Kalimera Athens

Good morning Athens!

We arrived in Athens on time as did all our suitcases! Wahoo! Immigration was a breezy 4 minute affair but our suitcases took 40 minutes to appear. Oh well...you win some you lose some. By the time we arrived at our hotel, it was 11am. We deposited our bags and walked to the nearby Monastiraki Square to lunch on souvlaki at O Thanasis conveniently located at the end of Mitropoleos Alley. We stayed awake long enough to do a mini exploration of Monastiraki before dead phones brought us back to the hotel slightly earlier than the planned 2pm official check in time. 

Just in case you couldn't tell we were tourists

Yoghurtlou kebab

O Thanasis

Um yes...we were in a material shop so Mal could look at fabric for his Star Wars costume

Athensotel is a very small, no nonsense hotel that did the job. We had Amex travel credit to use, and the hotel was one of the few hotels that wasn't overpriced on the Amex travel site to begin with and came down to market price with the credit...We were glad we booked it. Our room was spacious, clean and comfortable. Most importantly as we later discovered, location was optimal. 

This photo was taken with our door open...our loft apartment had a direct entrance from the street which was next door to the entrance to the hotel where the "normal" rooms were

The mattresses. Comfortable - verified by my brief afternoon nap

The small but clean bathroom

We had about 1.5 hour before our pick up for the 2.5 hour private Tuk Tuk tour that Mal had booked. We booked it because we knew we'd be tired, because we really only had 2 days in Athens to hit all the main sites. because if we didn't force ourselves to go out we'd probably fall asleep when we shouldn't be and take longer to get over jetlag, and because ultimately we really didn't want to walk! I know...we've gone soft in old age. Well it turned out to be the BEST decision ever!

Our guide, Thanasis, was great! He made crazy stops just to get us some food to try. Gave us enough appreciation of the sights that we were seeing and was highly efficient. We covered a lot in 2.5 hours! The full itinerary can be found on their website. The tour did run a little overtime and ended back in Monastiraki Square which was v close to our hotel. We got off with great intentions to have dinner but was too full on snacks. It will be an early night tonight as the whirlwind tour of Athens continues tomorrow with an early start at the Acropolis!

Changing of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier monument. A somewhat complex almost dance like choreography...

Our tuktuk at the law faculty of the Athens University

Yes a coffee stop!

St. Dionysiou Areopagitou, an Orthodox Church 

Walking up to Lycabettus Hill

360 degree of Athens. The acropolis can be seen as well as Piraeus port in the background

Hadrian's arch

The best gelato store in Plaka

The best place for dinner in Plaka

Oldest street in Plaka

Gate of Athena Archegetis at the Agora

Looking back up at the Acropolis

Nancy's Sweet Home in Psiri, a place for those with a sweet tooth

Thanasis bought us samples of the goodies including a drink which tasted suspiciously like a dirty chai

The MOST amazing Falafels ever. Even Jonah the non falafel eater succumbed to the tasty goodness

The four falafels were gone in seconds

We learnt about koulouri today (greek sesame bread). We're now addicted and apparently this is the store that supplies all the cafes. They had 30 bikes (some seenn just outside the store) delivering every day, Cafes have to preoder days in advance

One of the many reasons we were so full

And the tour ends back at Monastiraki Square

A little souvenir from Thanasis from a vendor who he knows makes these by hand