Limassol - Piraeus -Athens

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7 June 2010

Km: 0

First leg of journey from Cyprus to UK. The car has been shipped from Limassol to Piraeus by Salamis Shipping. Good job done apart from some oily marks on the drivers seat, but these came off easily with some leather cleaner.

A bit tricky working out the road signs, mostly in Cyrillic script, but enough in normal writing for me to get on the road to Athens.

Traffic in Athens somewhat chaotic, with motorcyclists charging around from all directions and one sideswipe with minor impact on the left wing mirror. Eventually found the Hotel with the help of a friendly porter from another hotel who gave me the directions I needed to navigate the final half mile.

Fiona had booked the 'Fresh Hotel', a designer hotel that takes Air Miles and has secure underground parking. Brilliant place, whacky, comfortable room, superb staff, great rooftop bar with views of the Acropolis (if you can ignore the rather shabby framing with a couple of derelict buildings with mobile phone masts). Underground parking also fine but touch and go whether we'd get the car in as it is 1.97m at its highest point, but we managed. Decided not to move the car again until we left Athens, given the traffic and awkwardness of getting in and out of the car park.

Only snag with the hotel is that it is in rather dodgy area, so best to be clear about where you are going rather than wandering at random, especially at night.

Took the Metro to the airport to meet Fiona, easy but took nearly an hour. Decided to take a cab back to the hotel as we'd just missed the train and they run every half an hour.

Had a delightful supper under the stars by the rooftop pool of the hotel. Tomorrow Athens.

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