Monday, September 7, 2015

Greece Day One


We made it! Opa! It's been a really long day though. I'm not quite sure what day my body even thinks it is at this point. Our flight from Toronto was scheduled to leave at 2:40pm Sunday (and we were right on time) but we experienced a Hollywood-like interruption when the lady across the aisle from Jeff needed medical attention. I've got to say, it sure was something to hear, "Is there a doctor on board?" from the pilot. Needless to say we were right next to the drama and the poor lady was not doing well (chest pains). This was all happening just moments before taking off (I mean, we're on the runway at this point!). The plane returned to the gate, fire and rescue entered and she and her husband left. The poor woman! I hope it was nothing serious. I'm glad she got the support as I'd want it if it were me. We ended up delayed an hour.  

The flight beyond that was calm. We had Ipad screens in the seats ahead of us so we watched movies (Pitch Perfect 2 and Inside Out) and played games. It helped the time go by (10.5 hours in total with the flight delay - was long). I took a couple of Gravol at one point after dinner (chipotle chicken with rice, Greek type salad, bun, fudge) which helped me get a wee bit of a sleep but nothing substantial. It's next to impossible to get good sleep on a plane - no comfortable positions, especially after 8 hours.

We arrived to Athens at 8:20am Monday (today - yes, we travelled through time to the future!), found our luggage, made it to air transat bus and got to our hotel - a 45 minute drive from the airport. We had a brief orientation (that was more boring than anything) and then headed out of the hotel because we couldn't check in yet. We wandered through a supermarket on our walk as we always enjoy doing this. We went up and down the aisles looking at everything. It's pretty amazing how much is familiar (nutella, cheerios, tide, pringles, stride gum, activia yogurt...).  And yet there were many items we didn't have a clue what they were. The grocery store was two levels, with Walmart-like items on one level (luggage, clothing, household items) and food below. You had to take a flat escalator down between the floors (I later realized it was flat because people would be pushing shopping carts between floors). There was a whole section devoted to fresh fish lying out in buckets too, heads still on and everything. We were wondering where the funky smell was coming from! We picked up water and chips before heading back outside. Jeff grabbed a Starbucks coffee and I grabbed, what I assume was, spanakopita, which was delicious! Layers of phyllo pastry and cheese and spinach - yum!!  We sat the shade a bit before heading back to the hotel. It appears we are in a grimy part of the city. The buildings sure look run down. Also note, the cross walk man sign changes from green to red immediately - no blinking, no yellow, so they're basically telling you to HURRY UP!

We were able to check in to the hotel when we got back and the room is just fine, nothing special, and not bad. The view though is pretty amazing. All I can see are white, off white or beige buildings that house Athens' 5 million residents (for a country of 11 million, that's a lot!).  There is barely any free land space or natural greenery - just building after building after building. These places are so close together someone could sneeze three blocks away and you'd hear them. It sure is a sight to see. Nothing like home.

Jeff and I fell asleep this afternoon in our room. We're creatures of habit and this disrupted sleep (i.e. Jeff hadn't slept all night) was tough. It's also been 30+ degrees out which is tiring in and of itself. We knew today would be generally low key and we've both been okay with that. We woke at approximately 3pm Athens time and headed to the Penthouse to the pool and bar. It was gorgeous! The lounge for drinks was very pretty, the pool was refreshing and we were totally surrounded by the city (I mean 360 panoramic!). From my lounge chair, I could see a mountain. It was beautiful. The sun was hot and the pool was cool so we spent a couple of hours lounging comfortably. 

We picked up some beer and snacks from the grocery store before grabbing gyros at a shop along the road - they were delicious. We'd have them again easily! 

We've found the computer where I can blog (at least for another day) so we've taken some time to get that done before going to bed for a good night's sleep before figuring out tomorrow's plan. We're in no rush and are going to take our time. We're both looking forward to it.

 
Overall, I think today was a very relaxing way to start our trip - long but pretty low key.

Hope you are enjoying your long weekend!

With love,

Amanda and Jeff

P.S. Thankfully there is English all over the place or we would be doomed! I don't know the names of the letters in Greek, let alone how to pronounce them! We just smile and say thank you, a lot. So far so good.

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