After several connecting flights we finally arrived in Athens 35 minutes earlier than scheduled to land. Now that’s a very rare but welcome outcome to a long flight!! Our friends had already arrived ahead of us and had been at the Hotel Melia for a couple of hours.

For this trip I’ve named our friends Lord Lunchalot ( every fb entry seems to have Troy lunching some where) and Gorging Gonzo (has ability to eat his way through the days). Throughout this and other blogs on this trip either name or initial (LL or GG) may be used for them, depending on how I feel. For those familiar with my blogs LL is our friend who temporarily resides in Toronto and has accompanied us on our NY trip several years ago. At that time I described him as our Ninja. GG travelled with us 5 years ago to Greece for our wedding. So there you have the 2 extra characters who may feature in these next few travel tales.

Now that’s sorted let’s get back to Athens……that grand old lady of civilisation.

For this trip we chose to stay at the Melia Hotel, there had been good and bad reviews not for the hotel but the area it was situated in. However this was my 5th visit so I know Athens is old, a little on the decrepit side, dusty and dirty in some places….but it goes along with the character of the place. Athens IS OLD……the Parthenon was built in 447BC to replace an existing temple….the city was inhabited long before that so don’t come to Athens expecting an amazing new city. On the fringes you’ll find the newer sections with many resorts but for character and the real Athens come to the centre, to the Plaka and the streets around the Plaka. Wonder at the expertise of the early builders, plumbers and, of course, the law makers, doctors and mathematicians. Civilisation began in this area. The grand old lady says “take me as I am, no airs and graces, no massive skyscrapers big and better than anyone else, I don’t need that”. “I am central to the start of civilisation and the Olympics”.

I made a last minute decision to book a taxi to pick us up from the airport, the Company was Welcome PickUps and was a normal taxi but prearranged so we didn’t have to wait in line. Stepping into a cab at Athens airport to City was 35€ and the prearranged taxi was 38€ so not too much different but worth it not to have to stand in a taxi line. Our driver discussed the issues of the Greek economy the world has been hearing about…..putting some things into presepective for us. Mainly the facts around only being able to withdraw 60€ a day from the banks and ATMs. This is cash however they’re still able to pay all their bills and rent/mortgage via the Internet banking. The driver said unless you have to visit the doctor a couple of times a week 60€ a day is plenty.

The 40 minute drive to the hotel passed quickly and we were soon standing at the check in desk. The desk clerk gave us our room keys and a number of vouchers as well as our 2 companions room numbers. We dropped our bags in our room, had a quick shower, changed into our cosies and headed to the rooftop pool and bar area where we found Lord L reclining on a day bed with his book. GG was in his room resting! He met us at the pool area a short time later. We had a swim and sat by the pool till closing time – the pool closed at 6pm to allow time for it to be changed into a dining area from 8pm. We showered, changed and met back at the rooftop restaurant at 8pm for dinner. I had prebooked a couple of weeks before the trip thinking we may be jet lagged and not wanting to head out into the streets trying to decide on a restaurant for dinner. The food was good and the waiters were very pleasant. A very relaxing evening. Met a young English fellow from Essex who was with his partner, after a chat with us he decided he and his partner should join us so off he went to bring him over…..they never came back…we assume his partner didn’t fancy a chat with 4 Aussies and we were fine with that as we were contemplating heading to our rooms.

In bed before 10pm.

Up early the next morning, Saturday, for the whirlwind tour of Athens and it’s highlights primarily for Lord  Lunchalot as he is the only member of the party who hasn’t been to Athens before. We left the hotel at 8.15am heading through the outskirts of the Plaka for the Acropolis. A good walk and best done early. We spent about 90 minutes at the Acropolis before deciding it was time for morning tea and finding a spot in the Plaka for fresh fruit salad and ice cream. The fruit here is so tasty ….. all fresh not refrigerated. The frappe wasn’t too bad…..Greek coffee is way too strong for me so I added some ice cream…a little better and drinkable.

Ok, time to move on to the next highlight….Lycabettus Hill and St Georges Chapel. At night this landmark is lit up as much as the Acropolis. We would not be walking this one….this landmark is much higher than the Acropolis. Taxi was the only way up!! Unfortunately 3 men and a lady in a small taxi make for a squishy ride. I, of course, was seated in between 2 men in a Skoda sedan. Thank goodness the distance wasn’t too great nor did the driver speed. Seat belts are not mandatory which was just as well because there was no way I could’ve put a seatbelt on.

