Trip to Athens, Greece - Day 1

For the past few years we've gone somewhere fun for fall break.  Last year (2017) we didn't go anywhere because the Expo caused classes to start late and we didn't have a fall break.  In 2015 we went to Rome and in 2016 we went to Barcelona.  This year we decided to keep the Mediterranean theme and we went to Athens.  Yulia, as usual, found good deals on flights and housing.  

We flew out on Saturday morning (October 6) on the early flight to Turkey on Turkish Airlines.  The flight was pretty good and we had a quick 1 hour layover - just enough time to get to our next flight - in Istanbul.  We flew from there to Athens on a short flight of about an hour.  We landed in Athens and got through customs and picked up our baggage and then we went and got tickets for the metro.  We had a pretty uneventful trip to the Syntagma station (one which we became very familiar with).  At the station we had an adventure.  Something happened when people were getting off the train and there was a fight between an old man and a middle-aged man.  The fight continued through the station and onto the platform we were waiting for our transfer on until the security guards got there and broke it up.  We're not sure what was happening - it was literally all Greek to us - but it was an interesting time in the Subway.  

We took the Subway to the Dafni station and got off.  It took us a few minutes to orient ourselves and find our apartment - about a 4-5 minute walk from the station, but we got there without any problems.  It was only about 11:00, but the apartment owners let us drop off the bags before we came back to officially check in later. We went out and found a nice little place (something about Mami and Papi) that sold fantastic Gyros and salads.  It was our favorite place that we ate the whole time we were in Athens!  We ate and then went back to the apartment where we checked in and rested for a few hours.

In the afternoon we went out and walked around the neighborhood, getting the lay of the land, and then we stopped at the grocery store to pick up supplies for breakfasts for the next few days.  On our way home we stopped at a little pastry place and got treats to eat for a snack that night.  We spent the evening at the apartment.  It got dark quite early and quickly and we were tired after not sleeping much.  I was also recovering from my operation a few days earlier so we were taking things easy.

A few things about Athens.  The hills around the airport and the semi-arid climate reminded us a lot of Utah.  It was familiar and alien at the same time.  People were generally quite friendly and we had no problems getting around.  Knowing Russian and some Greek letters helped.  Knowing English is always an advantage.  The weather was fantastic.  In the mid 60s to high 70s and sunny the entire time we were in Athens.  Things were kind of rundown (it's obvious that things are still tough economically), but Athens is a nice city with good infrastructure - especially transportation. After our delicious dinner and pastries - the pastries were some of the best we've had in any country - we were in love with Greek food.

Tired people on the train from the airport.

Our first lunch.  We ordered 3 salads for 6 people.  We could have ordered 1.  They were all delicious, though!

Another salad.  Official Greek Salad.

Our balcony in our rented 2 bedroom apartment.

View of the Dafni neighborhood where we were staying.

We found this track and playground at the end of the street.  Lots of people playing basketball. I wondered whether the Greek Freak (Gianos Antatokompu) who plays in the NBA had gotten his start on a court like this.

Murals on a building on our walk. 

In the grocery store.  This whole section was just for cheese. More kinds of cheese than we've ever seen before.

Some pastries that we picked up.  Lots of them with honey. All of them delicious.

Our adventures in Athens had just begun!