Athens Day 7

Today was spent almost exclusively on traveling and doing laundry (how boring!). We were up early to catch a 7:27 AM train to Izmir and from there we had an 11:30 AM flight to Athens. By the time we made it through Passport Control and retrieved our luggage it was close to 1:00 PM. Rather than hail a cab and take the easy tourist way into town, Rich and I found the train station and took the metro in from the airport. It took us a little over an hour to get to what we guessed was the metro stop closest to our hotel. Riding the metro in Athens with 3 suitcases and a computer bag (that weighs close to 20 lbs!) is so much easier than in Paris: at least we had escalators and elevators rather than having to carry our bags up and down stairs.

Anyway, we found our hotel without getting too lost, got settled in and then set out to do our laundry. You'd think we'd want to see the city a bit on our first day here, but the laundry situation was getting a bit desperate. Once we finished that chore, we set out for a walk and to find someplace for an early dinner. All we had had to eat all day was a light breakfast in Selcuk and half a sandwich and a chocolate bar on the airplane and some chocolate wafer cookies at the laundromat, so food was definitely a high priority on our list. We found a charming restaurant at the top of a narrow alley with a sweeping view of the city and found ourselves to be the only customers (Athenians eat very late, but you would have thought there would be someone in the restaurant at 6:00 PM). We had a delicious, 2000 calorie (at least) dinner of salad, tzatziki, olives, garlic bread (drenched in olive oil), friend zucchini (it's a vegetable so it's got to be healthy, right?), fried potatoes (again, lots of olive oil), and pork chops with a lemon sauce that was absolutely delicious. Rich had a healthy dessert of fruit while I had the yogurt with cherries and honey.

On our walk back from dinner, we took a few pictures of the Acropolis so I'd have something to add to the blog. The one at night is from our balcony. Tomorrow we're scheduled for some SERIOUS sightseeing.