Athens after 36 years!

First day near the Plaka - great to hear live music!
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Saturday, 17th January

So after docking at 10.15 am (15 hrs plus trip) at Patras we managed to sneak down to the vehicle deck ahead of the truck drivers and turned the van already for a speedy descent down the ramp and into Greece! Roads surprisingly quiet after Italy. We were asked to pay 7 Euros TWICE to use the road to Athens…..not a motorway, not a dual carriageway, not a road without cracks etc., BUT a road…..the other small road would have taken forever to negotiate so we paid up! Once again, due to previous research on the net had the directions to Camping Athens we found it without too much hassle arriving around 3pm.

Back in Athens and how its changed!

How the Plaka has changed....cleaner, more clothes shops, less food...better? Not sure.
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Talk about market pricing! Being the ONLY site they would not budge on the price of 28 Euros per night! Guess one expects such a price in a capital city but in OFF SEASON! Hardly anyone there. Greece uses the 2-pin European plug even for motorhome access – not the usual 3-pin access that we were using in Germany and Italy. The site was clean, had wireless internet and with lots of hot water so we settled in and planned the next 4-5 days in Athens.

Sunday, 18th January

Weather dawned clear and quite warm. Using the bus tickets we’d bought the day before - .80 per trip (1.5 hrs max use) we set off for the centre of Athens. Our last trip here was 36 yrs ago and WHAT a difference! For the 2004 Olympics they had built a new Metro system, bought new buses and a new tramway to Glyfada. The difference was incredible, still lots of traffic but more manageable, at least that’s what it appeared to be – it was Sunday and off season!

Agora archeological site (below the Acropolis) Athens
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Made our way to the famous Plaka market which we remembered from years ago. Seemed cleaner and with many more clothes shops and less food! Still great atmosphere and being Athens tons of people from everywhere! Discovered entry to the archeological parks was free on Sunday so made us of that looking at Agora old town and of course the Acropolis to which we climbed managing to have a quick look before they closed at 3pm. Due to deteoration of the ancient site, there was a fair amount of scaffolding on the main building, pity but we still got some great pics.

The "stoa" in Agora, obviously rebuilt
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All in all a lovely day.

Monday, 19th January

Thought we’d better get into Piraeus to collect our ferry tickets for the 22nd January to Crete after the last experience! Bus took forever, traffic pretty heavy…..collected tickets totally uneventfully and found a GREAT massive toy shop and couldn’t resist looking for some items for our granddaughter!

Back to Athens and caught the tram to Glyfada….took bloody HOURS so slow! Tried to locate the hotel we’d stayed at 36 yrs ago but it had changed SO much. Not the most exciting of spots but clean and has the air of up market resort with top quality shops etc. Very modern and lacks any Greek atmosphere.

Athens - Acropolis
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Tuesday, 20th January

Went into Athens managing to capture the National Guard on film – great! Then jus generally wandered around the back streets into little squares and taverna area, listening to music – a relaxing day if one can have that in Athens!

Wednesday, 21st January

Visited the Central Market, main area houses stacks of seafood and meat….wasnt totally wonderful looking at carcasses sliced neatly top to bottom right through the animal! Some guy gouged Mike’s hand probably attempting to steal his watch then another threw some filthy water which ended up on his leg – he was WELL pleased! The vegges and fruit are on the opp side on the road to the main market and not quite the selection and in the quantities we imagined but we managed to get some bargains although the sellers weren’t the friendliest guys in the world! Bought some plums which later turned out to be absolutely shitty and tastless!

Athens - Acropolis
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After the market spotted the elusive # 200 bus (which we had waited for yesterday for ages….a friend of ours in Brisbane would be happy to read the following!) which was supposed to take us up to Lycebettus Hill. However we caught this “circular” route in the WRONG (did you hear that Mike!) direction……it went through some “interesting” areas of Athens notably the druggy spots and watching someone in a doorway shooting up was definitely not my idea of a good day out! Anyway FINALLY reached our destination after the bus had RETURNED to the market and then set off on the other half of its circular route. Not wanting to pay 6 Euros each for the funicular up to the halfway point only of Lycebettus Hill we decided to walk it and had our best work out for weeks! Phenomenal view of Athens out to the sea, in all directions even tho there was an icy wind! Great day out.

Athens - Acropolis
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Thursday. 22nd January

Being our last day in Athens Teresa set about organising things in the van whilst Mike went off to do various bits of shopping. Tried to negotiate a “deal” for overstaying by a few hours but camp lacky was unbending so set off for the port early as he pissed us off.

Boarded the vessel “Elyros” which had been completely refurbished last year and was pretty swanky! Wouldn’t let us take our sleeping bags on board, pissed off again, especially so after seeing others with their bags and then couldn’t get back down to the “garage” to get ours! They do have a “thing” about people sleeping on the floor however we had paid for an “air seat” (reclining seat) and in that area EVERYONE slept on the floor…..weird rules!

Us at the Acropolis
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Got a big rough in the middle of the night and docked at Chania, north Crete at 5.30am amist pouring rain!