Leaving Athens
Trip Start
May 18, 2007
1
10
12
Trip End
May 31, 2007
Athens,
Greece
Sunday, May 27, 2007
We had breakfast at a leisurely pace and packed, leaving our stuff in the lobby. We wanted to explore some of the big department stores nearby, and I was keen on buying some Greek fashion. We set off around 10, and had coffee at a streetside cafe along the way, serenaded by the inevitable 'Never on Sunday' made famous by Melina Mercouri. Littler a enjoyed the music and jigged along, swaying her hips the best she could from her pram.
It was an incredibly hot morning and we were looking forward to reaching the cool, airconditioned confines of a big store. We had promised little A lunch at McDos and accordingly, he was hungry by noon. We stopped at a biggish McDos by Syntagma Square and got him his burger. There was nothing much vegetarian there, apart from the fries (and I'm not sure what oil they used) and a Greek Salad which was truly awful. Actually all the Greek Salad I've had on this vacation has been awful, primarily due to their habit of pouring in at least an inch's depth of olive oil dressing, and thumping an inch thick wodge of Feta cheese on top. I've had much better here in Delhi.
Anyway, we finished lunch and headed out for Attica, supposedly the biggest department store in all Greece only to be brought up short. All the shops were closed. It was Sunday! I knew that guy playing 'Never on Sunday' on his accordion was trying to give me a message.
Totally pained by this we went back to Adrianou for some aimless trawling up and down - since we had had to check out of our rooms. Adrianou is well worth a visit, even if one is trying to avoid tourist traps, for its selection of stuff. I don't have the tags now but M and I bought these wonderful wraps from a store that seemed to specialise in wrap-pey clothes which looked incredibly chic and cool and also very Greek. They also had these amazing jersey dresses that were double-layered and very stylish. Another shop had an incredible collection of glass lamps including some from Murano, several of greek origin and the selection was fantastic. I wish I could have found a way to buy some of them and bring them home. One shop had a nice and very affordable collection of jewelry, including murano glass pendants and earrings, as well as lava rock jewelry and various other fascinating pieces. One bar had a whole wall set with brilliantly coloured bottles, all more or less the same size. The bar was dimly lit so the bottles glowed like jewels - red, turquoise, emerald, jade, amethyst, aqua - all together.
A finally succumbed and bought this really large glass plate that the two of us had been eyeing - red and black and white with a streak of real silver down the middle. It was amazingly beautiful and the owner very carefully wrapped it in bubble wrap, before we headed out to the gelateria. We were in the process of paying for the flavours we had picked when A decided to let go of the package and it clonked onto the cobbled road with a sickening sound. I didn't have to look to know that the plate was smashed. Being hot tempered in general, I was totally upset at this and A and I had a flaming row in the middle of the street. 150 euros down the drain.
Once I got over it - the advantage of a hot temper is that it cools down fast - and we had made up, A insisted on going back to the store. Unfortunately that was the last plate of that design in that size, so we had to settle for a smaller one. Equally lovely but not as dramatic. The owner double bubble-wrapped it this time and threw in a discount and a free candlestand, which was really nice of him.
Little A and I also spotted some nice hats. I love hats so I bought a beautiful ivory coloured straw and little a got himself a blue cotton one which makes him look as if he's going fishing any minute.
When we got to the airport, there was no one at check-in for ages, which was strange. All our get there 2 hours early turned out to be a bit pointless, since the staff only came in about 45 minutes after we had queued up, but they were efficient.
There was a nice large food court place at the airport and we supped there since we were going to be landing at Istanbul at close to ten o'clock. A and I discussed that we had a nice feeling of anticipation about Istanbul - somehow, we had felt at home there in our brief few hours in transit and were really excited about finally being able to visit a city we had been dreaming of since we first heard the words Constantinople or Orient Express...
