Kalimera--We're Here

Kalimera--we're here

The Parliament Syntagma Square

Good Morning from Athens. It was a grueling trip. We left CVG at 10, had 3 hour layover at JFK which allowed us time to have a delicious $24 hamburger and walk the mile to the next gate. The plane was packed and cramped. The small plane from CVG had more legroom. Sleeping couldn't happen. There was a screaming baby. The food was horrible, especially the breakfast egg mcmuffin. We expected the flight to take close to ten hours but it took around 9. Felt like 24.

Luckily, we were able to check into the condo when we arrived, thanks to Joyce who is able to both read and understand English. Two days before we left, I asked Apostolos, the condo owner, if we could drop off our luggage when we arrived at 8 a.m. He said we had to wait until 12:30 and then come back at 3 to check in. I located a lot of drop luggage places all over the city. About 5 euros a day. We planned to do that, take a hop-on bus, eat, etc. before checking in  3. The day before we left, he sent a message with all the complicated instructions for the condo. The first line said there was no need to store our luggage; we could check in when we arrived. Later on in the email, he explained where to store luggage. So you can imagine my confusion. I interpreted the first line as a lie. I sent the email to Mickey and Joyce who insisted I answer the email and clarify whether or not we could check in on arrival. I refused until it was easier to obey Joyce than argue. Unfortunately, when I logged into the VRBO site, it quit working.  Between 2:00 and 10, I checked the site and chatted with agents a number of times but the site continued not to work and the agents couldn't help. When I got up at 5 the morning we left, I was able to access the site and ask whether he was lying.  He wasn't.  The previous guests had checked out early so they were able to get the condo ready for us. I won't say Joyce gloated but she did. I learned an important lesson--sometimes sentences aren't open to interpretation. 

 

The condo is huge on a busy street but very close to the main sites.  3 bedrooms, 1 1/2 baths. Large living room, nice kitchen, laundry room. When I booked accommodations in Greece, I was surprised how many condos have at least a washer. Apostolos said he would help us understand the laundry but he didn't offer to do it for us. I looked and it seems easy. There's a button that says wash/dry with a choice of 30 or 45 minutes. I am not convinced it will both wash and dry in that time frame. We'll see.

  

After short naps, we found the subway station and went to Syntagma Square where the hop on bus starts. We found a restaurant and ate outside. The manager came at one point to move our table back under the awning because it was going to rain. We had seen conflicting weather reports all day but eventually it started rain. He stopped by to say I told you so and to warn us about walking around with our phones out and not being careful with our things. He said thieves will follow us everywhere. So far we find that crossing the street is the most dangerous thing we've encountered. Cars are easily seen but speeding motorcycles and scooters aren't.

The Greek language is impossible. We've had problems pronouncing Syntagma so Joyce is calling it Stigmata.  The hop on bus was a nice introduction to the city. We sat inside since it was too windy and wet to go upstairs. The windows were partially decorated, though, making viewing a little difficult. 

Earlier in the day, Apostolos had written me to say he was bringing a new pigal because one of ours was broken. Google translate was useless but I found out what it is through a Google search. Here it is:

I think there is nowhere in Greece where you can flush toilet paper which is fine; it's the remembering that's difficult.  

We're a short distance from the restaurant row that has views of the acropolis. We had walked that way from the bus and were confronted with greeters from each restaurant who tried to convince us to have dinner there. We went back around 7 to eat and see the acropolis lit up after sunset. We saw the same greeters and were finally convinced by a charming young Greek to choose his restaurant because it had been voted "best moussaka in all of Greece." He said they are number 8 in the TripAdvisor best restaurant list. We had a great appetizer of  feta cheese baked in phyllo topped with honey and mint. Delicious.

 I had shrimp in a garlicky white sauce. Joyce and Mickey had the moussaka which they liked but weren't convinced it's the best in the city.

 Our waiter was charming also. He gave us free "cheesecake" which he said isn't like American cheesecake. It was good but not like American because it's custard. Some tables received free shots of retsina which no one likes but we got mastsica which is from a gum tree. It's really good until you reach the halfway point and then gets old. 

After dinner we walked to the Acropolis.

And that's it for day 1. We're exhausted.