Two Retired Boomers Go Trekking: Athens

Saturday June 9, Sunday June 10

It has been nice to set a little slower pace over the past two days. On Saturday, we slept in till 9:00 a.m. It felt absolutely right!! The breakfast room was still open when we searched it out!! And, I don’t think we were the last of our group to head there!!! The Greek yoghourt is delicious!! Admittedly it is full fat, but it tastes sooooo good: creamy, rich, and yummy!!! The peaches are also delicious!! Then there is the usual mix of cucumber, tomatoes, olives, cheese, cold meats, muesli, cereals, sweet cakes, coffee from a machine, and sometimes tea.

On Saturday, we relaxed: after breakfast I caught up with my blog, confirmed arrangements for the rest of our trip, and we lunched in the square with a couple from our group. That took us to about 3:00 p.m. and we hopped on the “hop on hop off” tourist bus…..but didn’t do much hopping off!! This took about an hour and a half. I feel it’s a different city. It is steeped in ancient history up to 4000/5000 BC; there are relics of buildings such as the Panathenaic Stadium, Temple of Zeus, the Acropolis, and the Parthenon; there are modern buildings such as the parliament, the National Library, the University, the various museums; there are squares such as Omonia, Karaiskaki, Monastiraki (where our hotel is close to) and Kotzia/City Hall; there are narrow little streets, and wide avenues; there are masses of apartment buildings, beautiful churches, all painted with Greek culture and style. I think there is just so much, and so much reference to the ancient past, that it is a little beyond my ability to feel connection. We are saving our trip to the Acropolis and the Parthenon till Wednesday when we come back from Meteora.

Riding on the top of a double decker bus, with no roof, in 31C, with Greek music playing in your ear, mixed with dialogue on what we were passing, and some of the ancient history, bumping and swaying along the city streets, hit all the senses!!

In the evening, Mike, one of the guys from the trip, suggested we investigate an authentic Greek restaurant as opposed to the more tourist type of restaurant we have been frequenting. It was called Aleria (https://www.aleria.gr/en/). It was amazing! Firstly, it was beautiful, and we sat outside in the stone-walled courtyard surrounded by vegetation; secondly, the staff were fully trained to “serve” while at the same time being chatty and fun; and thirdly, the food was creative, and simply delicious. As well, I had the best red wine I have had in Greece so far. It was a magical evening!! Thanks to Mike for choosing such a great culinary experience!

On Sunday, we used up the second day of our “hop on hop off” bus tickets and chose the Piraeus Line to the port. This was quite a different experience. We drove along a fast highway connecting Athens with Piraeus and lined with fancy hotels, businesses, and car salesrooms. When we hit the cruise-ship port we got off and walked around the water to the marina – about 2 stops on and about 5 k and almost 2 hours. We walked up and down the little narrow streets in what was a residential area; we smelled the coffee from the verandahs of the apartments above and heard the chatter of the Greek residents as they enjoyed their relaxed Sunday in again about 30+ C weather. We were a little unsure of our route at times but anyone we stopped to ask, seemed to speak enough English to help us out! It’s amazing really. We are so bad at languages, and yet in most of the countries we have visited, rich and poor, people speak enough English for us to communicate. That is humbling!! Eventually we arrived at the Marina. What a sight!!! So many amazing boats!! The opulence is what struck me the most. All of those vessels, resting in the harbour, with no one on most of them, and all sitting there, silent, out of use…for the moment. Contrast this with the begging we have experienced in Athens, the mothers and fathers with little kids, begging for money for food. Not that we have seen a ton of this, but we have watched one guy lying on a mattress asleep on the sidewalk since we arrived. We were worried that he may not still be alive, so have watched him carefully, but he has moved ….from his back, to his side. These are some of the sobering moments that make your heart weep.

We checked out the bus stop where we were to catch the bus again. A woman came up to us and said she too was looking for the bus stop. She said we were in front of her in the bus, and she got off at the stop we were looking for, but she couldn’t find the stop and had really not registered where it was when she got off!! Ha!!! I can totally relate to that!!! It took us about 10 minutes. We stopped another tour bus and asked them where the stop was. They said they didn’t know!! So we walked a little further down the street Ray and I thought it might be on, and sure enough there it was. The woman was so grateful to meet up with us, and grateful that we found the stop!!! We left her there and found a little café for a sandwich and a coffee.

We caught the bus back into Athens around 2:30 and had a crazy driver, who didn’t open the entrance door of the double decker bus and was about to drive off leaving us (it was 40 minutes to the next bus) but Ray gave a huge piercing whistle, and the other chap waiting hollered and pounded the side of the bus, and I shouted and the the driver heard and stopped and opened the door. He was quite disinterested in the fact he had ignored us!! I think he was about 7 minutes late, and was trying to make up time. Goodness knows what his “punishment” was for being late, but we had a hell of a ride. It was like a tornado coming through the top of the bus as we sped back along the highway, hats trying to mimic a spaceship take off, hair whipping our faces, flying past another tourist bus, and reaching our change over point in record time!!!