Arrival in Athens

My alarm went off at 4.20 and I had a cup of tea and was ready downstairs at 4.55. The shuttle took me back to the airport and the flight was good – landed in Athens at 12.10 Athens time. Flying over Greece was an amazing experience. It looks like nothing I’ve ever seen before – very burnt and brown, almost Middle Eastern. We also flew over Venice and some amazing tall and snow-capped alps.

After going through security, I picked up a map, collected my luggage and found the train station and found the right platform for metro trains to Monastiraki. I met a lovely old man while waiting and we carried on a nice but stunted conversation all the way to the stop before Monastiraki. I got off and found the hotel with a minimum of fuss, using my map and compass. Central Athens was a bit of a shock being very hot, smelly, somewhat shabby and with erratic traffic. The hotel was very flash and AIR CONDITIONED.

I did some unpacking and then Lena arrived. We were both hungry so we had a little walk in Psiri and had a fantastic plate of Greek hors d’oeuvres. We then checked out a shopping street, went into a large church with scaffolding on the outside and art decoration in gold leaf, and were spellbound by the Kapnikarea church on Ermou. We had bets on how old it was – I think she guessed about 500 years old and I guessed much older. We headed back to the hotel for the 7pm Top Deck meeting. John, the tour leader, gave us some information about the tour and a potted history of himself, took our details and we met some of the people. I asked him about Kapnikarea and he didn’t know how old it was but said he’d find out. I went with a group of girls for a meal at a taverna nearby. The others went out afterwards but I went to bed and read.