Travel from Napflio to Athens, Greece
Well today I was not in too big of a hurry to get going but wanted to get a decent start on the day. Buses from Napflio run to Athens pretty much every hour so I was not too concerned about getting here today. I managed to drag myself out of bed early enough to hop on the 1000 bus. I ran into Lorne and Sue again (the couple from North Bay). They were also heading to Athens but not until much later and then they head back to Canada the next day.
I ended up on the bus next to this nice German lady…who now lives in Greece…..and also owns a home in Prague. She was off to Athens for a spa day and was all excited to hear about my trip. She spoke very good English so was very helpful and told me all kinds of interesting things…..I can only assume they are true. She showed me some pictures of the foster kids she takes care of in Cambodia. One of them just finished her nurses’ training and is now doing an international nurse training course so that she can work overseas (and I mean North America). Naturally I sent her to the Canadian Embassy to get info about her going to Canada to work.
A random street in Athens.
I made it to the bus station in Athens and tried to figure out where I was in relation to everything else but could not. That's my mad navigation skills at work once again. I decided to hop in a cab because they knew where to go. Funny though because the guy put my stuff in the cab and then put me in the cab….and promptly disappeared, and then reappeared with 2 other ladies going the same way. I guess they like to fill cabs before they leave on the long journeys south. I made it to the hotel just fine though. I mentioned that Athens was going to be expensive because it is one of the cities where I am using Deb’s family/friends discount at the Marriott. Of course discount means about half the price that most people would pay…..but still expensive compared to other hotels. I don’t really care though, I will be thoroughly enjoying the king sized bed over the next few nights. I think the bathroom in this room is bigger than the entire room in the last few hotels I have stayed at. Of course the paperwork from Debi was not there although Deb faxed it early so the hotel would have it when I arrived. They are giving me until I check out to get it or else my price will go up. I am sure Deb will send it again with no problems and hopefully this one will not get misplaced.
I have found many names for this structure including The Tower of the Winds (the most common name), Kyristus' Clock and horologion (timepiece). It was built in the 1st or 2nd century BC (depending on what you read and who you talk to). It is a combination of sundials, a water clock and a wind vane. It was a hydraulic clock and can be found on the Roman Agora.
The hotel is a little bit farther from things than I normally stay but I guess I had to trade the convenience for comfort somewhere. Transit is suppose to be really good here so I will have to check that out. Of course since I had no plans today I decided I would go for a walk. The weather is still nice (yes I know I say that a lot) so it will be nice to enjoy some more sunshine as I know it will not last forever. Of course it is me so I walked in the complete wrong direction. I was looking for the acropolis but found the Port instead. That would have been helpful had I needed a ferry but since I did not it wasn’t. So I turned myself around and walked back up the hill, stopped at an internet café to break up the time and then found my way to Plaka, which is just below the Acropolis and full of stores and restaurants and all that stuff. It was after dark by this time but everything is nicely lit up at night. The Acropolis looks very neat in the dark. I look forward to actually visiting it. I think this is the first time since I left Egypt that I walked by a store and someone tried to coax me into look at their “collection”. I got good at ignoring there and am still good at ignoring. I imagine I will need to use those skills again when I get to the bazaar in Istanbul.
Another shot of the Roman Agora.
So I had a great little dinner in Plaka and seem to have formulated a plan for the next couple of days. Tomorrow I plan to walk for a while and see what I can find.
One of the other ruins I found while wandering around after dinner.
Julie
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