Greece April 22 - April 25

We arrived in Athens from Beijing via France at about 10:30 at night and we had to rush to clear customs so that we could make the last Metro train to the city center at 11:30. We packed up all our "stuff" and luckily the station was pretty accessible. We caught the train for the Monastraki station supposedly only about a block from our hotel. Thank God it was because we were hauling a lot... Once again, the hotel had booked us with twin beds but it was late at night and we figured we would deal with it the next day.

The next morning we straightened out the room situation and were moved to a room with a balcony overlooking the Acropolis.

It was really cool especially at night. We headed out to explore Athens and first stop was the Acropolis. The Greeks realize they have a good thing here and so as it falls apart they keep putting it back together. They started the last renovation for the 2004 Olympics but the major parts, including the Parthenon, are still a work in progress. People lived in the Acropolis area from around 5000 BC but to put it into perspective the current buildings that are being reconstructed only go back to about 400 BC. Needless to say, they go back a very long time.



Athens is a quintessential urban sprawl city complete with smog. It has a street cart vibe with pretzel carts that are really not pretzels but bread, gyro stands, cafe and ouzo bars and lots of people and activity. Coming from New York, it put us right in the moment and we enjoyed walking around the neighborhood called the Plaka and just taking it all in.

The place is packed with wall to wall Tavernas with outdoor dining and we got to sample some classic Greek food (just not octopus) and wine. Typical us, as much as we liked it, the next day we were ready to bug out so we hopped the subway to the ferry which would take us to the island of Hydra for the day. What can we say, Hydra was a 10!!!!

A typical little fishing village on an island that turned to tourism but did it right. No cars, no scooters, just donkeys. Want a lift to your hotel? Take a donkey. Need your bags brought to your hotel? Load up a donkey.

HELLOOO DONKEY.......


After walking a good portion of the island we found a perfect cafe, on the rocks, overlooking the water. We felt compelled to stop for awhile and had the best bruschetta we've ever had (Bill Gough we need to make it this summer, we have pictures). After a few beers and a heroic plunge into the Aegean by Tom (we are talking very cold water here) we had to catch the ferry back to Athens. Hydra was definitely a place we could have spent more time doing nothing.



As with a lot of Athens Hotels, ours had a rooftop bar with a spectacular view of the Acropolis which was illuminated at night. We managed to take advantage of the view for our last night in Athens before taking off early, very very early, the next morning for Santorini.