Our flight arrived in Atens after dark. We were a bit concerned about going to Athens with all their recent issues, bu Charlotte - who is very interested in ancient mythology - was dying to see the city and The Acropolis in particular. After landing we caught a cab and drove to Athens. First I was struck by how well maintained the public highways were. When we got to the city, however, it was a different story. There was a lot of evidence of recent unrest and many shuttered businesses.
We arrived at our hotel, the Magna Grecia, and checked in. This is a very old hotel and the room was very quirky with the frayed look of a place with old-world elegance gone somewhat to seed. The room was nice enough, though with an odd layout. It was ostensibly a suite but the second bedroom was more like a large closet with a bed. And the bathroom was particularly odd with fixtures that Had a purpose that was, to me at any rate, something of a mystery. And I'm fairly well traveled.
The hotel also boasted a lovely roof top restaurant with a spectacular view of the Parthenon and the Acropolis.
Unfortunately Charlotte had caught some bug somewhere along the way and was not feeling well at all. In fact she didn't even want to leave the room on that first night to see the Acropolis. This was really a shame considering this was something she was really looking forward too. It was late at any rate so we turned in and hoped she would feel better the next day.
The next day she felt no better. We took turns going out and walking around the local shopping areas while Charlotte rested. By the light of day the city looked much better, and the streets were bustling with locals as well as tourists.
A bit later in the day we decided the one thing we must do was a trip to the Acropolis. Charlotte was not going to let a little illness interfere with that! She put on the "Greek Goddess" dress she had purchased and off we went. We took a cab to the Acropolis where we purchased our tickets to see the Parthenon and the other relics. I was impressed when the ticket taker noticed we had overpaid for our tickets (Charlotte was considered a child) and took us back for a refund.
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| Here Charlotte is wearing the hat that Nat bought |
The tour of the Acropolis pretty much wiped us all out and we had an early flight and a long travel day ahead of us, so we headed back to the hotel for the rest of the day venturing out only for dinner at a local restaurant.
I did manage to go to the rooftop restaurant for a nightcap overlooking the awesome night time view of the acropolis. As I was the only person there I chatted with the chef (who was extremely well traveled - he had even at one point leved across the street from a High School I attended for a semester), the waitress (who was from Rumania) and the hostess. They were all lovely people - as were all the people we met in Greece - and I had a very nice time chatting with them.
Next up, Madrid
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