Tag Archives: Athens

Bloggings, Reviews - Travel, Travel

Honeymoon-Sightseeing in Athens, Acropolis, Plaka, and Protests!

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Today we woke up at 645 so we could be ready to be picked up at 8 for our Athens sightseeing excursion. The bus drove us by many of the sites and then we got out at the new acropolis museum. We had a guided tour through the museum and then we were free to roam for awhile until we walked up to the acropolis. The museum was cool, outside you could see the archaeologists working underneath the museum..here’s a picture.
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The walk to the acropolis was pretty amazing. The sights were so beautiful and a little scary because the marble was slick! We took a lot of pictures.
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And then came down for lunch in the plaka. The plaka was the first place where we had people begging us for money. Mostly children begging. At the restaurant where we ate children would come up to you and play music for money, but the restaurant staff kept kicking them out. It was sad. The meal that I had here though was one of my favorites in Greece, stewed meatballs and rice.

We had the rest of the day to do whatever so we decided to take the tram and go to the coast. It was hard for us to figure out how to pay for the tram but I guess we did it right! We rode to the end but there wasn’t really anything there so we got back on and got off at a marina. The marina was beautiful and had a nice little mall. We left the marina and walked the coast for a bit. We saw people fishing, swimming and snorkeling. It made me want to snorkel!
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Of course on our walk we found cats!
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Then we took the train back to the plaka right in front of the parliament building. There was a protest happening here and it was cool to see. There were tons of police and riot police. Luckily it wasn’t violent.
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Then we walked back to the hotel and started packing. Around 830 we saw a sign saying there would be a strike for cabs and all public transportation the next day. We were a little worried this would interfere with our ride to the airport. Luckily there was a Gate 1 representative at the front desk and she told us not to worry they would send a private bus to pick us up.
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We went to a little place and got some gyros and beer to bring back to the hotel for our last night in Greece. It was the best gyro I’ve ever had; even though I’ve only had a few…it was amazing! It was hard to believe our honeymoon was ending, it was amazing. I never dreamed I would go to Greece for my honeymoon. It was the best experience. After eating we went to sleep to await our 230 wake up call to go to the airport.

Bloggings, Reviews - Travel, Travel

Honeymoon-Mykonos to Athens, by air. Dinner with a view of the Acropolis

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We woke up around 8 today and got packed to go to Athens. While I was packing and Don was in the shower I heard a strange noise. The little orange cat had gotten through our patio door and was hanging out in the hotel room. I loved this cat! He was so cute. We played with the cat for a little while and then went to breakfast. Then we did a little photo shoot with the cat and of our cute balcony. I really loved Hotel Despotiko. Everything about it was great.
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The bus picked us up around 10 to go to the airport for our flight to Athens. The flight was very short, maybe 30 minutes. It was totally worth upgrading to the flight instead of doing the 5 hour ferry ride.

When we arrived in Athens our guide found us and took us to a bus. On the 45 minute bus ride to the hotel she went over things. We checked in and looked around the hotel and then decided to venture down to the plaza. Here’s some pictures of Hotel Stanley and its views. The views from Hotel Stanley were spectacular. The room itself is very basic.
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We were told to take a taxi since the public transportation was on strike, but Don thought we could walk it. He was right; it was no more of a walk from our apartment in Lakeview to Downtown. We went to a restaurant close to the hotel because I was starving. It was pretty good. Then we walked and saw some sites. But we mainly saw shops. We had a beer at one of the restaurants and then walked back to the hotel. It was a good walk. But really Athens is just a city. It is unique though with all of its ruins.

We got back to the hotel and had dinner on the rooftop. I wanted to eat outside but it was so windy so we moved indoors. It was really cool because the Acropolis was lit up so after dinner we took a few pictures of it while having a drink .
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Bloggings, Reviews - Travel, Travel

Honeymoon-Athens to Santorini

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We arrived at the Athens airport at 1020 am. We found our tour guide with the Gate 1 sign and she gave us instructions about our next flight to Santorini. Our flight to Santorini wasn’t until 3 pm so we had a lot of time. It was so boring. I was also getting so cranky. I was tired of traveling and I wanted a shower. We got a sandwich and shared it and waited until we could go to the gate.

We finally went to our gate around 2 and our flight was delayed by a half hour. It was horrible. I was so tired. We were sleeping in the chairs. We used the internet. They had free internet for one hour in the airport. So not as good as Canada….but hey at least you got some free time. We finally got on the plane and we sat on the plane without moving for a long while. When we took off we both fell asleep. We arrived in Santorini around 445 pm.

We took a bus to our hotel and got our travel documents for Santorini. It had a map and a list of excursions we could do and other things we could do on our own. We decided one of the excursions we wanted to do was snorkeling. Once we got checked in we showered. The shower felt so good after all the traveling. Here’s some pictures of Hotel Hermes.
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Then we left the hotel to find food. We saw a little field with 2 goats and an old woman just sitting there. The walk to the beach and main street from our hotel was about 5 minutes. The beach was black rock and pebbles instead of sand. I think because Santorini is a volcano.
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We walked around trying to find a place to eat and there were so many choices. We decided on a place that had a bunch of cats hanging around at it. The cats were cute. Our first meal in Greece was a mixed grill for two that included potatoes, pork on a stick, meatballs, sausage, chicken and lamb.
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It was soooo good. We walked around more after dinner to pick up some water since we can only drink bottled water. I found a Dr Pepper that I plan on having for breakfast tomorrow!!
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On the walk back to the hotel we took a different way and ended up getting lost. We had to ask another hotel how to get to ours. Luckily we were not too far away and we made it back. I think the reason we made it was because of this church…it was our landmark.

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Bloggings, Reviews - Travel, Travel

Honeymoon in Greece begins!

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Today I woke up and ate some more catering left overs. Then we left for Ohare around 9 am. We checked in and talked to the parents about how great the wedding was.

Our flight was on time to Montreal. The plane was so freaken small to Montreal that our carry ons wouldn’t fit above our seats! I made “friends” with an old couple from nearby Lake Geneva. They were going to Rome.

When we arrived in Montreal we had a snack and used their free wi-fi. Why does Canada have all this free stuff?! Our flight to Athens was also on time! It left around 3 pm and was an overnight flight. We noticed when they were boarding basically no one was getting up to get on the plane. The flight was freaken empty! It was awesome. We could lay down in the middle row and sleep.
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We had a dinner, it wasn’t very good. So then I laid down and watched the movie that was on, Unknown. I fell asleep towards the end and woke up and the new Yogi Bear movie was on. I watched some of it but was so tired and fell asleep again and woke up to something about electronics on. This was boring and I fell asleep again and woke up and No Strings Attached was on but it was towards the end. So I fell asleep again and was woken up by a huge bump. I sat straight up and was kind of freaken out. It was bumpy and I started feeling queasy. The rest of the ride sucked and they fed us some breakfast but I couldn’t really eat. And it was bumpy. I was so happy to be on land in Athens. I was also surprised to see how desert-like Athens looked near the airport. Can’t wait to get our honeymoon started!!