Blogs from Attica, Greece, Europe
May 21st 2012
Today marked a big transition in our trip. We woke up early and got ourselves to Ataturk Airport in Istanbul. After checking in and getting through security we boarded our flight to Athens. We flew on Olympic Airlines which was surprisingly nice given it was the cheapest flight available when we were planning the trip. Nice spacious seats and snacks throughout the 1.5 hour flight were much appreciated. Upon landing at the airport on the outskirts of Athens we boarded an express bus to Syntagma Square near Parliament. The bus ride was over an hour as a result of the Olympic flame travelling through Athens that day and causing traffic snarls. After disembarking at the Greek Parliament we walked 15 minutes to our hostel. The hostel (Athens Studios/Athens Backpackers) is a very highly rated hostel in ... read more
May 19th 2012
I woke up in Rome on April 26th and would fall asleep in Athens, isn’t modern travel wonderful! My trip from the hostel to the airport was easy enough; I just hopped on the subway to the train station and took a train to the airport. I got to the airport with plenty of time so I just settled in with my book to wait until boarding. I was flying Ryan air, one of many of Europe’s budget airlines. When flying Ryan air I was told to make sure to arrive early since they do not give seat assignments. If you arrive late you have to take whatever seat is available and if the overhead bins are full you have to pay to check your bag; two very good reasons to get there early in my ... read more
May 16th 2012
It was so nice to be back on the Regent Voyager...we felt right at home and settled in quickly. We looked forward to a very port intensive cruise for the next 10 days; a different port everyday cruising around Greece and up the Dalmatian Coast to Venice. As soon as we boarded the Voyager we immediately sprang into action since we arranged a welcome aboard party for our Cruise Specialists guests. Along with our group most of the staff also showed up. Captain Sanguineti, Serena Melani, the first female Staff Captain on Regent, GM Ralph, Cruise Consultant Gudrun and Ship’s Hostess Andreana all came to enjoy the scenic sail-away from Constantinople...I mean Istanbul! On our first night on the ship we ran into friends from home. We have known Shirley for 23 years as we all ... read more
May 12th 2012
After a long but relatively uneventful flight from New York, we landed in Athens midmorning on May 11th. The airport in Athens is new and clean, actually much nicer that NY Kennedy from which we departed. The airport is quite a distance outside the center of Athens, but it was nice seeing the countryside on our ride into town. Athens itself has only about 670,000 people but the greater metropolitan area has over 3.6 million, so there are apartment complexes dotting the hillsides everywhere. The traffic is actually very light, due to the fact that most people use public transportation and don't even own cars. When we arrived at our hotel, The Athens Gate, we were please to see that the promotional brochure painted an accurate picture of just how close the hotel is to some ... read more
May 12th 2012
The day you arrive on a ship is one of the most exciting days of the cruise. The anticipation is great: what will our cabin look like; who will we meet; what exciting things will we be doing. After cruising as often as we have, sometime expectations are greater than reality. Today was not one of those times. This ship exceeded our expectations! Checking in was a breeze - maybe because of the relatively small number of passengers on this ship. Pacific Princess is one of Princess Cruise Lines "small ships" - purchased when Renaissance Cruise Lines folded. The ship holds only 670 passengers (maximum) but it is simple beautiful. Our cabin is large by cruise standards and the decor is both comfortable and classy. I had read on Trip Advisor that the food on this ... read more
May 10th 2012
I was not in the mood to post an update of the trip yesterday but here I am today, mostly just to post a bunch of pictures. Our hotel in Athens is even better than the one in Barcelona, the bathroom is bigger and they have ice-cold cokes in the lobby for about the same price as the last one (but they were warm). I am surprised at the state of the city, it is very dirty and crowded. If it wasn't for the ruins and ocean in the backgroud, it could very easily pass for a poor middle eastern or eastern Europe countr - like they often show on "The Amazing Race". The roads are so crowded with no cross-walks so it takes forever to cross, too much of a hassle for either myself or ... read more
May 3rd 2012
31 degrees today in Athens - loving the air conditioner - though not PC in this economy but I can't sleep without it. OK - on the count down or tomorrow. Today was spent finding the post office to get rid of all souveniers from amsterdam on - kilos of the stuff - not as easy as it sounds, getting Greg a hair cut, very fetching, trying to find somewhere for my vanity waxing (no luck), waxing myself - oouuccchhhh. Then there was shopping - for blockout, good shampoo and conditioner, toothpaste etc formalish shoes for me, sunnies for me, shorts for Kasey. Then there was hours of final downloads, chucking, sorting, culling - farewell to our winter jackets! And finally packing, packing and packing. I'm sure we have less stuff but it's taking up just ... read more
May 2nd 2012
Joy oh joy! Poros. we love it and it forgives Athens many many sins! Pireaus however just dragged our opinion of Greece further, so many people begging, I'm glad I can't understand much Greek, so what people are telling me must flows over me, from 80 to 8 I saw all ages begging in the streets. dealing with postal services was no better, about 5 different queues to just get post satchels. Then they expected me to get in another queue to get stamps, crazy!!! Caught the flying dolphin hydrofoil which took one hour, arrived and caught a taxi to the Hotel Saga, cool and a pool!! Owners met us with a drink, juice for the kids and the owners home made raki with honey. unpacked and straight in the Pool for the next 3 hours!!!! ... read more
April 28th 2012
27/4/12 Left Istanbul, land of men and happily sat in the airport listening to Greek women arguing with their husbands it was so refreshing it made me smile. only once away from it did I notice the complete lack of women's voices and prescence in Istanbul, yes they were there, you could see them, with their children and husbands but that was about it, in the old town they didn't have visible jobs and not much of a voice. Really enjoyed where we stayed and highly recommend it, the kids also loved it. Arrival to Greece via Air turkey, they have a special families with children checkin so we were very impressed. all went well, some delays but first free food and drinks on aflight for a while!!! John was waiting to pick us up, after ... read more
Athens: Gyros - food of the gods?
Published: May 8th 2012Europe » Greece » Attica » Athens » Kallithea
April 26th 2012
M - Our original plan was to work our way north from Istanbul through Bulgaria, Romania to northern/western europe but: i) the weather further north wasn't looking quite as warm as we had expected and ii) we felt we may not fully appreciate a series of back-to back capital city stops (and frankly we figured we could do that later in life). Hence a change of plans. Head south to Athens (admitedly a capital city) to see the Acropolis (we have always wanted to see it) and then take a less direct route back to France, perhaps even continuing south to do some greek island hoping? Hostel world did us proud again in Athens. A double room within a short walk of the key sites with en suite, a balcony and a view of the Acropolis ... read more
