#1/4 - Athens - Arrival - First impressions

For me, it is the first trip in the “after” era (after the world trip) 😅. Elisa, on the other hand, was already traveling the world again 🧳. We decided on a city trip to the origins of civilization: Athens. When people talk about Greece, this destination always seems to be somewhat underrepresented; it always feels like it is a bit under the radar. But there are many buildings (or ruins) to see or discover! After all, everyone knows the Acropolis. In addition, there were many well-known scientists and philosophers in ancient times. But of course we are also curious about the Athenians themselves 😊. I kept thinking about how the Athenians would speak to Germans - because of the debt crisis and Schäuble... 🙈😅

Tuesday, May 21, 2024 - Day 1
We got up very early and were still pretty tired 🥱. Terminal 2 at Berlin Airport was already pretty full at around 4:00 a.m. Nevertheless, we got through security pretty quickly, even though I was fished out again - but in the end everything was fine 🤣

The terminal is very small and there are only two places to eat breakfast: One snack bar was still closed and the other shop only had pretzels... But the second shop was still open and luckily we had sandwiches for

Got breakfast. Wow, otherwise I really wouldn't have been bearable 😅

Ultimately, we took off on time at around 6:05 a.m. on Ryanair's Boeing 737 and enjoyed a great flight to Athens. Unfortunately, the seats were quite uncomfortable. Budget airlines, if you can still say that these days...🙈. The weather in Athens was pleasant and the airport was easy to navigate. We took Metro 3 into the city for about 40 minutes. When we arrived at our stop "Kerameikos", we walked with our luggage for about 10 minutes to the apartment. We were already expected there and were shown everything in the apartment. The service was really great! Unfortunately, we didn't understand the name... but thank you again at this point😅! The apartment is quite new and very attractive. So the vacation can begin! 🧳 ☀️🏰

After an afternoon nap, we strolled through the surrounding streets and got our first glimpse of the Acropolis 😊. In a restaurant, we ate original gyros for the first time. It was very crispy and spicy. Yummy! The portions were pretty big though, and we had bread with dip beforehand... 😊. There are restaurant after restaurant on this shopping street. There is always someone at the entrance encouraging people to come into the restaurant. Not pushy - sometimes very elegant and charming! So it was all the more important for me to "pay attention" to them and talk to them now and then, because the job is probably very stressful and should be appreciated 😰 The restaurant prices are very reasonable in our opinion: 50 euros with a starter and tip 👍🏻.

Of course, Elisa's ice cream is a must - even after dinner. It tasted very good. There was even liquid chocolate running down the wall of the shop. It looked good! 🍫🍦

We also saw a lot of cats here - mostly very thin ones. Elisa feels sorry for the cats and immediately misses her Eddy 🐈‍⬛. But understandably they still have no appetite for rolls and gyros. In any case, bowls of water and dry food are ready. Athens seems to be a city full of cats. I wonder if there are mice here?😅.

On the way home we saw the illuminated, sparkling Acropolis between the buildings. We paused for a moment at this sight 😊.

But we noticed the following straight away: The roads are in a relatively poor condition, it is dirty and the traffic volume is very high (it is a metropolis, after all). It feels like all road users have the green light at the same time. That reminds us a lot of Italy. Best wishes at this point! 🙈😝

Best regards 😊