While searching for flights to Cairo, we found that it's cheaper to fly from London to Athens, Athens to Cairo, rather then flying direct. So since Alicia's never been to Greece and Rich has never been to Athens, we thought this was the perfect opportunity to check out this city. Wanting to have the most time possible in Egypt, we decided to stay in Athens for just one day. We were told by a few people that's enough time to see the major sites. They were right!
We arrived Friday night, 17 Oct. It was an OK flight and transfer into city centre, blah blah blah. However, as a learning point for the future, we now know to write down the name of the hotel we've booked before actually arriving in the country. It took 30 minutes of messing around on the internet to figure out where we were staying and how to get there.
After lugging our backpacks 15 min. from the train to our hotel, we learned two things. 1. We hate our backpacks (Way too heavy), and 2. The center of Athens is a pretty dodgy area. However, we were pleasantly surprised to be greeted by a guy at the door saying there was a burst watermain outside so they had arranged for us to stay at a better hotel - nice. If the Balacassa hotel is genuinely better than the other one then thank god for small mercies.
On our only day in Athens we hit the main tourist spot: The Acropolis. There's probably a lot more to see in Athens of course but without a guide book we stuck to the basics. One thing we couldn't find on our tourist map was the Parthenon, which we eventually figured out was actually part of the Acropolis. The place is amazing and the views are fantastic. (Check out the photos)
Next day we woke up early and said good bye to Greece. Although, not before having all our suntan lotion taken away at the security check. (Well done Rich for packing it in the hand luggage)