View of Lycabettus Hill from hotel roof top

The taxis can only go so far up the hill then the is no choice but to walk the rest. The face was $6 euros – quite reasonable. We had asked at the hotel how far it was and the best way to go….he said “you could take the train to Omonia Square station then walk for 25 minutes but in this heat taxi is best”. We weren’t going to argue with that!! After the drive we all agreed 25 minutes was a gross exaggeration – more likely to be 1 hour and 25 minutes if I managed the first steep incline. As it was it took 15 minutes, from where the taxi dropped us, of climbing stairs and winding corners on this goat trail to the chapel so another 10 minutes back to Omonia Station would have had to be by helicopter. Oh, there was a sign that said cable car available from Kolonaki to the chapel return….we thought we might take the cable car down.

The chapel is perched on the very top of the mountain and leads to thoughts of how the materials were transported here for the build and why someone would even build a chapel up here. The scene below is well worth the visit and a leisurely lunch extends the time a visitor has to take in all the views.

We had lunch at the K Grill a few steps below the chapel, not sure it was a healthy lunch but the souvlaki was good, LL’s Greek Salad looked appetising too and I can’t list the items GG ate – as his name suggests every meal is a feast for him.  Whilst having lunch we noticed a man leaning over the small wall that surrounds the church and helps protect people from falling.  As I looked closer I realised he was having a partial body wash using a hose. One way to cool down I suppose….although the way he was leaning over he would  definitely had a blood rush to the head. That would have made me dizzy and over I’d go….all the way to the bottom!!

Church of St George. Look closely for man using hose to wash.

Lycabettus Hill is the highest point in Athens at 277 metres above Athens city centre. The Church of St George, built in 19th Century, stands at the very top. I mentioned the cable car earlier ……well, we couldn’t find it ….a few signs but no actual cable car. I assume everyone preferred to walk it so the cable car became obsolete lol….or it never existed.

After lunch we made the journey back to where the taxi had dropped us….we passed a number of people heading up the stairs that were a little heat distressed, we gave them words of encouragement to help then reach the top…words such as ‘not far now’ or ‘ just a few more sets of stairs’ and ‘ you’ll love the views once you recover from the climb’…..not sure our words were always welcome but we tried!!!

Hmm, no taxis at the bottom so we walked a little further along hoping one would be parked under a tree just waiting for us. No such luck… We sat for awhile then LL said ‘Oh, wonder if they have Uber here’. ..he uses Uber in Canada so he checks and, yes, they do. Lord L sent a text and our Uber taxi was on it’s way. I was hoping for something a little larger than a Skoda but, no, here I was squished in the middle again!!!

Next stop was the Panathenaic Stadium, the hosted the first modern Olympics in 1896. The cost of the taxi ride was €4.20….. but the savings in time and to our legs was enormous. It was time for taking photos of us on the dais…deciding who should be at 1st wasn’t too difficult …I stood there and refused to be moved whilst the others jostled for position on 2nd or 3rd. At one stage there was one with a foot on first and one on second. We asked other tourists to take our photos whilst we performed different actions for the photos. One young couple who we had already photographed on the dais a couple of times saw our antics and came back to do the same thing, then others also copied us. Next it was time for the 3 men to compete in track and field….well no point in a pic of someone standing stock still looking like a statue – may as well make the pic interesting! We wandered around the Stadium for an hour until the sun beating down on our heads forced us to consider heading to the nearest cafe for a cold drink. We were the only customers and the language barrier took a little time to sort out each coffee choice. Cold coffees, unless espresso or Greek, seem to be the easiest to get. Fortunately 3 of us chose cold and GG decided on a cappuccino which took almost 10 minutes longer than ours.

Panathenaic Stadium

It was now after 4.30pm so time to head back to the Hotel for a swim, shower and get ready to head back to the Plaka for a wander round the markets and shops before dinner. The Plaka was a leisurely 15 minute walk from our hotel.

We decided to dine at Kapyatie Restaurant beside Ydria Cafe where we dined on our last visit. The food was good and the service wasn’t too bad either although the wine I thought I was choosing was positively awful. It was called a Moscato and those of you who know me well know any Moscato on the menu is for me. So we asked if it was a wine with a bit of spritz, ‘yes’ came the reply from the waiter. When the wine was poured and tasted it was a ‘sticky’ not a moscato as I knew it and was not to my liking at all. Needless to say I wouldn’t be falling over after one glass of wine this evening.

I must also say, dear readers, I did not succumb to temptation in the shopping district. I thought about it but I wasn’t interested in souvenirs ……had purchased enough during previous visits. Clothing and shoes are always of interest but thought I’d have a better look tomorrow.

Wandered back to the hotel around 10.3opm….again a leisurely stroll back window shopping as we went. Not a lot of people around once you move out of the Plaka district but felt quite safe.

We have a couple of hours tomorrow before we need to be at the airport for our flight to Santorini.

