst en-route some guy tried to pick-pocket me. I felt a hand trying to get to my wallet in my pocket whilst boarding the train and turned around immediately and gave the guy some verbal and a stern look. No harm done, but I was fuming. This had never happened to me and I felt like I wanted to get back off the train, find the guy and give him a good beating. Most people know I have a bit of a temper sometimes, and so in hindsight it was lucky for me that nothing happened otherwise I might likely have had spent the night or 2 in a Greek jail for assault or something.

Anyway moving on, everything turned out fine and we got to the port and looked for our ship. We scouted the harbour in the dark and saw a fantastic looking vessel across the way both thinking that it couldn’t be our one. To our surprise it was and we were stoked and very excited to be going on a mini, overnight cruise!

We thankfully booked a 2 berth cabin for the 9 hour journey and were fortunate to be travelling on a brand new ferry which meant nice shinny cabins and super sparkly, fresh interiors. We had fun on our little overnight cruise, spent a little time in the (non-smoking) bar – in Greece they are still aloud to smoke indoors and it is like the non-smoking ban in the UK turned on its head – disgusting. We arrived in Chania early the following morning and took a taxi to our hotel.

The taxi driver was the second (minor) low point of our stay. We agreed a price and then whilst we were waiting he got another 2 random passengers in the cab with us who shared our ride, but not our fare. Rosana told him we wanted a discount, but he told us we could basically like it or wait all day for another cab, complete arse hole. In the end we got a measly 2 euros discount, which he actually forgot about once we got to the hotel and short changed us. In the end Rose stood behind his car so he couldn’t leave without running her over and paying us what he had agreed to in the first place. Anyway after that ordeal the rest of our stay was plain sailing and I don’t have a negative thing to say about Greece (apart from the wine).

I wasn’t sure what to expect from Greece as I’ve never had any desire to go there, maybe it is the lack of surf, but I was pleasantly surprised by the whole experience after my girlfriend booked us 2 return flights to Athens for our first 2 week holiday together.

Athens airport was clean, well designed and easy to get around. We arrived late in the evening and took the metro from the airport straight to the centre of Athens where we were due to stay in an area called Plaka (an old historical part of the city). We stayed in the Student Travellers Inn for 2 nights, figuring that it wasn’t worth staying somewhere luxurious as we would be spending most of our time away from the hotel/hostel seeing the sights anyway.

The hostel was clean, quiet (we were staying at the end of the season) and centrally located in the Plaka area of town, which is close to all the sights including the Acropolis.

The weather was great, low to mid 20s, sunny and warm, perfect for walking around and seeing the wonderful architecture. I expect if you come in the peak summer season it would be unbearable and you’d probably pass out from the heat, traffic fumes and hoards of American tourists.

The sights were amazing and easy to get around on foot for the most part. I would definitely recommend strolling around the streets of Plaka, Monastiraki, seeing the Acropolis, the National Gardens, The Roman and Greek Agoras, Hadrian’s Library as well as the other main sights.

Greek food was a bit of an unknown to me, as I usually opt for nearly anything else when going out for a meal in London, but again I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed all the traditional dishes including salads, souvlaki, grilled meats and  various cheeses. One thing I wasn’t really impressed with was the wine. Maybe we ordered the wrong thing or the cheaper options, but in general I thought Greek wine was crap (I usually go for full-bodied South African, Australian, Chilean Californian or Argentinean reds).

All in all our stay in Athens was amazing and I would recommend a stay to anyone who likes architecture, good food and friendly people.

Rose and I had a great start to our Greek holiday starting with a 2 day trip to Athens. The weather was beautiful, not a cloud in the sky, between 25-27 degrees, we couldn’t have asked for more.

We stayed in the Student Travellers Inn situated in Plaka in the centre of Athens. We walked around most of the sights including the Acropolis, various temples, libraries, columns and parks and got some amazing photos. We ate out both nights and were treated to lovely authentic Greek cuisine.

I didn’t really know what to expect from Greece, but so far my expectations have been exceeded and we are both having a great time. Our next destination is Crete!