So with that, we packed up and took the metro, and then the train to the airport to begin the next leg of our trip, and another new country to add to the list - Greece!
Everyone I know who has been to Greece absolutely raves about the Greek Islands, so the prospect of spending nearly a whole month relaxing in paradise is really exciting. I'll spend a night in the port town of Piraeus, catch the ferry to Santorini the next morning where I'll spend three nights, then on to Antiparos for just over two weeks and top it off with a fantastic week in Rhodes with the lovely Gina (good friend from NZ who lives in England) and the equally lovely Carla (Gina's sister who's visiting Europe for a month or so).
At Athens airport I say goodbye to Michael, Rach and Jake as they race off to catch their ferry to Andros, and take a long, hot, dirty bus ride to hot, dirty Piraeus.
Upon arriving at the accommodation I've booked on booking.com I'm pretty grossed out by the condition of the hotel. My room reeks of stale cigarette smoke, my sheets have yellow sweat stains on them, the shared toilets and showers look like they haven't been cleaned in weeks and there is no air conditioning so the room is unbearably warm. I decide to just grin and bare it, as it's only for one night and the room was cheap (now I understand why). But when the wifi in my room doesn't work, it's the final straw! Normally something like that wouldn't matter to me when I'm on holiday but when you're in a rough neighbourhood so you don't want to go out at night, the TV is in a foreign language and you want to research the next few weeks of your trip, it was a big deal.
(picture may not be an accurate representation of the room)
I go downstairs complain to the manager and he says there's a problem with the router and there's nothing he can do about it because it's a Sunday. He takes me to another room which is closer to the router and says I can use this room to use my wifi, and go back to my room to sleep. At this point I'm really just wanting to get out of there so I tell him that I need it in my room and if he can't give me a room with wifi then I'm not going to be able to stay there. He just kind of shrugs his shoulders so I leave and try to find another hotel. I end up finding a great hotel about a 10 minute walk away which was doing a last minute deal - half price - so I ended up paying only 10 Euros more for a room which was more than acceptable. Now I just have to hope that I don't get charged for the crappy hotel, as on booking.com if you cancel with two days or less notice you still have to pay.
I'm usually a pretty easygoing person and I have never walked out on a hotel that I've booked online but when you are travelling by yourself I think you have to make sure you feel comfortable in whatever environment you are in and that hotel just didn't feel right. I knew I was going to have a hard time getting to sleep so decided even if it cost a lot more, to move on. Plus, the new hotel even provides a complimentary drop off service to the port!
By this point I was starving - it was about 7pm and I hadn't eaten all day as we'd been rushing around, so I look up Trip Advisor and find the best rated restaurant in Pireaus is an Indian restaurant about a 10 minute walk from my new hotel - so I decide to make my first meal in Greece an Indian feast!
I get there about 7.30 and the restaurant is completely empty - however I am welcomed in and my meal is whipped up for me quickly and it was absolutely delicious. About half an hour later the restaurant is still empty and it's not til I'm walking back to the hotel about 8.30-9pm that I notice restaurants starting to fill up - apparently in Greece everyone eats dinner really late!
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