We’re Here!

We’re here! After 27 years, an epic journey with three flights between four world capitals, we finally made it with no major drama. Hugh was especially excited to be on our way, and as we were waiting in line at security in Ottawa, wondered aloud about how the security guards would be able to tell if there was a bomb in the computer, and what if our chromebook had a bomb inside, and where did we get it?

We had had a late lunch before we left, but the kids and Topher were hungry enough in Washington to get some sandwiches for supper. We didn’t realize that we would be fed not once, but twice, on the plane overnight to London. The meals were surprisingly good, and the entertainment choices even better. David didn’t even attempt to sleep and watched movies all night. Hugh

happily flipped through a bunch of shows and then managed to sleep at the drop of a hat, even waking up to eat a kosher danish before falling back to sleep, while Topher and I tried unsuccessfully to doze. (All of Hugh’s meals on the plane were kosher because he can’t have dairy - one of the flight attendant’s asked why he was the only one in the family who kept kosher!)

In London, the kids had a very specific mission: buy British candy that they had read about in Roald Dahl and other British books. After checking out all of the very expensive options at Harrods and other upscale shops, they found what they were looking for and happily scarfed most of it down. My mission was to find a good English breakfast and some strong tea. I found both but paid dearly for it (shuddering in remembrance). Our flight to Athens was delayed because of winds and we had a pretty turbulent ride, but the cabin crew managed to serve yet more food, including some very tasty stuffed vine leaves with skordalia (dip made with potato and garlic).

We had a good view of the Greek coast as we landed - tried to figure out from our map what we were looking at but one irregular coastline looks like any other. Unfortunately they have put up a lot of wind turbines in some very beautiful places but it was still very picture postcard-like. It was dark by the time we got out of the airport so didn’t see much on the fairly long drive into

the city. Despite paying a fixed fee from the airport, our taxi driver drove us all around downtown looking for a bank machine that worked so we could pay him, so that gave us a good opportunity to see a bit of Athens, including a couple glimpses of the Parthenon lit up at night. David slept through it all but Hugh was very excited and commented that he liked it here already.

We met our hosts at our Airbnb around 8 pm local time. After they showed us around, including how to work the funky built-in wooden blinds, and gave us lots of suggestions for things to do and places to eat, we decided to go out for a quick tour of our neighbourhood. Despite all of the airplane food and snacks, we pretty much made a beeline for the small restaurant next to the church across the street and sat down for a light supper. We thought we weren’t ordering much (sausage, hamburger, smelts and a salad) but each was large enough for sharing so it ended up being a lot of food, and all very tasty (see photo below).

The kids were in good spirits and commented on how friendly the Greeks are

- they noticed when the kids playing in the church square kicked a soccer ball into the restaurant, it was no big deal. We took a short walk to check out the local grocery buying opportunities and then it was back home to bed. Our Airbnb is a fairly cute one-bedroom apartment in a building from the 50s or 60s with some nice features, especially the kitchen sink made out of a huge single block of marble. It’s clean and comfortable, but not fancy enough for David!

After about a 12-hour sleep we finally dragged ourselves out of bed and Topher got a few groceries from down the street. We then spent the next hour having our breakfast overlooking the courtyard (bottom left photo), and trying to wake the kids up. Once we were finally all dressed and fed, we were ready to start exploring Athens. We took the metro to the Agora (the ancient market and centre of government) - pictured below right and opposite. We had planned to walk through the Agora to get to the Acropolis, which was our main goal for the day. The last time we were here, 28 years ago, Topher and I spent so much time in the Agora and Acropolis museum that we only had a

few minutes before closing to see the Acropolis itself. Since we didn’t have that early of a start today, I was worried the same would happen again, so I kept hurrying people along. David was especially interested in everything and didn’t want to leave.

It turned out that the gate between the Agora and Acropolis was closed today so we had to go back to the entrance and make our way to the Acropolis from the long way around. I unfortunately started the trip with a sore foot, so wasn’t keen on the extra walking and decided to rent an electric kick scooter while Topher and the boys took the metro (although David really wanted to ride the scooter). In the end, a taxi would have made more sense but hindsight is 20/20! It was surprisingly not that scary driving in Athens on the back streets near the Agora. Saw some interesting looking antique stores I wouldn’t mind going back to. Once I got to the major streets it became trickier to manoeuvre, as there was a lot of starting and stopping in the traffic and the pavement was a bit slippery from some light rain. I decided to ditch

the scooter (it was the kind you can hop on and off wherever you want) and grabbed a taxi for the rest of the trip.

I had a full hour and half to myself at the Acropolis (pictured above and on following pages) before Topher and the boys joined me at our meeting spot. They had taken their time walking from the metro, briefly stopping at the museum and gift shop, and looking at some interesting stuff along the way, including feral cats which the boys are happy to find everywhere here (see photos opposite). Topher’s degree in Classics makes him a very thorough tour guide - at times too thorough!

Again I hurried them along at the Acropolis, reminding them that they only had an hour until closing, which turned out to be even less as the guides started herding people off the site at least 20 minutes early. We had enough time to take lots of pictures of the amazing views of the city, and to learn about Greek temple design from Topher. We agreed that the Erechtheion is much nicer than the Parthenon, which was apparently an outdated style even at the time that it was built.

After closing down the Acropolis we went next door to the Areopagus, where trials used to be held, and Topher recreated the same picture he took of me on

our first visit - this time with the boys, who had a great time clambering over the rocks and had to be dragged away (see photos opposite).

Since we had just been snacking since breakfast, we were all getting quite hungry so started walking to a restaurant that I had read about online and was only about 15 minutes away according to Google. We made a wrong turn or two so it took us quite a bit longer to get there, plus we kept stopping to look at more interesting stuff along the way - we walked by a cave that had once been used for worshipping Pan, the Roman Agora, then through the modern day Central Market area, which had many very interesting looking stores. I think that’s where I’ll be going tomorrow! By the time we got to the restaurant it was only 6 pm but they were closing down. The owner at first said yes, but the chef said no, the food was done. I guess it’s more of a lunch place but we might try again tomorrow. It smelled good!

We then continued to walk toward our apartment looking for anything remotely decent. The boys kept pointing out cafe/bar type places, which

mostly serve only sandwiches, and became increasingly irritable when we rejected their suggestions. Finally Topher spied a Bulgarian restaurant about 8 blocks from our apartment, and we had an amazing and very filling meal. We’re finding the prices to be super reasonable and can have a feast for about $50-60 in the less touristy places. It helps that wine was only about $4 for a half litre. We ordered a lot of food (salad and dips, lamb, meatball stew, chicken shawarma, spaghetti) and managed to eat most of it. We were too hungry to bother taking pictures!

We then walked the rest of the way back to the apartment and bought the kids popsicles for dessert. They ate them in the square across from our building so they could play with the cats some more. Now we are hanging up laundry and getting ready for bed, and starting to make plans for the next two days. It feels like time is going by quickly already!