Arriving in Athens!

Sunday May 25, was a cloudy, muggy day. with a high of 26C.  Perfect for travel.  Eirini, our host, picked us up at 10:15 a.m. to take us to the ferry terminal.  We were there with plenty of time to board the 11:10 a.m. World Campion Jet catamaran run by Seajets.  It can carry up to 1280 passengers and it was at least 3/4 full.  

The scene at the ferry docks was a bit wild-- cars embarking and disembarking, passengers doing the same. Luggage is left on the car level-- I always take a picture of where we stash the luggage.  The ferry only arrived at the harbour at about 11:00 a.m., yet by 11:12 a.m. the boat was heading out even as people made their way up the stairs to the seating areas.

Seats are assigned and we had a window seat and a middle seat of a row of three.

First level seating where we were

Second level seating

Up to First Class

The Agaean Sea was very calm for this trip- there was some rain along the way.

We arrived at 3:30 p.m. on time at the Port of Piraeus, the main port for Athens and one of the largest in Europe.

Our ferry disembarking

It was about a 10 minute walk to the Metro.  Luckily a young guy who had just gotten off the boat and who lived in Athens was going to the Metro and showed us the way.  Since we were last in Athens in 2017, one of the underground subway lines had been extended to the Port.  It was Line 3 which was the line we had to take to the nearest Metro stop to our Airbnb.

Modern subway station at Piraeus

We are staying in the Pangrati neighbourhood, where we had stayed in 2017.  It is a vibrant, artistic and diverse neighbourhood, with many small bars, cafés and shops.  Mix of old and new housing and not very touristy.

Flowers

It was a bit of a haul from the Metro stop. It also was drizzling on and off as we walked.  About a 15 minute walk on uneven sidewalks often uphill.  We are a bit further east than where we stayed in 2017.   We got the key from the café on the first floor of the apartment building.  We are the only unit on the 3rd floor and there is an elevator.  The apartment has been renovated and is very spacious and clean.

Kitchen area

Living room

View from living room back to kitchen-- lots of light from the windows.

Outdoor deck and awning

Large shower and washing machine in the bathroom

Bedroom with two large closets on one wall

We settled in and headed out to a nearby supermarket.  We passed a lovely bakery where we had to go in and get some cookies.  We will get bread there on Monday morning.

Stavros Bakery

We were both tired, but decided to walk to our old haunt the Chelsea Hotel, which is a wonderful café during the day and a hopping bar scene at night--- even on a Sunday.  It was only a 10 minute walk away.

Chelsea Hotel- wonderful corner spot

Signage from the NYC Hotel Chelsea.  We stay at a friend's place across the street from the Hotel
when we are in New York City.

Negroni at the Chelsea.  We sat inside (no smoking-phew) but all the windows were open,
which was great.  Fabulous music and buzzy scene.

Allan soaking it in.  We figured we were at least 3 times older than anyone else there.

We then went around the corner next to Chelsea Hotel to Elvis, a local souvlaki place that had good reviews. 

Outside of Elvis

Lots of different kinds of souvlaki

I had beef and Allan had chicken- came with hot french fries- we sat outside and enjoyed our street food. 

Looking back at the Chelsea Hotel-- what a scene- very different from its daytime café vibe.

We were both pretty tired after a long travel day.  We headed back to the apartment for tea and a piece of the traditional Greek orange cake we had brought from Naxos.  Allan had bought it just before we headed to the ferry.  It was a treat we had wanted to try and the bakery was usually out of it when we were there later in the day.  

Looking forward to getting reaquainted with Athens and exploring new sites and neighbourhoods.  We have a food tour on Monday afternoon!