Back to Athens

We got off our ship bright and early Friday morning and were transferred to our hotel in Athens, the Metropolitan. The Metropolitan is a very nice hotel nicely situated in Athens. They are in almost the center of Athens, but yet it is somewhat of a quiet area for the most part. The hotel offers a free shuttle into the city center where there is a huge concentration of shops, restaurants, and museums. This makes it really easy for us to find our own way at our own pace, especially since the next two days are on our own.

Since our room wasn’t ready quite yet, we took the shuttle into town and wandered around for a few hours and then went back to check in and take a nap. Neither one of us had very good sleep on the ship so needed to catch up a little. Afterwards we walked to a restaurant about three blocks from the hotel for lunch. Meal times are very different than the U.S.- we had lunch around 1:30 and that was very early here. Typically breakfast is nothing more than coffee (although we have been given huge breakfast buffets) and lunch and dinner will be huge meals. Lunch will be around 230 or 3pm and dinner is around 10-11pm. So I guess when we have been going our for dinner, the Greeks must think we are having a late lunch. Either way, that just means when we are ready to eat- it is not busy in the restaurants which is nice actually.

This evening we opted in to join a dinner group going to Psiri. The tour company organizes these optional dinner evenings for an extra cost and they arrange a menu with a good local restaurant in a different part of town and offers it the tours. We have done a couple and they have been some of the best meals we have had and well worth the money- especially since they are inclusive of beverages (wine, soda, water- yes, you typically pay for water over here). Last night was phenomenal, to say the least. To each big table they delivered about 10-15 different appetizers to sample from salads, to grilled mushrooms, to cheeses…etc. They kept bringing bottle after bottle of wine, and again more food. After appetizers we were so full, but knew what was coming next. They then brought out these huge platters of grilled meats; pork, chicken, beef, sausage. All were topped with grilled pita bread, fried potatoes and a bunch of other stuff. What was really neat about this place is that there were so many different foods that what we have been eating at other places so it wasn’t like we were getting the same things over and over. Dessert we have this chocolate cake, with ice cream and fresh fruit, and more wine. But then the most difficult part of the evening was walking back to the bus after having consumed all that food and wine. The streets in Athens are very tiny and busses are allowed on the main streets because they are big enough, but the majority of these local streets are not wide enough for a bus to get through so walking is involved- which is typically not a big deal.

Falling asleep after yesterday and especially the dinner was not hard  Saturday is our last day in Athens and we have a lot to pack in! I can’t believe we have to back home in a day….