A protest in front of the Greek Parliament building with which we got involved. Athens. A Dianne Lima photo.
February 7
The sounds of shops opening on the street below awoke us. It was another glorious day in Athens. The mild temperatures and clear skies of the previous day had carried over. While we were still tired, we hurried to get ready because our itinerary was very full. We headed downstairs for another scrumptious breakfast. After finishing, we went back to our room and called a hotel on Hydra to see if they could accommodate us for the next four days.
I’ll digress here and discuss our thought process in choosing to go to Hydra instead of another island. When we decided to go to Greece, it seemed natural to spend some time at on the islands. We thought about doing some island hopping, but the reduced frequency of ferry service and the threat of having even this reduced service cancelled due to inclement weather narrowed our focus to only one island. We then picked a list of islands that we thought would be most interesting to visit. Our list turned out to be Rhodes, Santorini, Tinos, Syros, Naxos, and Hydra. We crossed Rhodes off the list because it was too far away (17 hr. ferry ride), and I didn’t want to fly there. For a while, it looked like either Naxos or Syros would be the winner. However, once we got to Greece and actually saw a real ferry schedule, it seemed like a good idea to adjust our plans and go to Hydra. Both Naxos and Syros were served by one-to-two ferries a week. We didn’t want to take the chance of not making it back to the mainland because the ferry wasn’t sailing. Since Hydra had three ferries a day going to the mainland, it seemed like the safest island to visit.
I tried calling the Hotel Dina in Hydra Town. But, my ignorance of the Greek phone system arose and I never was able to make a connection. I thought it was because the Dina’s phone was disconnected. So, we decided to walk to the Greek Tourist Organization office near Syntagma Square. This location was perfect because Lonely Planet showed that the ferry company which served Hydra (each chain of islands has a different ferry operator) had an office on the opposite side of Syntagma Square. We figured we’d kill two birds with one trip, so to speak.
It turned out that we found one other place to stop on our way out of the hotel. The desk clerk had told us about tours of various sites that were being offered by Key Tours. It just happened that the Adrian Hotel was an agent for Key Tours, thus meaning that they could sell tickets for them. While eating breakfast, we decided that we would take the tour to Cape Sounion. We chose that tour because it was a trip that could be done in an afternoon, and it was a chance to see another temple. We went to the front desk and ordered two tickets. We wanted to pay with our credit cards. However, the clerk at the counter said that only cash was accepted. So, 16,400 drachma went out of our wallets. The clerk told us to pick up the bus at the Hotel Apetonia just off of Syntagma Square. We didn’t know where this hotel was, so we added it to our places to visit during the morning walk.
We set off for the Flying Dolphin office first, since Lonely Planet said it would be on Filellinon just south of Syntagma Square. Unfortunately, it was not at the location where Lonely Planet said it would be. We found the offices for several other ferry companies, but not for Flying Dolphin. We decided to then go by the hotel from which we were supposed to depart to Sounion that afternoon. We reached Syntagma Square and began looking through Lonely Planet to see if the Apetonia Hotel was on the book’s maps. As we were glancing, a man walked up to us and asked us what we were looking for. When we told him, he said, “You don’t want to stay there. It’s too expensive. I know someone who can get you better places.” He urged us to follow along with him to “the person he knew.” Dianne didn’t want to follow along, but I thought it was worth exploring. I had also figured out that this man was one of the travel touts that Lonely Planet warned could be found around Syntagma Square. These individuals descend on people who both look like tourist and look lost. Since we fit the bill, I figured that he was taking us to a travel agency where we would be pressured into buying a trip package. Sure enough, he ended up taking us to a building at 11 Nikis Street. After walking down a long corridor, he left us at the offices of the Viajes Lo Mejor travel agency. A young man (about 30 years old) named Dimitris was the only one working in the office that day. The office was very basic, with just a desk and a file cabinet. It gave the appearance of something that could be closed very quickly if the need arose. Dimitris asked us where we were from and what brought us to Greece. He seemed very happy when we said we were from San Francisco (I’ve found it’s easier to mention a big city name as opposed to where we’re actually from). He said he’d spent some time in San Francisco, which was where he’d learned to speak English (which he spoke very well). I then decided to let the cat out of the bag and told him that we were trying to find the Apetonia because we were to go on a bus tour from there. His face dropped slightly when he realized that we weren’t quite the lost tourists that he’d hoped us to be. However, he told us where it was. He then asked if we had any other plans for our stay. We told him that we already had tickets to Hydra and reservations at a hotel there (both lies, but we didn’t want to be sold anything). He kept up the smile, but the disappointment shone through. He gave us his card and told us to call him if we needed anything in Greece. We then left with our wallets intact and our instincts a little sharper.
