Athens
Friday, June 06, 2008
Touched down at 2am in the morning.. was supposed to spend the night at the airport assuming that there would be no decent traffic to the city centre.. but hey! There was an airport bus! So we took it hoping that we could at least spend the night in the hostel lounge...
When we arrived the receptionist was surprised to see us (obviously since we didn't book for that night) and told us to take a rest at the mezzanine level.. which is some makeshift level between the first and the second.. where all the sofas are.
Ah! Then he tells us that since we didn't book the night we he'd have to charge us for staying at the mezzanine level for.. 10 euros per person!! Whoa!! Stunning!!! I mean like it was only another few hours more to daylight and we have to pay for sleeping on their couches?? Ok, to give it to him.. he looked damn sorry about having to charge us but he said that he couldn't explain to his boss for letting strangers stay overnight blah blah blah... He's probably some temp worker trying to keep his job la.
We didn't stay la of course. He recommended some 24 hours restaurant to us which we stayed for pizza. And recommended this place called 'The Rock' near the Acropolis which we could gave a great view of the city.
And boy was it FANTASTICALLY SUPERB VIEW!!! When I finally climbed up I gasped out a WTF (the actual words) and the view was truly BREATHTAKING!!! Whoa.. great recommendation by that guy man... and the best part of it was that the view was FREE! Wow.. Stood up there.. took photos.. enjoyed the breeze.. watched the sun rise up from beneath the mountains.. and I just fell asleep on the rocks... Shiok. Enjoy life. Sweet.
7am and the wind was getting stronger and colder.. though the sun climbed higher up into the sky. We decided to head down to the Acropolis and be the first ones to enter.. and beat the tourists to the photo-taking sites. Haha.
Photos after photos after photos.. the lack of sleep the night before took the toll on us and we went back to the hostel.
Ah, we were greeted by a different person now. She allowed us to have breakfast even if we weren't staying the night before.. but we were too full (from the pizza) to have any. While the rest collapsed in the dining area/mezzanine.. Gabe and I was talking to this Singaporean guy who had already been in Greece for 11 days! And he was enthusiastically showing us photos of his expeditions to the different Greek islands... which were like.. wow. There and then, Gabe and I decided that 5 days in Athens was way an overkill.. and decided to make plans for a trip to another island in this country.
The options were narrowed down to
- Santorini - A beautiful volcanic island with great beaches and a supposedly stunning sunset
- (Forgotthename) - Temples on the built on peaks on hills. Exotic and interestingly nice
- Mykonos - Party place with great nightlife and well.. nude beaches
Santorini won by popular vote. And it was a mad rush of cancelling our hostel in Athens, booking a hostel in Santorini, booking ferry tickets to Santorini, checking in (FINALLY) into our hostel.. and sleeeeeeeeeeeppppp.
Did I mention that this hostel is damn anal about only being able to check in at 1.30pm? Well, we would very much like to check in EARLIER but we couldn't.
The night was spending walking around the little part of Athens called Plaka.. sort of their answer to their Old Town.. but well.. not very much la. Then we climbed up this hill call Fila(forgotname) which gave us yet another great view of the city and the Acropolis this time.. which glowed magically in the night sky. We missed the sunset this time.. but the night scene was equally beautiful. Photo taking.. then we stayed on the hill top talking cock till late. Great time spent there.
"10 years time, let's meet back here.. on this very hilltop."
I love Greece. Let's really meet back here 10 years down the road. =)
Signed off at
7:02 am
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th reader
