Athens
The main city in Greece, Athens, is a bustling metropolis with infinite dining options, countless historical landmarks, and a 24-hour drum of urban life. We bookended our 7-Day Greek Islands Cruise with two nights in Athens before and after. Not only did this give us a chance to catch up with the jet lag, but it also allowed us to explore the city at our own pace. Admittedly it STILL wasn’t enough, but we were glad to have done it.
Traveling during the pandemic requires more attention to detail than one might have put into a trip before 2020. We’ve gotten used to opening the laptop and clickety-clacking the cheapest airfares and budget hotels until we bargained a vacation into existence. I’m sure that’s still possible, but it sure sounds risky. We went with a travel agent. Old school, I know. But I remember as a kid, my mother would call her agent for everything. It was magical how the travel agents back then could finagle one-way airfares into round trips, turn layovers into weeklong vacations or upgrade seats without picking up a phone. We’re spoiled to be able to do it on an app, sure – but I seem to think the agents were always getting a better deal than I ever could on Priceline.com.
Our travel agent, Earl Loo, at Ultimate Vacations, put together a minimalist itinerary. He booked us at the Herodion Hotel, which was located next to the Acropolis Museum, near the Plaka, the main shopping district in Athens. He also prebooked us some Hop-on Hop-off double-decker sightseeing bus passes, which were good for two days, and gave us a full tour of the city of Athens, and Pireus, the marina district. Earl also made us a packet of documents and a checklist of things we needed to get done before leaving and coming home. Covid-19 rules were in place for Greece and Hawaii. We would need lots of tests, coming and going. We also needed to fill out a lot of paperwork to prove it. Earl guided us through it all.
We like to travel without itineraries, using outlines and bullet points instead. I did enough of those kinds of trips as a kid with my family. I remember a carefully planned trip to Philadelphia where my step-father (an avid history buff) mapped out each museum and timed our stops along the way so that we could visit as many as possible with just enough walking time in between. He built bathroom breaks into the schedule, no unplanned stops less we missed the 11:45 re-enactment of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, which would throw off the whole day.
Our hotel featured a rooftop bar and restaurant with an incredible view of the Acropolis, which is illuminated at night. The view was breathtaking, and the food was divine. The cocktail program was fantastic. We enjoyed dinner here our first night and came back for cocktails which were just perfect. Check out Point A if you’re looking for a romantic night out, but make a reservation early. Seating is minimal.
The Plaka is a walking outdoor mall. The shops are all windowless, open-air venues filled with hand-carved trinkets, mass-produced magnets, and hats – lots of hats. Silly oversized hats with “Let me sleep” scribbled on wide brims or wannabe-Panama made-in-China hats that were just a little too small to provide any shade and just a little too big to fit anyone properly. They were in every store, and they were cheap. If you were spending money, it was hard NOT to want to buy a hat. I didn’t buy one right away. Stroll too far along the Plaka, and you wind up in the posh district with Louis Vuitton, Prada, and Dior. That’s where we turned back.
We found most of the good restaurants and bars in Athens were located in squares centered around churches. Lauren and I love a good dive bar. So when we stumbled upon Τρυποκάρυδος Rock Cafe, we thought we had found a slice of heaven. It was early in the afternoon, but Gus, the owner, was a big fan of America, and he was ready to get our drink on. He had gone to great lengths to create an “American Rock Bar” complete with Elvis lithographs and POISON rock videos. He poured me an American drink, “Whiskey Coke,” made with Jack Daniels, of course.
Lauren ordered a beer, and this is a good point to mention the word beer means just that in Athens; no clarification is necessary. Lauren told me once she hates it when a character in a movie goes to a bar and says “Give me a beer” and gets one without specifying which regional IPA or seasonal citrus blend they prefer. In Greece, you can say, “I’ll have a beer,” and you get a crisp, refreshing beer, no questions asked. Fact is, bars rarely have more than one choice of beer, and if they do they’re both variations of the same light ale. After a few drinks with Gus, Lauren and I grabbed some dinner and strolled down the street to find Lōras, a family-owned bar now run by the third generation. The owner told us was it was now one of the oldest bars in Athens. When he found out we were from Hawaii, he gave us a couple of shots of Mournoraki to welcome us, and I taught him how to throw a shaka.
Finding good food was easy. We didn’t need Tripadvisor or yelp to point us to good souvlaki. We had our noses. Lauren found what I’m sure is the only Japanese restaurant in Athens, and it was delicious. I managed to find a gyro within hours of landing. Somewhere in between, we ate mountains of mousaka, slices of squid, dozens of dolmades, and piles of greek salad. The food almost always was amazing, and even when it wasn’t, it was still delicious.