Dimitris’ instructions to the Apetonia were perfect. We went inside and asked the clerk if the bus for Key Tours left from there. He said it did, but he also made it sound like a hit and miss proposition. Since we didn’t want to be out the 16,400 drachma ($44 at that day’s exchange rates) because of a missed bus connection, we decided to try to find the Key Tours main office after we had gone to the Greek Tourist Organization office.
The Greek Tourist Organization office was on Amerikis, just as the guidebook said it would be. The staff there was incredibly helpful. We were able to get a list of all Hydra hotels and their phone numbers from them. We also got the address to the new offices for the Flying Dolphin ferry lines. They even called the Hotel Dina to confirm that the number on the form (and in the book) was the right number. I can’t recommend them enough to anyone who is slightly lost in Athens.
The new location for the Flying Dolphin office is on Ardittou, immediately (as in the second building) north of the Roman Stadium. That gave us a good excuse to take another walk through the beautiful National Gardens. After our leisurely stroll, we emerged across from the Presidential Palace. The Evzones were patrolling there as well. I tried to convince Dianne that I would look good in the skirt and pom-pom shoes, but she would hear nothing of it. She dragged me by the ear down Koumbari until it intersected with Ardittou. We were shocked by the sight we saw. In front of us was an enormous marble stadium. We wanted to visit, but needed to get travel time information from the Flying Dolphin offices. As the Tourist Organization office indicated, the Flying Dolphin offices were easy to find once we got to the stadium. We got the needed information about when the ferries would be departing for Hydra and when they would be returning. We didn’t buy our tickets then because we wanted to secure accommodations first. Instead, we walked back across the Zappion Gardens to get to the Plaka and our hotel. Once we got there, I tried calling the Hotel Dina again. Since I now knew how to incorporate Greek area codes into dialing a number, I got through. The conversation between Dina (the hotel’s owner) and me could only be described as comical. I was speaking in broken, phrasebook Greek. She was speaking in very broken English. But, the language of money overcame all and we managed to close a deal that reserved a room for us.
After a brief rest, we set off again. By now, it was noon. Our tour to Sounion was scheduled to depart at 2:30 p.m. That gave us a couple of hours to get lunch, buy our ferry tickets, and see some other sights. Our first priority was to buy the ferry tickets. Of course, that meant another stroll across the Zappion Gardens and past the Roman Stadium. We now made the time to explore it. We spent about 45 minutes walking around the structure and running on the track.
We bought our tickets for the trip to Hydra. Then it was back across the Zappion to Amalias. We had a brochure for Key Tours which showed the main office to be just south of the Temple of Olympian Zeus on Kallirrois. We started walking down Amalias. Soon enough, we ran across the Temple of Olympian Zeus. This temple was the largest classical temple ever built. Today only 15 standing columns and one fallen column remain of this massive structure. To tell the truth, not enough remains of the original to give much of an impression of its former glory. We spent some time photographing it from outside of the site’s fence and then continued on to the Key Tours office.
From Amalias, we turned left onto Diakou. We turned right after we walked past the Royal Olympic Hotel. Sure enough, the office was there. We showed our tickets to a clerk. He said to be back at 2:15 to board the bus. At that point, we noticed the credit card machine. That sight irritated us, because we had brought along only a limited amount of currency and wanted to use the credit card as much as possible. However, we were now out 16,800 drachma by paying cash for an item that we could’ve paid on credit card had we gone directly to the tour office.
