Greetings from Athens! It's 2 AM and I can't sleep. Oh, well.
Our flights went very well- wwe had only an hour layover in ORD and a littel over that in LHR, so that was important. LHR is a miserable place to transit- too much walking through endless corridors, a bus between terminals (positively antediluvian), then another bus to the plane. On the other hand, BA served us a much more substantial breakfast on LHR-ATH than the greasy, chewy croissant and the yogurt offered on AA.
So far we love Athens. We didn't really get settled in till about 3 PM. Obviously they've done a lot to spiff up the airport and the subway system for the 2004 Olympics- and most of the signage is in Greek and English. I'm doing well at reading Greek and we ventured out and bought meat, chees, olives and bread for dinner last night and I even spoke a few words of it and they understood me. It's polluted, as the guidebooks will tell you, but it's cheerful and bustling. Our quarter (Monastiraki) is full of little shops selling everything from icons, candles and incense to whole hog's heads and whole butchered goats.
We're at the Attalos Hotel. For 70 Euros a night we have a tiny room but it's clean and equipped with a refrigerator and a balconey with a view of the Parthenon if you look to the side. The free Wi-Fi spot in the downstairs lounge was a pleasant surprise, even though it seems to be a VERY tiny spot. If I move too far from the center of the room I get dropped! But, the price is right. Breakfast included, too. Wonder what this room went for during the Olympics!
Tomorrow we leave for Patmos on an overnight ferry- will return that night at midnight. We actually booked a room on Patmos near the port so we don't have to hang around at the docks till midnight. The control-freak part of me worries a little. If we miss the boat back to Piraeus (Athens' port), I think the next one arrives in 3 days and there's not much to do on Patmos! But, so far all has gone well.
Our flights went very well- wwe had only an hour layover in ORD and a littel over that in LHR, so that was important. LHR is a miserable place to transit- too much walking through endless corridors, a bus between terminals (positively antediluvian), then another bus to the plane. On the other hand, BA served us a much more substantial breakfast on LHR-ATH than the greasy, chewy croissant and the yogurt offered on AA.
So far we love Athens. We didn't really get settled in till about 3 PM. Obviously they've done a lot to spiff up the airport and the subway system for the 2004 Olympics- and most of the signage is in Greek and English. I'm doing well at reading Greek and we ventured out and bought meat, chees, olives and bread for dinner last night and I even spoke a few words of it and they understood me. It's polluted, as the guidebooks will tell you, but it's cheerful and bustling. Our quarter (Monastiraki) is full of little shops selling everything from icons, candles and incense to whole hog's heads and whole butchered goats.
We're at the Attalos Hotel. For 70 Euros a night we have a tiny room but it's clean and equipped with a refrigerator and a balconey with a view of the Parthenon if you look to the side. The free Wi-Fi spot in the downstairs lounge was a pleasant surprise, even though it seems to be a VERY tiny spot. If I move too far from the center of the room I get dropped! But, the price is right. Breakfast included, too. Wonder what this room went for during the Olympics!
Tomorrow we leave for Patmos on an overnight ferry- will return that night at midnight. We actually booked a room on Patmos near the port so we don't have to hang around at the docks till midnight. The control-freak part of me worries a little. If we miss the boat back to Piraeus (Athens' port), I think the next one arrives in 3 days and there's not much to do on Patmos! But, so far all has gone well.
