Blogs from Athens, Attica, Greece, Europe - page 96

Prep work took me nearly a month! Greece is such a hugh country with so many places to visit, but we've so little time! .... and money. But we'll survive.. perhaps Anthony can busk on the street, singing Faye Wong's Wo Yuan Yi :P To date, our itinerary is as follow: 17 - 18 May: Athen 19 - 20 May: We intend to join a "2-day Delphi & Meteora tour" 21 - 25 May: Overnite ferry to Rhodes Island (World Heritage-listed medieval town where Knights used to live) 26 - 27 May: Romantic Santorini 28 - 31 May: White sandy beaches Naxos 1 - 6 Jun: Driving around Peloponnese 7 - 8 Jun: Athens 9 Jun: Home Sweet Home :) We'll try to find time at Internet cafes to update this blog as much as ... read more

When you mention to people that you are going to Greece, almost everybody has an opinion on Athens and whether it’s worth visiting. “Smoggy, dirty and crowded” are the usual adjectives people use when talking about Athens. I can’t imagine going to Greece for the first time and NOT visiting Athens. How do you land in the city and manage to avoid going to see the Acropolis, the Temple of Zeus and see the city where so much of Western Civilization started? Sure, it’s a crowded city with its share of grime, graffiti and so forth but it also how some wonderful, magical corners and experiences to be had. Since the Olympics were in Athens in 2004, there have been big changes to the infrastructure which is a huge boon to travelers. The main improvement ... read more

Woke up pretty early and got on my flight to Athens. It was a 2 hour flight and everything went smoothly. I was meeting Alicia there as her flight was coming in a half hour after mine. After getting my bag i realized her flight is on the same baggage carousel and i waited no more then 10 minutes before meeting up. We then took the train to the metro station and got off on the stop that was noted on her directions (she got an apartment from a friend in Athens) and from there, well her directions/map well was not much more then some chicken scratch on a paper. So we walked every which way, and asked more then a half dozen people on how to find our street where the apartment was. Mind you, ... read more

Yesterday, I arrived at my hostel with no sleep and exhausted at 7:30 in the morning. So, I walked into my room and laid down on the bed to sleep. Then I thought that I would be better off if I just made myself stay up until at least early evening and get onto the right time zone/sleep schedule. So that's what I did. I headed to the Acropolis after the guy in my hostel drew the route on my map. Now I'm pretty good about navigating and figuring out where I am, but Athens was very hard for me to figure out. Partly because the streets go in on directions and partly because it's a completely different language that uses different symbols. So, I went down the wrong street a few times, but figured ... read more

Arrived in Athens on Thursday night at about 6pm local time from Heathrow. The plane was delayed slightly, possibly due to sailors held captive in Iran returning to Heathrow airport that morning. Athens was a nice 17-degrees when we arrived. We got our airport transfer and went straight to hotel. We basically just slept until the morning because we were really buggered from all the travelling. The next morning we went on an Athens sightseeing tour. It went trough all the major tourist spots, Hadrian's Gate, Temple of Zeus and Parliament Building, then to the Acropolis. Acropolis was massive, but there were heaps of people there. Was a bit of an effort to get around to everything. We wish we'd gone back again, and we did try again the next day, but the trading hours were ... read more