Since it was only 1:30, we decided it was a good time to get some lunch. We had passed a restaurant named Mr. Burger’s right next to the Royal Olympic. Since there was nothing else that seemed close by, we headed back there. To our surprise, there were natives of the Philippines running the establishment. Unfortunately, the food tasted like Greek food cooked by Philippines natives. We both had the souvlaki plate for 1,900 drachma. That was my first experience with souvlaki, but I don’t think it’s supposed to taste like a greasy pork chop on a stick. I’d have to say that one should skip Mr. Burger’s if you’re looking for good Greek food.
The service was exceptionally slow at Mr. Burger’s, so we were just a little late getting back to the Key Tours office. Fortunately, the bus hadn’t left. We boarded the bus and departed for Sounion at 2:30. We stopped at a couple of other hotels along the way to pick up some other tourist. However, it didn’t stop at the Apetonia. Consequently, we were very glad that we didn’t wait there for the bus. That doesn’t mean that the Key Tours bus won’t stop at the Apetonia. It just didn’t the day we took the tour.
We slowly made our way out of Athens. Eventually, the unrelenting concrete sprawl on both sides of the road gave way to an oceanscape. Soon enough, the concrete buildings fell away and were replaced by barren hillsides. The guide on the bus did a good job of telling us about the various attractions that we were passing. But, the drive to (and from) Sounion was pretty monotonous. We did break out of our stupor once we saw the Temple of Poseidon at the tip of the cape. We spent about an hour at the temple before we made the hour and a half trip back to Athens.
As we approached the center of town, the tour guide asked us where we were staying. When we told him where, he said that the Plaka’s streets were too narrow for him to navigate with the bus. So, he asked if it was okay if he dropped us off in Syntagma Square. We agreed. As we approached, we noticed that there seemed to be a demonstration going on in front of Parliament. There were about 300 protesters waiving banners and chanting. Across the street was a small unit of police in full riot gear carefully watching the situation. I thought that the driver would see the protest and drive us to another part of the square. We were quite surprised when he pulled up right in the middle of the protesters and opened the doors for us to get out. I asked, “Is it safe?” He said, “They’re not mad at you. You’ll be fine.” The tour guide didn’t feel any reluctance because she got out in the middle of the crowd. We followed right behind her. I had images of the police storming the protest while we were trying to make our way through, But, we worked our way through the crowd without incident and onto the side of the street where the police were standing. The driver was right: they weren’t mad at us, so nothing happened.
We were taking pictures of the protest when I realized that (in my hurry and surprise) I had left my sunglasses on the bus. I wasn’t happy about this, because my sunglasses are prescription. Dianne said that we should go back to Key Tours office to see if the driver turned them in there. It was about a mile walk back to the office from the square. By now, it was well into nighttime. Still, I really wanted my glasses back. So, we walked back to the office. The same clerk was working there. When we explained the situation, he said that the driver had gone to the airport to pick up some people and wouldn’t be back until the next day. He then said that he could ask the driver to return the glasses to the office and that I could pick them up after they were returned. I said we were headed to Hydra the next day and wouldn’t be back for four days. He said that if the glasses were found, they would be waiting for me at the office. He then called the driver on his cell phone. The driver said that he had found the glasses. The clerk then wished us a good time on Hydra and to stop by to get the glasses once we were back in Athens.
Feeling a little better about my sunglasses, we decided to go back to the stadium to get some pictures of it at night. The Greeks have put large floodlights at all the major archeological sites, which allow them to be illuminated at night. We were hoping the same thing existed for the stadium and we were not disappointed. We got our pictures and wandered back across the Zappion Gardens into the Plaka.
We got to the Adrian Hotel around 8 p.m. We asked the clerk at the front desk if he could get a taxi to take us to Pireaus (the port) in the morning. He agreed. Then, we asked if we could make reservations for when we returned from Hydra. He said that he couldn’t make reservations at his desk, and to call a reservations number to secure a room for our return. I didn’t feel like arguing the efficiency of this system with him. Instead, we trudged to our rooms, ate some munchables that we had brought with us, and went to bed.
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