Today was a travel day. We left our mountain retreat this morning and drove three hours to the marina, just outside of Athens, where we will pick up our boat on Saturday. We dropped off a suitcase and a backpack there. They will hold them for us until Saturday. Since we’re dropping off the car at the airport we didn’t want to drag the stuff into the city and then back out to the boat.
After the marina we went to the airport, dropped off the car, and took a taxi to our apartment. Terri and Joanne and Mike and Kay are flying in tomorrow so we need a three bedroom apartment. Our apartment is very spacious and well appointed. It’s in the Plaka district, which is at the foot of the Acropolis. According to Rick Steves, it is “one of the only parts of town that has a vibrant atmosphere and an Old World feel.”
We dropped off our stuff in the apartment and went out for a late lunch/early dinner. We found a place not too far from the apartment. After eating we wandered a little so that we could see the Acropolis. It was hard to really get a sense of it but it looked majestic up on the hill.
Then we came back to the apartment to do some laundry. It took us a while to figure out using google translate which bottle, of many, was laundry detergent and how to work the washing machine. I haven’t mentioned the Greek letters but, of course, everything is written in Greek. Rick has memorized most of the letters and he can sound things out, but I’m not so good at it. Only problem is sounding things out only helps if you know the Greek word.
After starting the laundry we went back out to find a supermarket. The first one we tried to go to was not where google said it was so we found another one much closer to the apartment.
There were lots of people out and the city seems quite alive. Unfortunately there seems to be a lot of homeless people, a fair share of poor people begging and a number of refugees that have arrived from afar. Rick bought some apricots and a little girl came over to ask for one. We gave her three, one for her, one for her sister, and one for her mother. We also saw the row of bedding in the picture below. A sad reflection of the economic hardship the country is suffering through and the immigrant crisis.
By now it was 8:00 so we returned to the apartment and relaxed a little.
Here is a map from today.
