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NEW YEAR IN ATHENS - YES OR NO?

14 January 2013 • Travel time: with 28 December 2012 on 04 January 2013
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INTRODUCTION

And once again I welcome tourism lovers!


In the last 3 years, my wife and I went to the Baltic States for the New Year: first to Latvia, then to Estonia, then to Lithuania, and immediately from there to Latvia. And we liked everything in the Baltic States, if not for ...the weather. And even if the last time we were very lucky with the weather (there was no snow at all, the sun is from time to time, the temperature is around 0), usually in winter in the Baltic cities, especially those close to the sea, it is not very comfortable: somehow damp, windy and etc. That’s why we decided this year to change the latitude to a more southern one and as a result we chose a city about which one of the ancient writers spoke something like this: “Yes, you are a blockhead, if you haven’t seen ...if you saw and didn’t admire, you are an ass , and if you voluntarily left this city - you are a camel! » As many probably guessed, we are talking about the capital of Greece. We rested there from 28.12. 12 to 4.01. thirteen.

HOW TO READ THE REPORT

My reports tend to be multi-letter, so lately I've been dividing them into heading paragraphs so everyone can read what they're interested in and skip what isn't. I also warn you that the report, as always, will contain a lot of jargon, but there will be no profanity. So lovers of the book-newspaper language or swearing can safely close this page.

Also, as practice shows, it would be useful to remind the potential reader that reading this report, especially in its entirety, is his right, but not his obligation. No one can force a person to read this (and not only) report, except for his own desire. To interrupt the reading of the report at any place is also his legal right. And although it seems that this is a no-brainer, sometimes situations still arise, like in a joke, where the mice pricked, cried, but continued to eat the cactus.

Yes, I also want to inform you that this report is aimed at those who are looking for useful information, and not at lovers of fiction. Well, to all those who are not embarrassed by the above warnings, I propose to go directly to the narrative - from the next paragraph or from whichever you see fit.

INDEPENDENTLY OR THROUGH A TRAVEL AGENCY?

Since we already had Spanish visas open, we made the unequivocal decision to fly on our own. Well, if they weren’t there, then, most likely, they would use the services of some travel agency. Although, perhaps, they would have issued visas themselves. Now, they say, this is being done quite culturally and civilly.

HOTEL SELECTION

In this case, we presented more serious criteria for choosing a rooming house than if we were talking about a summer resort like Crete or Mallorca, where most of the time is usually spent outside the rooming house.


In winter, it gets dark early, and the weather can be anything (more on that, by the way, later), so you’ll have to spend a little more time in the rooming house, obviously. Therefore, in addition to the quietness and proximity of the rooming house to the city center, we wanted the atmosphere there to be more decent, and the service worthy, and, of course, the quality / price ratio was logical. As a result, after analyzing the reviews on Booking, we chose the Athens Gate 4 * hotel, which we later did not regret at all.

By the way, the rooming house cost us 630 Jews per week (hereinafter, all prices will be indicated in this currency, unless otherwise specified). Booked with cancellation option. If we didn't show up or canceled our booking less than 2 days before the expected arrival, we would be charged 90, and if canceled more than 2 days in advance, we would not be charged anything. 2 days before arrival, the hotel blocked the entire amount on my card.

However, when leaving, we preferred to pay in cash (otherwise the bank would have ripped off a splinter in the amount of 0.75% of the amount; a trifle, of course, but unpleasant), and the blocked amount was safely unblocked for me.

SELECTION OF AIR TICKETS

Tickets were taken on airsales (for sure, many people know this site). Our choice was on a direct Eraflot flight back and forth from Sharik to Athens. Such a pleasure cost 847 for two, taking into account the bank crumbling, the size of which is indicated above.

MEDICAL INSURANCE

Some time ago, obtaining health insurance required only a small effort. Now, these efforts are generally reduced to a minimum: on the Rosgosstrakh website, you can choose insurance for every taste, pay for it with a credit card, get insurance for soap, print it out, and you're done! And most likely such a service is offered not only by Rosgosstrakh.

Day 1, Friday 28.12. 12


They flew, as I already mentioned, by Yeraflot from Sharik, and at the same time, Yeraflot, the dog, delayed the flight for about an hour. According to the employees, it was a matter of replacing the plane, which turned out to be either out of order, or the dog knows what else happened to it. When, finally, it came to landing, we were taken to the plane by bus almost across the entire airfield, constantly turning right and left. Two Greek women were standing in front of us and talking about something. I told them, in their native language: “How do you like the tour of the Moscow airfield? They laughed and said something like, "Yes, a good tour. " However, these were still flowers (see the section "ROAD FROM THE PLANE TO THE TERMINAL"). On the plane, the chief pilot swore to the passengers that he would try to launch the aircraft at full speed in order to catch up with time, but he either changed his mind or forgot how it was done, but in the end the plane was exactly an hour late.