*************************************

Up a little later this morning, breakfast at 8am , had plans for going shopping, but forgot it’s Sunday and shops do not open in Europe on Sunday’s. Plaka stores are open but it was the ‘normal’ clothing stores I wanted. Missed my chance……so completed my packing, Lord Lunchalot came to our room for coffee. He didn’t have a coffee maker in his room which caused him some distress. Packing process done we moved to the pool bar for a decent coffee combined with some sunshine and Internet time. When ordering the coffee we were told the machine needed 10 minutes to heat up, ‘Ok, we have time’ said LL to the waitress. Twenty minutes later we cancelled the coffee – I had arranged a van to pick us up rather than a squishy taxi. Cost for a new, clean Mercedes van was 80€ …..well worth it between 4 of us.

Our flight to Santorini was leaving Athens at 1.20pm.

This year is our fifth anniversary and so we’re heading back to Santorini…..how time flies and how life can change in a few short years…

So, as I do when we’re on a budget and I don’t want to scare Ty with holiday expenditure too early in the planning phase, I managed to find a relatively cheap business class flight from Sydney to Paris via Guangzhou with China Southern then onto Athens with Aegean. A long trip to Athens but for comfort and cost this was the best option at the time. So it’s a case of “suck it up princess” if we want to travel business class. The flights were booked in October the previous year and once flights are booked we worked on where we wanted to be and what we wanted to do. One of my friends, Lesley, had travelled with CS last year when we met for a few days in Paris and she was happy with the planes and the service, a few others had also flown with this airline.

We arrived at the airport with 15 minutes to wait till check in opened. We had tried to check in the night before, for no less than 45 minutes,and it just wouldn’t let us. We gave up and left it for the check in staff. The check in member had the same difficulty as we did which was good in one way …we knew the problem wasn’t with us! It took him around 25 minutes to get the system to accept us. We’ll accept Ty, it accepted me immediately of course!! We think it has something to do with his first name being consonants and appearing to be two initials T Y. We found this out on MSC Splendida last year when the Indonesian and Pilipino crew read his onboard card and name on the computer as T Y so they would call him T Y…. ‘Hello T Y ‘ ‘Have a good day T Y’. It was amusing.

Our seats this flight are 3 H&K and the second leg we are in 2A&C The flight left 55 minutes later than scheduled departure time. Many other reviews I had read mention the same thing. We received the usual toiletry bag containing toothpaste, toothbrush, comb and moisturisers but also a pair of scuffs for pottering around the plane a drawstring bag to put bits and pieces needed during the flight such as iPods, iPads, glasses etc. beats losing them under the seat when the seat is extended!!! Which is what happened to my book. and glasses😔 There is a little shelf beside the seat that holds the remote control plus has room for other items , thankfully the cabin crew managed to retrieve them for me…..left me a bit embarrassed. It wouldn’t be me if I didn’t have some little mishap….now would it my readers?

Lunch was several courses: chicken soup, salmon and prawn entree and I chose lamb cutlets for main. Ty chose a rump steak for his main. Not sure what happened to my main but it ended up with pieces of pasta that looked like rice, Cabin person was apologetic but I couldn’t remember what was supposed to come with it. A little later she bought me a mini lemon meringue pie as a peace offering. A short time later a fruit platter arrived for each of us and Ty also opted for a cheese platter. I abstained.

Wine was offered with the meal – 2 whites and 2 reds although only one white was available. This one was a little dry for my taste but I still managed to have a glass! All drinks that should be icy cold were warm so a bit to learn there.

After lunch the attendants came around offering water, cup cakes and fruit.

Could hear a slapping sound behind me and thought it odd but maybe someone had dropped something and perhaps it had broken…..eventually, when the noise hadn’t stopped, I took a peak and the young woman behind me was reading a book and the passenger beside her was watching a movie but looking unimpressed. I could still hear the noise and as I went to turn back I saw what it was. The young woman reading the book and what looked like a spatula and she was reading whilst slapping herself with this object.

Not long into the flight an announcement broke the sound of the planes engines and buzz of conversation. ‘Is there a doctor on the flight?’ ‘ If so could you make yourself known to the crew please’. I thought to myself, there always seems to be a doctor on board which to my mind says either we have a large number of doctors per head of world population or all doctors travel more than the average individual.

Very soon a man was brought through into business class and seated in one of the spare seats in row 1. The female doctor was with him as were several crew members. I was very pleased there was a doctor on board because China Southern tend to run late regularly and I wasn’t keen on the plane making an emergency landing in some other country. Trip is long enough already and another delay would not be welcome.Fortunately for all of us the young man was given a little whiff of oxygen and only required one further check.

