Greek and Bare It
- Got to Greece and then to the island, but money is going fast.
| Mon - What a journey ! 22 hours to Athens
- 6x hitches, bus , plane, bus, 1 hour queue to buy train ticket, nighttrain to Athens, metro to ferry dock
.....Got a hostel and now I'm on top of some hill wild tortoises around me, in the sunshine looking across this huge white city spread across the hills and the Acropolis over on the next hill. athens_video . Down from there to an ancient hippodrome into a site with huge huge columns .. The ruins of the Temple of the Olympian Zeus which was stareted in 500BC took 700 years to complete
- Next ..I'm walking up to Acropolis . ... I wasn't going to go, but a Swedish tourist gave me a free ticket ... The Lord giveth ... I didn't want to get stuck in the tourist crowds so I took my time walking to the other ruins in an area around the base of the Acropolis hill like Theatre of Dionysos to come in the back
....The Lord taketh away.. I was 5 minutes walk from the entrance when the guard told me to turn back ..Eh it was only 2.39pm turns out even though my guidebook says close at 5pm and the ticket says nothing.. New rules mean that all Athens archaeological sites close at 3pm last entry 2.30pm ....
- So some good things and some bad things the main thing is costs being double what I expect and you have to grin and bare it.
- the idea was I would spend Tuesday sightseeing and buy a new glasses lens
... I did sightsee mostly through the locked gates of the archaeological sites and past people in pavement cafes to a couple of museums which closed at 4pm
- then up Likkavittos Hill for a another view.
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Greek Problems
Tue 6am - I went straight to the ferry by metro to try to get a cheap ferry tcket
- 1. The metro is under repair so you have to transfer to a shuttle bus in the middle bit
- 2. No €10 tickets were available this month so I bought a €30 tiicket for 7.25am Wednesday
- 3. (the night train ticket from Thessaloniki was €20 not the €15 I expected )
| Wed - More problems
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- Because I'd been to the ferry on Tuesday I knew where to go it was just outside the port metro so I had to leave the hostel at 6am. I set the alarm on Dad's phone, but can you believe it's default setting is silent !.. So the other guy in the room woke me at 6.30am. What to do ? if you have a problem you have to throw money at it. I flagged a taxi I was at the metro at 6.45am the meter read €3.50 so rather than risk the broken metro I got him to continue to the boat... We arrived at 7.05am thankfully... €11.
- Problem 4 ... I had hoped to stay at a hostel for €8, but seems nobody expects tourists to think of coming until after Easter so they never post the opening dates on their websites etc. I arrived in the main town Parikia took a 3pm bus to Noussa, but the whole town including the hostel was shut ...0nly people painting the paving mortar white.... It's sunny, but I guess there is a constant chilly breeze
- I got back to the main town the camping was shut also I found a good deal for €20, but this is still the most I have ever paid for a room even in Japan or London.. .. See throwing more money at a problem .. That day I'd spent 60 quid ! ... | | | |