Initially flight from Rome to Athens rescheduled, just made boarding and somehow managed to have our bags arrive at the same time in Athens. Whilst on the flight Manda then tells me the next lot of not so good news; Omonoia (said ammonia like you clean the shower with), where we are staying, is warned against in the Lonely Planet. Home of prostitutes and drug dealers it's not a real savory place to be. Damn. To make it worse personally, I booked it, the only place I've been responsible for booking yet! I will say however that it wasn't too bad; yes there was blatant prostitution everywhere, yes it was dirty and yes there were plenty of shady characters but the hotel was sufficient with decent Greek breaky and computers. So it worked out ok, even if I do say so myself!
Then, at the airport in Athens, we find out that there is a strike on; all public transport is out... Believe me, the heart sinks when the train departures board is covered with "strike" and town is 30-40 minutes away! So we have to get a taxi, along with everyone else arriving at the airport; line longer than at the Vatican. Not good news as we dislike taxis more than we dislike planes. Never to be trusted, especially in Greece as they're akin to Turkey; dishonest thieves. The good news was, or so we thought, the fare to Athens centre was fixed at 35€; you should never pay more; all fees, taxes, tolls included. Alas it was not to be so easy; the taxi driver appeared not to know, or want to know, where we had to go. Once he figured it out it was all gloom and doom; we needed to get into where all the protesters and police road blockades were; wimp! Now this was going to be difficult for him, or so he said, "not normal in Athens now, so not the normal 35€. Costs more"! The fixed fare was now out the window, it was going to be closer to 40-45+€ he thought, which translates to "I'll charge you as much as possible and take the longest route possible". Needless to say we weren't impressed and I think he knew; 35€ was to be our limit and he was told. I guess given the unsteadiness in Athens and the strikes, the taxi drivers simply took advantage and cashed in. Anyway, long story short, I had him drop us at a metro station just out of town with fingers crossed it was running and could drop us in the 'danger zone' which thankfully it did without a hassle. Taxi meter at the metro station read 25€ which I indicated I'd pay as opposed to the originally fixed 35€ discussed (as it had indeed been easier than usual for him), but he wasn't having any of it. He won this battle as we begrudgingly handed over our 35€...
So thankfully the metro was working, albeit on a limited schedule but not the normal trains and busses?!? Go figure... This is Greece!
The bloke (Christoph or similar) at the Hotel Ionis reception was terrific; a womanizer yes, but extremely helpful given the present circumstances. He got us all set up for what promised to be a great time in Athens.
We walked to the Acropalis via the morning demonstrators in Omonia Square. Impressive sight and sound was coming from them! Quite safe.
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| Protesters! I'm with you, we pay too much tax but someone has to get the country out of debt! |
Athenian Acropolis was terrific; saw the Parthenon,
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| Parthenon! |
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| Temple of Athena |
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| Erechtheum temple |
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| Acropolis behind Manda with photo bomber! |
Again, as in Rome, ones imagination was needed to see all the buildings of the Agora (now mostly rubble/foundations) however the important ones were in good condition whilst having been restored somewhat. The Parthenon at the Acropolis (not to be confused with the Pantheon) would have been a sight to see in it's day, an amazing structure with marble carvings and statues simply beyond belief.
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| View from Acropolis of town/Athens |
An evening walk up Mt Lycabettos provided a nice, but a little distant, view of the Acropolis and tired us out very well for bed. It also further fueled our distane for fellow travelers who lack common courtesy, many from the Asian countries who just have no idea. That's what happens when you install a chairlift to hoist people to the top! The slightly distant view was more than compensated for however by the thrill of the walk to get there! We unwittingly walked right into the heart of the demonstrations; I guess we should have figured as much by the evidence of earlier demonstrations: rubbish strewn all over the road, bins ripped from their roadside fixtures, spray paint everywhere, massive banners and the real giveaway, huge piles of burning rubbish all over the road and weeping eyes and difficulty breathing from the tear gas! Hence why everyone involved was wearing gas masks and eye goggles! Next thing we knew, we ran into a police road block (5 busses lined up across the road and 100s of police) which prompt us to turn up a side street toward the hill. Eyes still burning and lungs struggling to breath we managed to climb the hill to safety! Whilst exciting it did actually feel a little unstable and dare I say it scary!
Whilst in Athens we also managed to squeeze in the parliament building (complete with barricades and protectors graffiti) the Athens gardens and Temple of Zeus along with Hadrian's Arch the following day which was the day following the protests and strikes. I remember Manda asking if the tear gas would be cleared from the previous night (when we climbed the hill and watched the police fire off canister after canister of gas to repel the demonstrators temporarily) and I laughed it off; of course it would be cleared - it's a gas! Those words came back to haunt me as the tear gas near the parliament building was as bad as I'd experienced! I couldn't open my eyes! And breathing... Wow, that was hard. Even my face felt like it was burning! How wrong I was! Manda seemed a little less effected which was nice for her! Ended up doing some shopping in the Plaka area (very touristy but safe, pleasant and fun) and had 2 delicious meals here also. One of the places I found in a Gourmet Traveler review which mentioned that the restaurant used a hair dryer to fan the various rotisseries; so dodgy! I had to try it! It was cheap and bloody delicious. I'm sold on Greek food; souvalaki and tatzeki in particular! Also a big fan of salt and paprika shakers (no pepper at some restaurants! More than adequately made up for with the paprika!). Hard to believe that lamb mince skewers served on thick pita with red onion, roast tomato and parsley with tatzeki on the side could be so delicious! And for only 3-5€ pp! The other amazing food consumed here was a potato salad (boiled spud, olive oil, black olives, spring onion, orange rind, s&p and the most delicious anchovies to top it off; so much nicer than Aussie supermarket ones! Like firm little fish fillets not brown, hairy, squishy and salty - and it was all amazingly fresh). And my personal favourite, the yoghurt bar; traditional greek yoghurt with your choice of fruit conserve of sorts or the more traditional honey and walnuts in a little takeaway cup! Quince, fig and the honey and walnut were all tried on different occasions and we left as satisfied customers!
Now we find ourselves squeezed into a train cabin, one of the sorts with 3 seats facing 3 seats with a door etc (like on the Hogwarts express) with 4 larger Greeks. They are lovely enough and the little old lady offered us all a mentos but we were hoping for a normal seat so we could plan ahead a little further! Getting the ever growing backpacks in was a trick as their luggage (all small bags) was poked loosely in. After a bit of a reshuffle and plenty of sweat (I've discovered I'm heat intolerant!) we were done!
2 days now in Meteroa, staying in the little village at the bottom (Kalambaka). Very much looking forward to seeing what is rumored to be spectacular. Can't wait to get off this train in 4 hours time!
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