I know I recommend to you guys to travel light and pack less than what you think you need but you don't live here and I do. Don't forget you have to lug that stuff around in some surprising places in Athens on miniscule and bumpy, obstacle strewn sidewalks, up ferry boats gangways, and over cobble stoned streets, etc.
Anyway, since the plane wasn't full they let me slide on the over weight charges and treated my new guitar with kid gloves. Like that Virgin Atlantic! And the stewardesses are nothing to sneeze at either! The service was more than adequate for coach.
If your baggage is damaged at any airport inform the personnel there at the claim area immediately. There is usually a little office close by. Keep those baggage stubs they clip to your ticket too and your store receipt wont hurt either.
I proceeded to get a cab at the taxi stand where after an interminable wait in line I encountered the 1st Malakas (jerk) I met since leaving Greece 2 months before. He was my Taxi Driver, and didn't like the fact that I spoke Greek and knew where I wanted to go. The Greek irony was not lost on me. Here I had traveled over 20,000 kilometers or 12,000 miles, embarked on at least 5 planes meeting only courteous and kind people, to be welcomed back to Greece by this buffoon.
If I had only know that this over stuffed donkey was awaiting me I would have had laised with Harrys travel asociates for the transfer. Contact Us for a free live quote
It being afternoon, I anticipated long traffic jams in the sweltering heat before arriving in beautiful central Exarhia Square. I was gratified by the 4 lane highway which whisked me to the outskirts of Athens in 20 minutes where began the 'teloporia'(suffering) of another 30 minutes of 2 lane road in heavy city traffic to reach home.
Other times, in heavier traffic, it can take over an hour to reach the center. Slow buses are available into Athens every 25 minutes 6:00 am - 7:50 PM. Piraeus every 20 minutes 5:00 am - 7:00 PM. and to both destinations, somewhat less frequently through the night hours. I recommend the Metro to reach the center if on a budget.
The New Athens Eleftherious Venizelous Airport built by the Germans, paid for by the Europeans, run by the Greeks and used by the world. Couldn't they have chosen an easier name though? I mean just this one time?
Once in central Athens you will no doubt soon encounter one of Athens major Streets re-named after old E. V., which, even the Athenians themselves, call by its real name University Street or in Greek Panepestimiou street instead. Its one of the three major streets that connect Athens 2 most important squares Omonia and Sin dag ma. Syntagma means Constitution Square, not coincidentally, the heart of the Greek Nation State.
Mr. Venizelous was shrewd character and did a lot of good and bad for Greece depending on who you talk to. He was Greece's answer to Atta Turk or was it the other way around? Oddly enough Kemal A. Turk was born in Thessaloniki, part of modern Greece! Nothing is named after Kemal in Greece that's for sure!
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