Litochoro to Athens

June 8 2018 – Day 14  

We left the beautiful little town of Litochoro around 9 am and walked about 500 metres to the local bus station. We took one bus to the highway, then changed on to the bus for Athens. It was pretty direct, only a handful of stops to pick up passengers and a stop for the loo and lunch.  The buses are very civilized here. Comfy, clean, fast, and smooth!! And, they run to their stated schedule. Our backpacks go in the luggage holds, and our day packs come with us on the bus. The locals are all very sweet, and say hello, and have a nice day, and give us their biggest smiles. 

There was an exciting moment when we passed the sign post to Oinfyota, the town the refugee camp was located in that Alanna volunteered at last year. The highway too was modern, smooth, and well sign posted. The neatly defined fields on either side of us were rich farmlands, and the back drop for most of the way was the mountains. We went through at least 6 very long tunnels which cut into and out of the mountains rock.

Around 3:30 we arrived in Athens, got off the bus and took the metro to our hotel. The Hotel Attalos is right in the centre of Athens. From the Roof Top Bar we can look over at the Acropolis. Down below on the ground is a myriad of little streets containing shops, restaurants, and businesses. Peter gave us our last initiation tour, and after a short break in which we booked our 2 day tour to Meteora, we headed out into the tourist filled streets and a restaurant for a final dinner with our group . Had Moussaka…delicious….much better the Greek way than the Westernized Greek version!!

Then we all headed back to the roof top bar at the hotel for one final drink….ouzo!! We will see some of them again over the next few days, and then we, and they, will go our separate ways.

Acropolis and Parthenon in the Background

The Tower of the Winds

The Acropolis and the Parthenon from the Hotel Attalos