On my last day there, I woke up at 6AM and caught the 7AM ferry, a small Flying Dolphin (foreground), to the port town of Aghios Konstantinos on the mainland. The trip took 3 hours, and the sea was calm. A ferry company bus was there to meet the passengers and drive us the 2 1/2 hours to Athens.
Once again, I had a nice experience with a local. The bus driver, Yannis (John) dropped everyone off at Kaningos Square in the center of Athens. I asked him where the Hilton was and he said "if you wait a minute, I'll drive you a little closer". The other 50 or so passengers disembarked and collected their luggage, and Yannis proceeded to drive me to my hotel in my own "private" motorcoach. What a nice guy!
Speaking of the Hilton, my room was awesome! Private balcony, top floor, down comforter and pillows, flat screen TV, mini-bar, marble tub, AIR conditioning, olympic size pool, oh and did I mention the view? I overlook the pool and the ACROPOLIS!!!!!!
It doesn't get any better than this. I also took my first hot shower in 4 weeks ;-) Here's my "mobile office" in Athens with the Acropolis in the background...
No trip to Athens would be complete without a trip to the Plaka, Athens' shopping and flea market area. After spending the afternoon poolside, I walked the 2 miles to the Plaka. It was a piece of cake after hiking the hills of Skopelos. The streets are lined with lively outdoor cafes, food vendors selling fresh coconut, cherries, spices and more, stalls where they sell leather, olive oil soap, local honey, furs, icons, clothing, jewelry and all things Greek. You can also buy replicas of ancient Greek artifacts. For about 75 cents, I bought a big bag of fresh cherries for dinner and then I finished my souvenir shopping.
There are street musicians, henna tattoo artists, and the darkest men I've ever seen selling knock-off purses, CDs and sunglasses. They sell their wares on a blanket on the ground and gather them up and disburse when the police come. Bargains abound. There are typical junky souvenirs, but also hand made jewelry, leather sandals, "evil eye" charms to bring good luck, decorative stone eggs, you name it. A number of street vendors were selling necklaces with a person's name "written" in wire. I bought one, told the man my name, and he quickly created it right before my eyes using wire and needle-nose plyers, then attached it to a leather cord with a clasp. Not bad for 5 Euros. Talk about hand-made!
The narrow alleys of the Plaka are filled with shoppers and vendors and it's always been my favorite part of Athens. It's near the harbor too. There are ancient columns and ruins nearby, and the plaka is built right around and on top of them. Here are leather and souvenir shops...
All in all, it was a wonderful way to spend my last night in Greece.
The next morning, I took a 2 mile stroll to exchange my remaining Euros for $$, then hopped on Athens' clean, modern metro for the 25 minute trip to the airport. Security was a breeze, my Delta flight to Atlanta left on time, and twelve hours later, I arrived on US soil and went through customs. Only one more leg to go to get to Wilmington and I arrived, exhausted, around 2 a.m. Traveling abroad is great, but Dorothy knew what she was talking about when she said "There's no place like home." Especially when home is Wrightsville Beach ;-)
No comments:
Post a Comment