We have arrived to a rainy, wet Athens this morning. We are docked right behind SDI. FT watched the captain dock the boat and has decided that he parallel parks the boat better than she does a car. We had a driver lined up to pick us up so we were off the ship around 8:45 and on our way to town. There was only a small group wishing us well as we left the ship, a spa girl and Peter, so we did not have a chance to tell the Captain how much we enjoyed our voyage. Perhaps it was due to the steady light rain, but for the first time ever, we hauled our own carryon luggage down the gangplank. Just as we headed across the street, June came dashing back from the terminal giving FT an umbrella and snatching away her bag. As we entered the terminal, FT got a chance to give Amy one last hug.
We had an adventure with our cab driver. Suddenly all of our bags no longer fit in the trunk of the taxi. The driver insisted on using netting to hold the bags in the trunk. FT’s new leather bag that she had just gotten in Santorini fell out as we drove away. FT heard the other taxi drivers yelling something as we left but didn’t understand the Greek and our driver didn't pay attention. One of the other drivers called our driver before we got very far and we went back and got the bag, which contained several bottles of wine which luckily did not rupture. This time the driver agreed with me that the bag would be better off in the front seat and we have arrived at the GB with no further incidents.
We later got a call from the cab company who was to take us to the airport tomorrow. They let us know that in their opinion we had too many bags and needed two cabs. George the Taxi Driver wanted to send two cabs and charge us 100 Euro for the privilege. Seems he won't put any luggage inside the cab on the front seat. Balderdash! I canceled them and we ended up with a nice driver that was 20 Euro less than originally quoted by the first company, who easily fit everything in his cab. No more for that highly recommended cab company.
We eventually made it to the Grande Bretagne, and checked in. We were upgraded room this time to a room on the second floor with a balcony overlooking Syntagma Square and the Parliament building. It came with a complimentary bottle of ouzo. Got a phone call from my cousin and we agreed to meet later this afternoon. In the meantime FT and I went out and walked the Plaka area on our own. We found a nice restaurant and had a lunch of salad, and then went back to the hotel and rested.
While resting a din arose outside the room. It seems that there is a protest in Athens today. It was very peaceful, simply hoards of people streaming by with loudspeakers. Real guards have lined up in front of Parliament and the street in front of the hotel and Parliament are blocked. No one at the hotel had any knowledge of this earlier or if they did we weren't warned.
We have seen some of our fellow passengers here in the GB hotel and on the streets of Athens. By now Bartender Clint should be at the Athens airport, waiting for his flight to Ireland to take him to Boston for a week to start his vacation before he returns home to South Africa. Hope he has safe travels along with the rest of the Sea Dream crew leaving today for well-deserved breaks.
We spent a lovely afternoon with my cousin walking the plaka and enjoying dinner. I had never met her before and it was a real treat! It was then time to turn in before the long day home tomorrow.
Travel back from Athens was a non-event, of course, until we hit Atlanta. First, by being honest on our customs declaration we were shunted aside into the separate processing room and thought we were going to miss our connecting flight. What we learned was that all goods bought in Turkey are exempt from duty so we didn’t have to pay anything extra. The agent looked hard to find a way to not have to do the paperwork and collect the small fee and we were soon on our merry way to connect.
We should not have worried about the connection, we were delayed, first due to a late arriving aircraft and then to problems with the air conditioning. We finally got home, about 45 minutes late, with all of our possessions, including carpets, wine, ouzo, spices, tea, mosaic tiles, etc. Thus ends our adventure!
More pictures are available on my flickr page by clicking HERE
The author of this blog is not compensated by Sea Dream Yacht Club in any manner.
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