Transits in Athens

As we woke up early to get ready to leave Athens this morning, we received an email from Air Canada that the flight from Athens to Toronto has been delayed and therefore, our connecting flight to Toronto has also been impacted. No details were given at that time, only that we will have to stay overnight in Toronto. In addition, we've also learned that there will be another spontaneous transits strike at Athens between 11:00 am and 5:00 pm today. We had to make a decision on what to do for the extended delay. At the end, rather than taking a chance to wandering in the city, we have decided to take the transits to the airport

before the strike times take effect.  By then AC has confirmed that our flight will be delayed till 9:00 pm, rather than 1:00 pm, from Athens to Toronto, arriving at 1:30 am EST and then making the connecting flight back to Vanvouver at 6:30 am on Friday morning, arriving Vancouver at 8:30 am. 

A very very long journey awaits us ... 

ps:  It took us 33 hours to arrive back in Vancouver. This has been the longest leg so far for our travel. 

Athens

Athens - the birthplace of civilization and democracy. A city with so much history and mythologies. One of the most famous archaeological monuments in Europe, Acropolis, lies in the city center. Almost every tourist would end up visiting this well known site and hence, making it one of the most crowded places to take pictures. Tour groups and individual travelers all flashed out their cameras and cell phones trying to capture the moment of history amongst the incredible ruins left  after centuries of invasions, wars and natural disasters. It is rather difficult to reflect on the significance of the ruins when there were so many people rushing you to move on because everyone was looking for that ideal spot to snap a pic. 

After two days of conference and two days of exploring the city, we are ready to head back home tomorrow. There will be another unexpected transit strike here in Athens tomorrow afternoon and we needed to be at the airport earlier in order to avoid any delays due to the strike and the heavy traffic. 

It had been a fun three weeks. We had seen quite a bit of Greece - from islands to big city, ruins and archaeological sites to busy modern city night life. Many unique memories and experiences were created as a result of this trip. The box to Greece on our bucket list had been checked. 

Until next journey ...

Delos Island

We took a ferry to the island of Delos near Mykonos. It is known as one of the most important mythological and historical archaeological sites in Greece. Its history predated the Olympian Greek mythology and was the birth place of their twin deities Appolo and Artemis. The island has only 14 inhabitants as caretakers and foot tourists must board a ferry from Mykonos to get to the island and return in the late afternoon. UNESCO proclaimed it as a World Heritage site in 1990. 

It would take at least 5 hours to have a good look of the entire site and given that we only had 3 hours, we decided to skip hiking to the top of the mountain. The site is very massive and trails are well laid out. It was good to leisurely walk in the ruins and imagined its glorious days. 

Naxos and Mykonos

We really enjoyed our stay at Naxos. The hotel is run by a family and they treat their guests like family. Grandma made all the yummy breakfast and if a guest has dietary retstrictions, she would immediately whip something up to meet his/her needs. They even gave us a parting gift!  The hotel was recently renovated and had all the modern amenities. 

We drove to the far end of the island to visit another well known marble statute - kouros. The road was narrow and treacherous but the views to the ocean were spectacular!!  There were many small monasteries scattered along the mountains but with seemingly sparse population, who would visit them?

We boarded another fast ferry to Mykonos in the afternoon. This time the feeling of boarding the ferry was very different from the one we experienced at Santorini mainly because Naxos has yet to be discovered by majority of the tourists. Everyone was relaxed and orderly. Naxos is definitely an ideal place for vacation. 

Mykonos is well known for its party night clubs and wild beach parties. Many young adults make this as their destination to Greece's islands. Many shops and restaurants open late in the afternoon and stay open to 3:00-6:00 am in order to tailor to the party goers' needs. Some even open 24 hours. The old city streets are like a maze, easily get lost from one narrow street to the next but eventually all ended up back to the city center. It was actually designed like a maze in order to confuse invaders in the past. The iconic windmills and Venice like water front buildings made this island very popular with tourists. 

Naxos

This island is much bigger than Santorini but more family oriented. It is known for its beautiful sandy beaches and marble village.  Richard was eager to swim in the Aegean Sea.  Our hotel is right at the ocean front and it is lovely to just sit and enjoy the natural scenery. We bought a bottle of wine and the hotel provided the dates pie - this is what vacation should be like. I'm glad to see that Richard has finally come to his senses of chilling out on his vacation!

Santorini and Naxos

Before leaving to Naxos, we decided to do a bit of hiking around the town that we had lodged. To our delight, there was a well maintained trail from the town center all the way to a mountain that would provide a spectacular panoramic view of the island. The steep steps and the climb to the very top were a bit challenging due to the fine pebbles covered the road and can be very slippery at times. I almost gave up climbing to the very top as we had to claw through a small hole vertically in order to get up. My legs were not long enough to get a strong footing and had to use all fours to manage to the top. On my way down, Richard had to guide my foot, literally grabbing it and land it on the rock to secure my footing so that I could climb down. The view was definitely worth the climb.

I'm quite surprised by the popularity of Santorini among the mainland Chinese. Many tour groups guided them to the island and many restaurants actually have Chinese translations on their menu to accommodate them. The hotel receptionist told us that there are only 2000 local residents living on Santorini but during the high tourist season in July and August, the population would increase to 50000 - hardly finding any space to walk!!

We took the ferry from Santorini to Naxos. The journey took two hours. Again, the majority of the ferry passengers were the tour groups of Chinese from mainland China.  As soon as we boarded, the hotel picked us up at the ferry terminal and our rental car was delivered to us at the hotel. We have stayed at many hotels but we have never seen a receptionist being so cheerful and hospitable. She greeted us at the door, took our luggage to our room and sat us down with a glass of wine and a plate of home made pie as a welcome to her hotel (it's a home run business). The hotel is right at the sea and not far from the port and the old town quarter. 

The Temple of Appolo is situated about 10 minutes from the hotel. We took some pics of the monument at sunset and then walked to the beach front to a restaurant recommended by the receptionist for a seafood dinner. By the time we came back to the hotel, she put a half liter of white wine in the fridge to thank us for staying at her hotel. I don't think we have ever been drinking this much alcohol as we also ordered wine for dinner. As one of the signs said "save water, drink wine". We simply followed the locals 😊.