Arrival In Athens, Greece

We are in Athens, Greece. We arrived about 8:10 AM. Clearing customs was very easy. We showed our passports and had the passports stamped. After getting our luggage, we walked out to the main terminal exits. We found we could take Bus X95 to the end of the line in Athens center. The cost was 3.2 Euro per person. We got our tickets and stamped the tickets on the bus.
The ride was about 50 minutes with NO traffic. From the end of bus line X95 we had to cross middle of the Syntagma Square we crossed to Ermou St. We walked down Ermos to cross to Mitropoleos. I saw the statue in the little square on Mitropoleous. Across from the statue was the entrance to our hotel, Magna Grecia's white marble door way with steps leading up to the reception desk.Almost over the doorway was the time/temperature sign. The owner saw us walk in and came down to carry our luggageup to the desk. We are now sitting in the 3rd floor breakfast/bar area. The owner had the waitress go to a kiosk to get us each a beer. We have free WiFi connection. I am blogging this on our Dell Mini 10. Shortly after 12 noon the owner came for us to take us to our room. We have a nice view of the Acropois and the church square. Good king bed, hardwood floors and large bath the tub and hand held shower. Time to check in.

From the Breakfast area you can see the Acropolis.
All for now. We are waiting to check into our room.
Emily

Travel with Em & Jim

Jim and I lived in the suburbs of Athens, Greece from 1975 to 1976. We lived in Glyfada just across the road from Hellikinon Air Base. At that time it was the "land" without phone service or ice cream. The number of telephone lines in the area was very limited. The quickest way to obtain a phone number was to buy a home or apartment with phone service or inherit the number.
A few of the things we learned while living in Greece: You did not need a phone or TV to live. There was no English Language TV. It was cheaper to eat in a taverna than to cook at home. Marble floors are very, very slippery. Sunny warm Athens, Greece is very cold in February with snow on the ground.
It's been almost 34 years since we first arrived in Greece and we are looking forward to revisiting Athens and also visiting many of the islands. Driving in Athens was an experience 34 years ago, but I will not be driving a car this time in Athens. We will be walking and using the Metro for our travels in Athens. There was no Metro when we lived in Athens, but we did use the public buses.It will be interesting to see the many changes in Athens. To travel to the islands we will be on the Star Clipper. The Star Clipper is a very large real sailing vessel carrying about 170 guest. This will be a big change from the 19 foot O'Day day sailer we had in the Glyfada Harbor.