Itisallgreek2me

Taverna Damigos, The Plaka, Athens

The weather not up to much today – 25 degrees C, hazy and everything looks like it could do with a good shower of rain – dusty and dry! 

Whenever I arrive in Athens, I nearly always catch the X95 bus into Syntagma Square.  2.90 Euro in 2007, 3.20 Euro now so has only gone up a little.  The usual scramble with everyone boarding, however,  managed to procure myself a hard seat and keep my belongings near.  Unfortunate about the bloke on the seat beside me who apparently doesn’t know what deodorant is and the other bloke who wanted windows closed on a hot day.  Trivial matters compared with what was about to happen next.  Bus driver stopped far from Syntagma Square, ordered all passengers off, he was going on strike!  As I was not in familiar surroundings and unbelievably tired by this time, I walked for over an hour (first occasion with backpack, that was okay but blisters on feet – bugger)  to get to Syntagma Square and on to the Plaka.   Through chaos on the streets, police cordons and what appeared to be an impending demonstration. 

Managed to procure a room at The Student & Travellers Inn www.studenttravellersinn.com in the heart of Plaka, the old part of Athens below the Acropolis.  Opted for a room on my own, quite small, shared bathroom next door (no one else has used it yet), clean and a comfy bed (for those of you who haven’t travelled in Greece, I need to tell you comfy beds are as scarce as hens’ teeth).  Hot showers are something else you don’t take for granted  – no worries here at the Inn, hot showers 24 hours.  Also, Free Internet is a big bonus!  All for 35 Euro per night which I will try to negotiate if I decide to stay a while, no decision made yet. 

More than anything else, I needed sleep last night, however, cleaned up then went out for a walk (in Greek they call it Volta).  On summer evenings, you see entire families, often late into the night.  Wearing their best regalia, they will stop somewhere for refreshments. 

I chose to enjoy my first meal back at Damigos (Doreen you will remember this Taverna downstairs where we ate in 2004, the night I came out of hospital).  A family run business established in 1865 I think.  Talking to the people there, it was very quickly confirmed that for the Greeks,  life is very difficult at the moment.  I ordered Yemista (two huge, plump, very red tomatoes, stuffed with rice and deliciously flavoured with herbs) served with equally delicious potatoes and of course, a little bread.  All washed down with a 1/4 litre of the local house red wine.  Complimentary – olives and pickled chillies to start, sweet liqueur to finish.  All for 10 Euro. 

Picked up a bottle of water to have in my room, went to bed early around 2000 hours, still feeling somewhat shattered, however, I will get out there tomorrow and see what exciting people or things I can find.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 25th, 2010 at 4:28 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.