Summer Sun 2017 Day 04&05 - Athens

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Day 03 & 04 - Athens

The day started early as we left the hotel by 0600 to catch our 09300 flight to Athens. Next 8 days are planned for Greece, which is our main destination for this vacation and so we all were very excited as the taxi took us through the better part of Cairo which we had not seen while coming. This part looked modern with huge domb's of the many beautiful mosques, hilltop fort ramparts, sprawling gardens of universities and modern buildings housing big companies.
After an uneventful 2 hour flight we landed in the land of philosophers and gladiators. As we approached the taxi bay we were told by a cop that 5 persons cannot board one taxi. When I tried to be Indian style cheeky, saying actually we were 4½ and not really 5, the cop gave me such a caustic look that I had to quickly but unconvincingly turn my statement into a joke accompanied by a fake laugh. So we decided that all 3 girls would go in the taxi with the luggage while Akshay and me would take the metro, thus saving almost 20 Euros.
Our hotel was in a busy part of Athens but right in her heart called Omonia square. By the time we settled down it was lunch hour as we set out on foot to grab some food. While passing the many roads of Athens, you cannot escape the sight of many shut shops with graffiti sprayed all over, reflecting the dire state of economy. Turning into one of the cobblestoned by-lanes we came across a crepe bar which was about to be closed but on our request let us in. The Greek salad crepe there was one of the best we will ever have, enticing us to order it multiple times and gulping everything down with Greek beer namely- mythos, fix and mamos. However Anvi couldn't care less as she dug into her delicious chocolate crepe.
Stomachs full we ventured into the main, vehicle free shopping street of Athens which leads to the parliament building at Syntagma square. From here we could see the Acropolis atop a hill at a distance. Swati and Akshay let out their shopping animal in them which devoured brands like diesel, bodytalk and innumerable local merchandise for a good 3 hours but for me seemed like an eternity. Finally on my pleading we settled down on stairs in front of the parliament building overlooking the syntagma square. It was 1900 hrs. The syntagma square with a fountain at it's centre was buzzing with people. There was group which was offering free prayers to any passerbys, teenagers roller blading, shoppers carrying handful of bags, kids having ice cream and many like us just lazing around watching this carnival. We spend a good time there till it was feeding time for Anvi. All of us also grabbed few bites and headed back to hotel on foot. It was just getting dark around 2100 hrs as we walked around 15 minutes to the hotel enjoying our first day in Europe. It was Saturday night and we found out that the gazi area of Athens is the place to be for partying. Swati and me mustered up the energy to head for party but decided to have a couple of drinks with the Chitnis's in their room first as they won't be able to join due to their 5 year old daughter. We played Punjabi music in the room over drinks and by the time we were done all of us decided to hit the sack and skip going to gazi, after another long day.
Day 04 saw us getting up easily and refreshed for the first time in the trip as we settled down in a cafe close to our hotel for breakfast. Over eggs, toast, sandwiches, juice and coffee we decided to get onto the Hop on Hop off bus today and see what Athens had in store for us. We got ready in a jiffy and bought tickets for the bus which had a stop right outside our hotel. It was a hot Sunday and there were many tourists along with us as disembarked on our first stop that was 'thisseo'. The auto information system in the bus informed us this was the place for an old Temple, flea market and restaurants and cafes. Three main square was marked by two stone built synagogues, one an ancient one which was dysfunctional and other a big one as a replacement. Along the square was a lane with 'flea market' written atop. It was more of a local market than a flea market as we bought souvenirs for our dear and near ones, few ancient looking artefacts, local nuts and few things more finally settling in a corner cafe with outdoor footpath sitting having live Greek music. There was a parallel lane to this leading back to the square dotted with cute cafes decorated with amazing Greek themes. This lane hosted the Hard Rock Cafe- Athens, a Hansel and Gretel themed candy shop with a chocolate bungalow, terraced restaurants having the Acropolis view and much more. We sirens so much time at this place which wasn't in our plan that now we had only enough time to see the main attraction of Athens - the Acropolis!
We got onto to our Hop on Hop off bus as it took us to the base of the hill of the Acropolis. We bought tickets here and started are ascend on towards the Acropolis on a hot evening around 1800hrs. It is a shall hill which to around 10 minutes before we reached the gates of the Acropolis. The structure by itself is amazing but one has to put ones imagination to work to really appreciate it's beauty as most of it less in ruin due to centuries of war, occupations and natural disasters. The view of Athens from the hill is spectacular. The city seems spread on all sides till horizon expect where it meets the sea.
After spending an hour we got down and back into our bus. The next stop was the temple of Zeus. But none of had the energy to see another ruin. We listened to the infotainment system and gathered as much as we could, now sitting on the top deck.
It was just the 3rd day of the trip but Swati had started missing Desi food as we decided to hit an Indian restaurant for dinner. Over butter chicken, aloo mutter, hot roti's and Bollywood playing TV we ended the day with a mix feeling of having seen so much but yet left out so much more, promising ourselves to come back another time.

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