For those old enough to remember, Grecian 2000 was a hair dye just for men. Stupid title, I know but once I got it in my head, I couldn’t come up with anything else!
Vintage Hair Dye
As many of you know, I travel quite a lot with my blog wifey, Boo. We have done Poland, France, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, Slovakia, Lithuania, Portugal, Austria and hopefully there are more to come!
Now it was the turn of Greece. Somewhere I was really excited to go.
I have already been to Athens before. However, I was 12 years old on a school cruise, sailing around the Mediterranean on the Epirotiki line.
School Cruise
The ship sailed from Pireaus, the harbour in Athens and spent around 12 days sailing before its return to harbour. To be honest, we didn’t get to see much of the City and it is so long ago now, I can’t remember if we even went up to the Acropolis or saw it from a distance!
Ask me what I saw in the other places we visited, Heraklion, Knossos, Jerusalem, Cairo, Istanbul etc and I could recite chapter and verse. I just don’t recall much about Athens.
So, in less than two weeks, Boo and I will be arriving in Athens for 6 days staying at the wonderful Acropolis Hill Hotel set close to Plaka, Syntagma square and Monastiraki and right under the Acropolis!
View from the hotel
We obviously have a list of things to do (as always) which starts with the Acropolis, however we have opted to do that near the end of the stay due to the walk up being a bit brutal!
There are walking tours on the list, museums, street art, and maybe even a boat trip to Aegina which is a jewel of an island around 40 minutes from Piraeus by ferry. Prices start at €16 return journey so not bad at all!
Flying Dolphin
Looking at all the tourist information there are 111 restaurants within a 0.3 mile area to our hotel so there should be a plethora of choice, especially as Boo has struggled for vegetarian food in some Countries we have visited in the past, notably Portugal!
Vegetarian Cuisine
Those who read about our Lisbon trip may recall that I stupidly didn’t check the weather forecast before travelling and had all the winter clothing that I usually take on our trips. Portugal was warm and sunny and I had thermal insoles in my boots.
This time, I have been sensible about it and checked and boy, am I glad I did!
Smashing Weather ahead
Out with the wintery clothing and in with dresses, sandals and sunglasses!
To say I am excited about the trip is an understatement.
I love Ancient Greek history. The Gods and Goddesses, The Wars and The Legends. Last year I purchased Stephen Fry’s ‘ Mythos’ on Kindle and Audiobook and spent many long journeys listening to the dulcet tones of Mr Fry reading to me.
Audiobook time
It was sublime.
Recently I have started re-listening to the book in readiness for the trip. It takes a number of hours to get through the whole book, so a flight to Athens which takes approximately 3hrs 40m would be an ideal time to listen further to the tales.
Anyway, moving onward I had started talking about that list of where we intend to go. The Acropolis Museum, The National Archaelogical Museum, Agora, Monastiraki Flea Market and the Changing of the Guard at the Parliament to name a few.
Acropolis Hill Hotel
Now it may seem that six days would be enough to see everything on the list plus more, however Athens is chock full of cultural sites and sights. So we may be struggling to get it all done, but I think we will give it a jolly old go!
Anway, we fly out on the 25th February so watch this space!
Until then
SPSG xxx