INDEPENDENT TRIP IN GREECE, PART III - ATHENS
(THE ENDING)
STORAGE BREAK
Upon arrival in Athens (and we arrived there at 14.45), we expected to leave our luggage in the luggage room at the bus station, and then go for a walk around the city. However, it was not there: there were no lockers there ...simply! I rushed to the information office to ask where I could find left-luggage offices, but in this very office I was told that they were not at the station, but they were in the center - at the Monastiraki metro station. Then I asked the local aunts if there was any metro station nearby, but they replied that they did not know. It was also not possible to find out from the maps, and then, remembering the cheapness of a local taxi, I decided to go to the Monastiraki station on it. We arrived for 8 kopecks. Inside the station there were indeed automatic lockers, but ...at least one of them worked! No, they weren't busy - they just didn't work! Even the holes for the coins were sealed with tape.
Then local aunts came up to us, from whom they smelled a little of Bukhara, and asked if we needed to help with something. I explained the problem to them. They, apologizing for their city, replied that they really had a problem with luggage storage. Then they asked the metro cashier if there were any other left-luggage offices somewhere. He replied that they are both on Omonia and on Sindagma, however, they do not work there either, as well as at the railway station, where we were also going to poke our noses. The aunts even contacted some girl with the help of some device like an intercom, and she answered them that they have a private luggage room, but it only works until 18.00, which was of great interest to us. Aunts throughout this time a couple of times apologized for their city.
I also tried this trick: I went up to one of the restaurants, a barker approached me, for decency I clarified something about the menu, and then told him that we were ready to eat and drink at them, but we should have left things there until evenings. He immediately became sad and said that it was impossible. I also had one more thought, which, as it turned out later, had to be put into practice, but ...in general, about this to the south.
MOUNT LYCAVITTOS (???????? ? ? )
We have already been to Athens - we celebrated the New Year 2013 there. We then visited many places there, but Mount Lycabettus remained unvisited. And we wanted to climb this mountain: from there, a view of the whole city opens up. So now we decided to go there together with things. Oddly enough, the taxi driver charged us nothing for this - about 4, although we drove for quite a while. Then another taxi driver drove up and agreed to wait for us for an hour and a half. Looks like it's a little tight there with their clients.
The aunts at the entrance to the funicular turned out to be good-natured and kindly agreed to leave our things with them for the duration of our stay at the top. The funicular ride costs 7 per person round trip, lasts 3 minutes, and the funicular itself leaves about every 20 minutes. From the top there really is a beautiful view, the whole city at a glance. There are eateries upstairs where you can drink and eat while admiring the city. Behind the glass wall of one of these eateries, we saw a ginger cat sleeping peacefully, despite the fact that there was a rather steep descent nearby, almost a cliff. We also saw other cats there, there are a lot of them in general. Looks like some special species - mountain cats. : ))))
TRIP TO THE AKROPOLIS
After Lycabettus we decided to go to the Acropolis to have dinner in one of the restaurants we remember.
The taxi driver, it seems, hoped that after that we would go with him to the airport (he asked when we had a plane, figured out what time to be there, etc. ). I asked him how much the trip to the airport would cost. He answered me that the price for this is fixed - forty dollars. I said that it was too expensive and we would go to the airport by metro. As a result, he took us to the Acropolis (or rather, to the rooming house next to it, where we rested last time) for 17.05 robbery! And why the hell didn't I o5 ask for a check, one wonders...
RESTAURANT NEAR THE ACROPOLIS
I remember that during our previous trip to Athens, we often went to this restaurant, I still chatted with the waiter on abstract topics, told him jokes, asked when one of the albums of the local singer Andonis Remos was released, etc. And now this waiter recognized me! Barkers, having learned about our desire to dine with them, immediately grabbed our luggage and dragged it inside.
We ordered a plate of meat mix grill there, several bottles of beer “????? ? ? ” (by the way, this unfiltered beer played an important role in our choice of this particular restaurant on our first trip), and I also ordered myself a glass of ouzo. When we had lunch, I asked Zhorik (????? ? ? ) - that was the name of this waiter - if we could leave our things with them for an hour and go for a walk around the city, to which he replied that there were no problems. This is where you originally had to go with your luggage! I deliberately do not give the name of the restaurant, otherwise you will turn it into a left-luggage office. : ))))))
ROAD TO AIRPORT
After walking around the city for an hour, we took things from Zhorik and decided to go to the airport. We didn’t even ask Zhorik to call a taxi, because taxi drivers are nearby and hang around like that, and you won’t drive close to this restaurant: the road is blocked. The first taxi driver agreed to take us to the airport for only 35, and not for a fixed 40, which his predecessor tried to rub into us.
In the local dutik, we collected all kinds of bukhara and olive oil, cashed in all the metal coins that we had left (otherwise it would be problematic to cash them in Moscow exchangers), and I paid the difference with a credit card. By the way, if you decide to stock up in the Athens airport dutik, this must be done without fail before passing through the pre-flight search, because there will be no further dutiks, except perhaps vending machines with meaningless drinks.
FLIGHT BACK
The return flight went smoothly and without any delays, we arrived in Sharik, passed the passport control quickly, received our luggage too, after which we drove home in a pre-ordered taxi.
This is how our trip went. Whether it is worth arranging such difficult trips or is it better to relax calmly in one place, let everyone decide for himself. On this, dear travelers, I say goodbye to you and wish you all pleasant trips!
