Easy peasy 45-minute turbo prop flight on Sky Express from Samos to Athens. A very small airport and as flight departures are few no passengers ahead of us at security so through that in a flash. As this was a domestic flight no need to suffer passport control at Athens Eleftherios Airport. Our baggage was out in a flash.
Traffic once at the outskirts of Athens begins to build and once you enter Athens centre the traffic is mega congested! Am I in New Delhi?
Our hotel Anthology of Athens describes itself as a “five-star cultural boutique hotel”. It faces the Temple of Zeus and is a stone’s throw away from the Plaka and a short walk to the Acropolis and the Acropolis Museum. It is under the banner of The Leading Hotels of the World. It is a green hotel and uses a grey water system (the first urban hotel in Greece to do so).
All this emphasis on green and sustainable at the hotel yet to the left of the hotel entrance by some 15 feet is an enormous public garbage bin piled over the top with bags grouped around it on the sidewalk oozing some foul-smelling liquid at its base. The hotel staff contribute to this garbage bin so they may be a part of this less than five-star eyesore!. There is a man in tattery clothing rummaging through the bin daily.
We are given a too lengthy and too rapid welcome blurb by the lady at the reception desk but not one of those huge reception desks you find at many hotels…factory like. This is simply a beautiful stand-alone desk.
We paid a princely sum for the Panorama Suite with a Temple View so when I stick my head in the door I say what a living room! No separate bedroom in sight! And they call this a suite? Very small and compact. There are only 9 rooms in the hotel with three more under construction.
Being a starving fellow, I attack the almond cookies in the mini bar area. Delicious!
We head out via taxi to our friend’s flat “for a bite to eat”. The hotel arranges a taxi for us from a company used by the hotel as they have a close trusting relationship with. The traffic is a huge series of twists and turns with inches to spare now and then. The taxi driver swears like sailor and his unmetered fare is 20 Euros. The taxi ride returning to the hotel was 6 Euros…” a close trusting relationship”.
We have known P and T for over a decade. We met them in Samos and became friends. They have a home in the mountain town of Mytilini in Samos and a flat in Athens.
P has laid out a delicious feast, as she always does so much for “a bite to eat”! There are roasted carrots in a balsamic reduction sauce with roasted chickpeas, meatballs, chips and butterflied chicken drumsticks with some Samian rosé wine I had picked at the airport in Samos earlier in the day. A delicious meal and time to catch up.
Most of what I have seen in Athens so far is a collection of neighbourhoods with vibrant nightlife throughout.
