{"id":9087,"date":"2023-05-30T17:11:02","date_gmt":"2023-05-30T17:11:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zeweekendtraveller.com\/?p=9087"},"modified":"2024-01-28T07:16:44","modified_gmt":"2024-01-28T07:16:44","slug":"athens-day1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zeweekendtraveller.com\/index.php\/unesco-world-heritage\/athens-day1\/","title":{"rendered":"Pre-cruise day 1 – Athens"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Our day started off very early as we had a 4-hour drive ahead to Vienna to catch our flight to Athens. I had found a parking space at the last moment the night before and hoping it would work out fine. After the long drive we finally reached Marzur Parking: a long-term parking very close to the Vienna airport. They use a shuttle bus to bring people to the airport from here. We had quite a walking distance from where the shuttle dropped us to where our check-in counter was. Luckily everything went smoothly and we boarded onto our Ryanair flight with no further issues.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Flight Arrival in Athens<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Ryanair is of course one of the no-frills low budget flight option within Europe. This means that we had to be extra careful with the baggage measurements and weight. If found to be not fitting at the airport , it could mean paying a lot of money.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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When we went to the gate, the first thing we saw was “the flight is delayed – an hour!” This of course meant we had more waiting time. It was noon and I went looking for some snacks. The airport eateries had some incredibly high prices that I was frankly not willing to pay. That was when I came across the Cafe+Co vending machine which had a selection of sandwiches. It was perfectly what I was looking for. A snack that was reasonably priced and tasted fine too!<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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We could finally board the plane and this was when I realized that Athens is an hour ahead. Our flight schedule was from 13:25 to 16:35 – actually a 2 hour 10 min flight. We were however late in boarding – this is one main reason I prefer to take public transport at my destination as the timing is then more flexible.\u00a0 I like to be prepared so after retrieving our baggage, we headed straight out to the metro station and bought our tickets. The metro apparently is a very popular option and it was super packed and we stood the whole 45 minutes on the journey to the city.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

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Check out my post on the modes of transport from Airport to City\u00a0<\/span>here<\/a><\/b><\/p>

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Check-in to Hotel<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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We arrived to our stop – Monastiraki Metro station and used trusty Google to navigate us to our Hotel. It is a 4-minute walk which was really great and got our first look at the happening Monastiraki area. Our first glimpse of ancient ruins came as soon as we exited the Metro Station to the view of Hadrian’s Library and of course the Acropolis above.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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We walked through the flea market and past many restaurants and shops. Before long, we arrived at our Hotel and the reception guy was expecting us – he was outside and greeted us warmly. Our first real interaction with the people in Athens is that they are warm and friendly in general. He showed us to our room which was so spacious and roomy albeit in an older building.\u00a0 We were happy to have arrived and settled in!\u00a0 My write-up on the Hotel will be a post of its own.\u00a0 So watch out for it. It does have a fabulous roof terrace with amazing views! Check out below picture of the sunset from the roof.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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The First Evening in Athens..<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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As we arrived later and more tired than expected , I was happy that I already prepared some restaurant options near to our Hotel. My grumbling stomach reminded me of the late hour and we went out for food. My first choice was Atlantikos – which is nearby and I have seen youtubers rave about it. We soon found out that other people watched the same youtube videos…\u00a0 \u00a0There was such a queue that we decided instantly to try other options. My back up plan was Krasopoulio Tou Kokkora and again we received warm services. As we sat down , we got a jar of water. We decided to order the day’s special – Souvlaki Chicken and seafood pasta. The Souvlaki was good but the pasta was better! So much so that we considered going back as soon as we finished dinner. They served us with a non-alcoholic aperitif after dinner and it was very very delicious. So yeah – I definitely recommend dining there.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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We headed back to the Hotel and decided to check out the night view from the roof before finally resting our tired selves. A few minutes before drifting off to sleep – loud music started playing from the building across the road. It got progressively louder and only played one song over and over again. It was akin to\u00a0 being in a torture chamber. They were playing well over 11 in the night! We were so devastated and felt so exhausted but denied from sleep. At last the music died down and thankfully deep slumber took over. a<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Good night Athens<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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-End of Pre-cruise Day 1 : Athens-<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Just Pin it!<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Related posts you might like...<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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<\/span><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our day started off very early as we had a 4-hour drive ahead to Vienna to catch our flight to Athens. I had found a parking space at…<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9120,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"two_page_speed":[],"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[772,320,848,960,773,241],"tags":[844,834,845,846,843,847],"class_list":["post-9087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cruise","category-greece","category-greece-athens","category-port-piraeus-athens","category-shore-excursions","category-unesco-world-heritage","tag-acropolis","tag-athens","tag-iloveathens","tag-ilovegreece","tag-precruise","tag-travelingreece"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t