Part 1 - Athens

Our trip from mid-October to early November (24 days) had been in the works since 2019. We booked a Mediterranean cruise from Rome to Barcelona (10 days) for the Fall of 2020, which of course, was cancelled due to COVID. It took all this time to get the same itinerary at the right time of year, so we had been looking forward to it for a long time! Our friends from Ottawa, Don and Cathy, heard about our cruise and said “can we get in on this” so I booked them to go with us! Then, Don suggested we go to Greece too. It had never occurred to me, but why not? so we added 5 days in Greece to the start of our itinerary.

We took the overnight Air Canada direct flight from Toronto to Athens. We were in Premium Economy and the seats were incredibly uncomfortable -I’ll bring a cushion to sit on next time! There was adequate legroom, an unengaged staff and not enough of them. For no apparent reason, there was no drink service prior to the meal and no drink refill for ~ an hour. The meal was good, but the salad was awful. The in-flight entertainment was excellent, so I had no need to play downloaded items from my tablet. All in all, Air Canada suffices if you can’t get a direct flight on another airline.

We arrived in Athens on time and I managed to sleep a few hours on the flight. We had booked a driver through the hotel and that worked out well. After lots of research, Cathy and I had booked us at the Grand Hyatt Athens. It’s a beautiful hotel in a noisy district, although all of Athens seems to be noisy and traffic is horrendous everywhere. The front desk was understaffed on a busy Sunday, so while we waited for our rooms to be ready, we went to the 8th floor restaurant for lunch and drinks- which were very good but super expensive. The prices were likely due to its view of the Acropolis!

https://www.hyatt.com/grand-hyatt/en-US/athgh-grand-hyatt-athens

Transport in Athens: Ubers were plentiful but they’re actually ripoff artist taxi drivers – many wait staff told us this, and we experienced it as well. We were only in Athens for 2 days, otherwise we’d have learned their public transit system.

Our main reason for going to Athens was to see the Acropolis. Here’s an overview:

“The Acropolis is an ancient citadel, a rocky hilltop in Athens, Greece, that served as the religious and political heart of the city, housing iconic structures like the Parthenon, Erechtheion, and Propylaea, representing the pinnacle of Classical Greek architecture and a symbol of Western civilization, now a UNESCO World Heritage site. The word "acropolis" literally means "highest point of the city. The Acropolis refers to the entire complex of structures on the hill, while the Parthenon is a specific temple within it.”

We booked the tour through Viator, who described the tour as follows:

“Overview

Maximize your time in Athens with visits to the city’s major sites during this small-group guided tour. Perks include skip-the-line access to the Acropolis, so you can spend more of your trip sightseeing than waiting in lines. Stop by the National Library of Greece, the Ancient Agora of Athens, Plaka, the Panathenaic Stadium, and more during this exciting tour. Note that entry to the Temple of Poseidon is not included.

A perfect choice for first-time visitors to Athens
Watch the changing of the guards at the Royal Palace
Great for first-time visitors who want to see the major sites in Athens
Enjoy skip-the-line access at the Acropolis”

Off we went on a rainy Monday morning in a Mercedes Sprinter bus. It drove us about 5 minutes to the Acropolis site and then later on the City Tour. The walk up to the Acropolis on wet stones was exhausting and perilous at times, but that really couldn’t be helped. Don’t go there unless you are in good enough shape to walk up and down steep inclines on slippery stones for at least an hour. The site is beautiful and so impressive.

Our Guide was an expert in ancient history and passionate about philosophy – he was over the top in his presentation, which could be somewhat aggravating, and he didn’t really include standard information like how the temples were built, how the materials were sourced, etc. – we could have asked those questions, but by the time came for questions, we’d kind of had enough of the guide. The City Tour guide, Athena, was charming and knowledgeable. One of our stops was at the Changing of the Guard at the Parliament Buildings, which again, was less than it could have been due to the rain.

Here’s the video of what happens there on a Sunday in good weather: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTVVUqKfIYQ

And here’s the video I took of what happened on a rainy Monday at noon.

So how was the food? We didn’t really try any Greek food in Athens – we found a great place called Ciao Italia restaurant which was about 7 min walk from the hotel. We discovered it because we couldn’t find our way to the place we’d intended to go to – the waiter at the entrance was helping us find the other restaurant and he was so nice that we started to crave Italian food. The food was beyond excellent and our server, Andreas, was a lovely person who was so attentive with respect to water, wine, and assistance with food choices. Over 2 dinners and one breakfast, this place did not disappoint. Food highlights were strawberry pancakes, the granola bowl, huge croissants- either plain or filled with scrambled eggs, the green salad which was huge, loaded with mixed greens and other fresh veggies, and in a gorgeous pesto dressing. Pizzas and pastas were also spectacular, as well as all the wine selections in small bottles.