Attalos Athens

Nightmare train journey. Great hotel.

Well, we didn't have time to blog in Naxos. We were only there one day---just enough time to walk on the beach, eat octopus, and shop a little on the streets winding up to the Venetian Castle. We took the ferry to Athens two days ago. Yesterday we saw the Archeological Museum and the Changing of the Guards in Syntagma Square----the little guys with the skirts and pompoms on their shoes, Nancy! Today is our last day of the trip and we climbed up to the Acropolis and walked down through the old...

In general, Greece is not a winter hotspot, and I was initially a bit worried if my traveling companion and I were going to regret not planning this trip in the spring or summer instead. The weather was likely to be kinder, the ferry schedules more frequent, and there would be an increased selection of accommodation to choose from. Several suggested itineraries on greek travel websites are also only available between the months of April and October. Despite all that, like a sailor after drink...

Opa!! How hot can it get? Well, I guess tomorrow we will find out when we arrive in Egypt! Last night Jesus and I met at the airport in Athens, Greece. I was dressed like the scroungy traveler that I have become and I noticed that everyone was wearing sandals and sun dresses. Today, I found out why. Overjoy is the noun that describes our long awaited reunion. I had missed Jesus sooo much when I was in Peru. My wardrobe also changed unexpectantly this morning when Jesus showed me the sundress ...

20th March Time to leave for Greece!! We took a coach from Birmingham to London where we took the Easyjet to Athen airport. The whole journey took us the whole day. By the time we reached Athen, it's already night time. The first thing after we reached our hotel (Attalos Hotel) is to find.... FOOD!! As my roomies and me were so tired from the travelling so we decided to have our dinner in a local sandwich shop, have a quick dinner and back to the room to sleep. 21th March Our first day in Ath...

Hotel: Hotel Attalos. Fantastic view from the roof. Not to mention the endless supply of maps from the friendly and helpful hotel staff. Dec 31st Sites: Acropolis. The entire Acropolis site looked more like a construction yard than an archaeological site. It was interesting to see the place where so many artefacts found in the British Museum hail from. Also when you look at the photo you'll notice Jeff and Marie are in short sleeve shirts. It was only 10 degrees warmer in Athens than it was i...

Attalos Hotel

I promised a post every day, so I think I am managing to fulfill that if you take into account that last night actually didn't happen. Those of you who are familiar with eastbound transatlantic flights, and who cannot sleep on planes, will understand. I love flying -- nothing beats the thrill of a take-off, I love looking at clouds from above and I actually find turbulence soothing -- but it was a 9 1/2-hour flight and I really did want to sleep. Between the excitement of going to Greece, the...

As I looked up at the Akropolis, I thought: "Boy would we get stuff rained down on us if we tried to take that." Kidding, I thought no such thing. It more or less looks like a fortress from below, and now and then over time it's been roughly or slightly fortified to protect from this or that; but it is a sacred space, not a fortress. The Parthenon was a temple dedicated to Athena, and every other building has a sacred purpose. There are more sacred sites all the way up, including two theatres...

Two summers ago Melissa attended a summer session of the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, which is a big part of how she is able to act as a kind of tourguide-on-demand for me, except with a greater breadth of knowledge and depth of insight than your typical tourguide. She tells about how the ancient Agora, or city square, of Athens has been excavated through the work of the American School, starting in 1931. What the school did was gradually buy up all the land and buildings o...