Day One Chaos, Lybitticus

Ah Athens!

I used Sun Transfers for a private car service - the driver was very courteous. It was about a 30 min drive to the city.

Overall, Athens is a very clean and safe city. There are many who walk the neighborhoods alone at night and even as I am entering in at 2am, still people just walking along.

So I didn't book my Air BNB for the 27th- wtf

I was under the impression that my host stated that he was OK with me showing up at 2am without paying the day prior, but nope. I find out at 10pm that I had nowhere to go!

So I searched for a shower at the lounges in both airports (Rome and Athens) like I was able to find in Turkey. Rome had one available for it would cost me more than getting a room and you only get 3 hours! SO I booked another air BNB for $25 which had shared common spaces - not really what a 40yo is looking to do but this is what I get.

Come to find out, there weren't any directions on how to turn on the boiler for hot water. So not only am I 48 hours without washing my crevices at a critical time of the month, but now I have to sleep like this after I stood in the cold shower at 3am wondering why water was not getting hot.

Nevertheless, I overslept. Woke up around 11:30am to a lukewarm turned cold shower and moved into my original Air BNB down the road.

Some things to note about Greece:

1. Pedestrians are not very rude (2/4) but Greeks are SUPER nice and friendly regardless of what they keep telling you on SM and TV.

2. Hot water is not readily accessible. You must turn on a boiler and wait 15 mins for it to warm up.

3. Traffic is a little chaotic. They are the masters at being in the middle of the street blocking oncoming traffic when on a red light.

4. Do NOT EVER put toilet paper in the toilet.

5. Never trust a taxi driver. They switch bills on you (l've been victim to this). If you do have to take a taxi over Uber (and even the locals recommend Uber), show them what you have in bills first and let them get the change before handing off. They don't put on meters (which is illegal). Always get their Taxi # prior to getting in. Also, it's the law to give your rider a receipt since it has all the driver's details, but they don't readily do that. Taxi drivers in Greece, as I am told by locals over and over again, they are rude, conniving and political.

6. Food is cheap-ish here. Dinner entrees are around 15-20 euro and breakfast around €10 -15.

Well, I had to rebook some tours since the food tours' one cancelled and rain is to be expected to ruin my boat rides.

At least my Air BNB is nice. It's on the 5th Floor which means (and wish he said this when I asked), you take the elevator up and then walk up another flight of narrow stairs. Nice balcony and views of the acropolis.

1st stop: Black Duck Garden for dinner.

Cappuccino and Nutella/Oreo pancakes 20 euro. Pancakes were not overly sweet so you can indulge BUT it's still heavy.

Black Duck Garden

Cappuccino

Nutella (Oreo) Pancakes

Walked a little down the road and passed by a nearby mall, the national garden, Hadrian gate w/ Temple of Olympian Zeus and the Olympic stadium.

During this walk, I just realizing how many brilliant scholars/philosophers came from Greece. And other than Alexander, no conquests.

More to Note about Greece:

1/2 the population smokes here- and everywhere with no concept on how irritating and unhealthy it is for others.

Now I headed to Lybitticus. The mountain in the middle of the city.

I took a taxi to the cable car (this is super uneventful but an effective way to get to the top). Last time, I had a taxi take me all the way up and down since I apparently missed the last cable car. This is where I got GOT by the taxi cab. You can walk UP the hill if you'd like by the stairs which is a rather good way to come down, which I did this visit. If you take the taxi, note they do surcharge as well. At the bottom of the stairs, there are more taxis and they are reasonable.

There are several places to sit and eat/drink when you get up there. The view is spectacular and you get to see the actual size of the acropolis from afar- it's pretty small overall.

There are cats everywhere!!!! I wish I could spay/neuter them to hold a steady number ugh. But the city hasn't been convinced yet. So expect cats sitting next to you or even ON your table when you go up here. The Greeks do love and respect their cats though - I'll say it's from the Egyptian days :)

When you get up there, there is a reservation that REQUIRES reservations. Skip it! It's just a small space at the same venue and same view. They just put white table cloths down and increase the charges on the same menu you get at the other seats.

The cocktail menu is NOT a fixed menu and when I went, they had none during my visit!

Orizontes:

Seafood Risotto 345

Champagne

Mila Fenris 45

Overall, restaurants in Athens are similar to all other countries EXCEPT for the USA- restaurants don't mind you staying overtime! They don't wait on you hand and foot neither. So if you decide you want something after your entree hits the table, you will need to search for your waitstaff and give them a minute. Also, tipping is extra. Some high end places add to the check but otherwise 0 -3 euro is good for a normal meal.

So this trip, I met up with the guide who took me around on my first visit in Athens. She met me at Lybitticus and then took me out to another municipality to celebrate w/ the mayor and his cabinet. It was a nice vibe, a couple of pervs and the restaurant only served pizza pie and spaghetti: are we in Italy? Well, the pizza didn't taste like! Nice spot though. I really do like the environment here in Athens: great air.

Now back to the Air BNB and I got HOT water! Yes! Now on the balcony looking at the Acropolis lit up at night. Beautiful weather, although it was supposed to rain all day, it never dropped a bullet! Tomorrow, on to an island cruise and hoping I get the same luck.