Second meal of the day, a light meal prior to landing in Guangzhou, was getting underway. We had preordered drinks earlier…no alcohol was offered on the second meal. Just water, juice or soft drink. Ty chose coke light and I an orange juice. His coke was flatter than flat…if that’s possible and the glass my juice was served in was not a clean crisp glass but rather murky and crusty on the outside. I abstained from drinking the juice and as the cabin crew didn’t understand a lot of English left it at that. Tea or coffee was not offered again, as wi the meals we were required to choose all meals and drinks in the first hour of the flight. I don’t mind ordering the meal but would prefer to have the option to choose my drink at the mealtime. I thought this a little strange.

The cabin crew are friendly and efficient and service good and polite but don’t expect exceptional service as they’re not there. CS is only a relatively new player in the market and there’s still some room for improvement if they want to attract a larger share of travellers outside Asian markets.

As our arrival into Guangzhou approached the crew gave us thank you cards. A very nice gesture.

The Sky-team Lounge was very hot, air conditioning only worked in one small section so at 30 Celsius with humidity at 90% it was very uncomfortable in the upstairs lounge area. Thank goodness for the ability to have a shower before boarding the next leg.

It was a long wait for the Paris leg but we chatted to a woman on her way back to Sydney after a 7 week holiday in Europe and, later, to a man from Birmingham who had been working in China.

We knew access to Facebook is banned in China but didn’t realise Google is also banned. We needed to print boarding passes sitting in our gmail account for the Paris to Athens leg but that was not possible. Very odd to think in this technological age that countries would stop their people and visitors from accessing websites!!

We wandered to our gate with plenty of time to find the gate had actually been changed. We turned and headed back in the direction from which we came….a little bit of extra exercise would do us good. The new gate number was downstairs…’I think this means we’re being bused to the plane’ I said to Ty. We stepped onto the escalator that took us to a smaller departure hall crowded with people. There were 6 gates down here and hardly any seats and definitely no air conditioning. It was stifling. We couldn’t find empty seats so we stood for about 10 minutes Ty decided to ask the young airline worker manning the our gate number for the boarding time but he spoke no English. No help there and it was so stuffy we decided to go back upstairs and find a seat.

About 15 minutes later Ty went to check the indicator board to see if the flight was boarding yet…it was so off we trundled back down to the hot dungeon below. The crowds were even worse as we made our way to the far end of the room and our check in counter. There was a small area for business class passengers to stand. After a few minutes we were checked through the gate to waiting buses. Economy class in one and us on another. We were then driven away from the main arrivals and departures area across the tarmac and down a couple of roads to another area where planes sat. We drove by a large number of planes and eventually pulled up at our plane….A330-200. One high set of steps at the back and all the economy passengers lined up at the stairs came into view We were told to wait on the bus for a minute. The airline staff member came back and ushered for us to leave the bus. The economy passengers were stood aside to allow us to head up the stairs onto the plane.

A family with a baby just under 12 months joined our bus and the child was already crying. At that point I wondered whether my ear plugs were up to the challenge of drowning out any screams throughout the 11 hour flight. I really needed to sleep on this leg! The business class cabin on this flight was in 2 sections, thankfully we were in the first section and the baby in second section…the galley and loo separated us. Unfortunately the man of Asian nationality opposite us made disgusting sniffling noises instead of blowing his nose….just disgusting. We did have a small reprieve when he slept for a few hours. There’s something to be said for the first class fully enclosed pods that some airlines have on the A380……unfortunately the cost is prohibitive for the budget conscious traveller and majority of travellers😕

This second left was also late by about 45 minutes.

Breakfast was not too bad this morning…orange juice, cereal (careful not to take in too much milk), French toast, brioche and toast more like a cruskit with strawberry jam and a cup of tea. Only strange thing is they serve the juice and cup of tea at same time. I like my cup of tea (when I drink tea) towards end of meal. As well as the Chinese cabin crew we had a French girl, who had excellent English…made the flight a little easier language wise. When they were clearing our breakfast plates away I hadn’t finished and the Chinese girl went to remove the food I was still eating, French crew member said you must leave it till passenger has finished!!! I know they gave a timeframe for completing all tasks but Even though Ai was enjoying a leisurely breakfast without the water views I wasn’t going to rush it!!

It was very foggy and 16 degrees as we descended into Paris Charles but I’m certain it won’t be at all foggy when we land in Athens later today, Our landing at CDG was very fast so braking was quite sudden – had to push back in our seats…amusing.

Would we travel with this airline again? Most certainly but would only fly with them if stopover was shorter, 6 hours is too long for me, if travelling on to Europe.

Breakfast french toast

Seat/bed