Athens – November 3 to 8 – Our Apartment

After the wild ride from the airport to Athens via taxi, we arrived at our apartment – home for 5 nights. Our street was narrow, one-way, and very quiet. The area was residential with shops down the hill – of course, everything in Athens is up the hill or down the hill. Very little is flat. The apartment itself was on the 5th floor – American. The flat was spacious with 2 bedrooms, living room, eat-in kitchen but, the best feature was the veranda – it was almost as big as the apartment, stretching the entire length of the apartment with doors that opened out from each room. We had a view of the neighborhood and the sea of TV antennae. At night we had a view of the Acropolis – well – actually it was the top one foot of the Acropolis – it was a little better view if you jumped up!

We shared the veranda with some brazen pigeons and doves. The railing of the veranda was equipped with pigeon-proof netting that the pigeons enjoyed as a comfortable place for perching. In the morning we opened the kitchen door and Elisabeth often sat on the veranda with her morning tea – the doves joined her and sat on the table next to her tea mug – others pecked their way along the Veranda and made moves to join me in the kitchen. Very little deterred them!

One of the best parts of the veranda was watching and listening to life in the neighborhood from adjoining balconies and windows. One morning we watched and listened to a coffee klatch of 7 older Greek women talking, laughing, and probably gossiping – just across the street from us. Other neighbors hung out their washing on balconies. We heard and saw the life of the community from our veranda observation post.
This is why we love to rent apartments instead of staying in hotels – we get to see what life is like. For less than the price of a good hotel we get all of this local color plus the ability to fix our own breakfast and other meals if the mood strikes us. Shopping in the neighborhood stores is another experience we enjoy – even though it means carrying bags up or down the streets.

The only negative about the apartment was the IKEA quality furnishings – oh for a comfortable chair! We survived, however. The first night Elisabeth turned on the stove and all the power went off – figured out how to get the power back on and then learned another burner barely got hot – so we only had a two burner stove – in effect. Fortunately we are adaptable! Greece is somewhere between first and second world in some respects. Every toilet we encountered in Greece – hotels included – did not allow toilet paper in the toilet. (Don’t ask!) Let’s just say that it is best to empty the trash frequently. Sidewalks in Athens are horrendous – must have very few lawyers – the trip and fall hazards would be an ambulance chasers dream at home. Don’t let this deter you from visiting Greece - it is a beautiful country with friendly people!


P.S. No pictures for now - on ship and satellite is so SLOW!