Paulette

Carla and I have a few hours before we fly to Crete.  We go to the Plakka and shop, shop, shop.  Some of the prices are very cheap.  I have limited space in my bags so I’m extra picky about what I get.  I don’t want to overdo it on the 1st day!

After shopping we head back to the hotel and swim/lounge by the pool.  What a relaxing time!

At 5PM we head to the airport.  Our flight is a little delayed and we arrive in Crete about 30 minutes late.  Carla’s friend Eva is there to greet us.  Her husband Manoli and kids Athony and Maria are with them.  They drive us to their place about 30 minutes away.

They live in a small town called Salida (?) in a bungalow on a hill.  They make us feel completely at home.  Her husband has been preparing food for us.  It’s almost 10PM and they bring out “dinner”.  Carla and I are thinking “It’s bedtime.  I’m really not hungry.”  But we sit down anyway to home-made fish soup, greek salad and Mousaka.  Oh my gosh this is so good.  All of the food is either picked fresh from their garden or bought locally.  Everything is organic.  Manoli used to be a chef and he’s an excellent cook.

This is the start of pigging out…

We took a half day tour of Athens today.  We started off by getting on the wrong tour bus.  A tour guide came into the hotel.  We told her who we were and she told us to get on the bus.  We get the best seats up front.  Everything is going so well.

Then once on the bus she asked for our tickets.  We didn’t have any.  Soon she’s telling us we are on the wrong bus.  They let us off at another hotel and tell us someone will come and get us.  Good grief…

We wait at the hotel and this small van comes with GO Tours on it.  Oh no, we are going on this tiny little thing.  The tour guide checks his list and no we aren’t on it.  Now I’m thinking we’ve missed our tour.  

Soon a big GO Tour bus comes along and they are happy to see us.  We sit behind a couple from Montreal.  We talk to them and they tell us they are getting off this bus and getting on a french tour bus.  We can have their front row seats.  They get off and we grab the front row.  Back where we started.  Things are going well.

We stop at one more hotel and oh my gosh I can’t believe it.  It’s the 2 smoking women from the previous night.  They take the seat directly behind us.  They smell like smoke.  Thank goodness they can’t smoke on the bus.

This tour is a good one.  The tour guide has a lot of information and we stop at the modern day Olympic stadium.  It’s beautiful.  We get out and take pictures. 

Our next stop is at the Temple of Zeus.  We get out to walk around and take pictures.  It’s amazing to see all these old sites.  The marble is weathered.   In the distance you can see the Acropolis.

We then head to the Acropolis.  There are tons of people there.  It looks like quite a task to climb to the top but we are assured that it is not.  We go to the Parthenon first and take that in.  It’s a bumpy terrain to walk on.  You have to be careful of your footing. 

We climb up to the Acropolis.  The view is tremendous.  It’s strange to be in front of this old architectural site.  It’s very windy at the top and dust is flying through the air.   We walk around the back and down areas where most tourists do not go.  It is very arid land with little but trees.

The tour ends here.  We are close to our hotel so we walk home rather than wait for the bus.  We were close enough to most of the sites though to have walked there ourselves.   The tour guide gave us a lot of information though.  He was very knowledgeable.

Carla and I took a bus tour of Athens tonight.  It sounded good on paper.  Guided bus tour around Athens with dinner at the foot of the Acropolis in an authentic pub.

Our tour guide was more interested in talking to the driver.  He had little to say as we drove around.  We stopped half-way at a “scenic spot” for pictures.  It was basically a cigarette break.  It was a dirty spot and the view was not great.

We went to a pub at the Plakka.  It’s an old place with live entertainment.  I think the same people have been doing the same signing/dancing routines for 30 years.  The belly dancer had lots of belly but she was very good.

Our dinner was included in the trip.  We sat down at a long table.  Two women sat beside us and immediately lit up cigarettes.  When the food came they continued to smoke while eating!  Bite of food, puff of smoke, bite of food… 

Carla asked them to please not smoke while we are eating.  They didn’t understand english and one of them thought we wanted cigarettes.  She offered Carla some.  YUCK.  Carla responded quickly and motioned with her hands.  They didn’t get the message and kept smoking.  Others went outside to smoke. 

The food was at best cheap cafeteria food.  We ate quickly and left.  It ends up our hotel is very close to the Acropolis, the Plakka etc.  We walked home instead of waiting for the bus.

This is definitely one tour you want to miss!  We have another one tomorrow morning.  Our expectations are not high.

So all the worrying about the Lufthansa strike was pretty much for nothing.  The planes left pretty close to their scheduled departure times.   The trip from Frankfurt to Athens was a little tense for a bit.  The time to embark passed and there was no plane on the tarmac.  Eventually they bused us around the airport, past the cargo planes onto the runway at the back and we boarded from there.  The one good thing is that it was close to the runway so no taxiing to get going!  Once in the air all was normal (except for the really, really big woman sitting next to me).

I met up with Carla in the airport in Athens.  What a relief to finally be here!  We hopped into a taxi and blabbled non-stop all the way to the hotel.  She did very well at Rescue 2008.  She won 2 golds, 3 silvers & 1 bronze medal.  Way to go Carla! 

We quickly changed into our swimsuits and headed to the pool area.  We grabbed our 1st vacation drink - Mai Tai and celebrated.  The pool water was warm.  The air temperature just perfect.  The pool area is done in tile and marble.  It is all so beautiful.

Tonight we are heading out for a dinner tour of Athens.  That should be amazing. 

So far it’s been easy enough.  Most people here speak English.  Certainly at both airports there are English signs and all the personnel speak English.  Everyone has been very friendly.  I asked the bartender at the pool today if it is customary to tip in Greece.  He said it was.  I asked how much - 10%-15% and he replied 8%-10%.  Nice of him to be honest about what they expect. 

I’m still happy that I did carry-on only.  I’ll probably check the luggage in on the way home but at least I had no worries about the ground crew getting behind.

I haven’t slept since I left.  I’ve lost track of Ottawa time already (helps that I didn’t bring any timepieces with me).  I’m hungry for dinner and it’s dinner time here so I think the jet lag missed me.  I’m sure it will find me on the way home.