Well, in all other respects, service is like a service, lunch is like lunch, TVs with a flight map and other information are not available as a class, but among other drinks they offer white and red wine. But - they still try to save it: they offer all sorts of juices, sprites, water, but if the passenger saw the packages of wine and wanted it, they would not refuse him.

PASS CONTROL IN ATHENS

Entering the passport control hall, we saw something that made us think that we had been mistakenly taken to some soviet city. And only inscriptions in Greek with duplication in English confirmed that we were still in Greece. What made us think about Sovka was the fucking queue for passport control, where only 3 out of 8 windows worked. Some airport employee was sitting at the entrance to the hall, and I, using my knowledge of Greek (and by this trip I managed to master it quite well) , asked her if there was a way out on the other side (well, you know, hope always dies last).


She answered me that on the other side the exit was only for transit passengers, and asked what the problem was. I replied that there were too many people, and only three employees work at the passport control. And she gave me a phrase as a tranquilizer, they say, don’t worry, the line goes quickly, and it’s not the biggest yet, otherwise it happens that it comes right to the entrance (and it’s still meters like a chirp). Well, we had to enjoy the queue for an hour or so, but in the end we successfully passed the control. But I didn’t have to wait for my luggage: it had long been lying next to the conveyor, onto which luggage from another flight was already being unloaded. And although I had to look for the luggage at random (there was no longer any information on the scoreboard on which conveyor it was on), I found it very quickly. Queues develop intuition, or something ...By the way, looking ahead, I will say that upon returning to Sharik it was not much better both in the case of passport control and with luggage.

ROAD FROM THE AIRPORT TO THE HOTEL

There are 4 ways to get from the airport to the city (unless, of course, we are talking about renting a car or meeting someone you know by car).

1. Metro. Works from 6.30 to 23.30. The duration of the trip to St. "Syndagma" (Sindagma Square is located there, in Russian Constitution Square, in the original π λ α τ ε ί α Σ υ ν τ ά γ μ α τ ο ς ; hereinafter we will simply call it "Syndagma") - about 40 min. Trains to and from the airport run every half an hour, while other trains run every 7-8 minutes. The trip costs 8 for one person, 14 for two and 18 for three, and in all three cases only one ticket is issued (no, you can, of course, take both 2 and 3 separate ones, but then they will cost 8). The ticket must be validated at the entrance to the subway.

2. Express bus route X95. Travel time to the same Syndagma is about 45 minutes. Such a trip costs half a mile from the forehead, the bus runs around the clock, the interval is 15 - 40 minutes.

I can’t say anything about the opening hours, cost and intervals of movement, but this type of transport can be convenient to use if the rooming house you need is located near the railway line. I can only say that this train departs from the airport ...also from the metro station, only from a different platform. It runs parallel to the metro for 4 stops, then turns and intersects with the green metro line.

4. Taxi. A trip from the airport to Sindagma (or vice versa) during the day will cost about forty dollars, and at night - somewhere around fifty dollars.

As a result, we chose the metro, on which we safely reached the Akropolis station ...with a hare, and not wanting it ourselves. We took a ticket for two, but we didn’t know that it also needed to be composted.

More detailed information about transport will be presented below, both for respectable passengers and for hares.


From Akropolis metro station we reached the hotel quickly, since it is located some 100 m from it, or even less. The receptionist asked for our passports, took out two forms, saying that he would fill them out himself, and we were only required to sign, clarified whether we needed a family or twin room, gave us a key card for the room on the ground floor (actually on the third, and only in this hotel, there are actually chirp floors, although "officially" 8) with a view of the temple of Olympian Zeus, as well as a bunch of booklets with maps indicating museums, attractions and all sorts of excursion routes. One could, of course, ask for a room with a view of Akroshka (not to be confused with the famous kvass dish, which begins with “o”, and lowercase), but such a room would cost much more.

We went to the room in an elevator reminiscent of old Soviet models: the outer door does not open automatically, but manually, only the handle there is ordinary - not latched.

The internal doors are made with an accordion (like the Soviet “cattle truck” or the Hungarian “Ikarus” of Soviet times) and open / close themselves when the button is pressed / the elevator arrives at the desired floor.

On the ground floor (in the same place where the entrance) there is a bar, there are also 2 computers with free Internet access. There is a bar-restaurant on the top floor (button RG - Royal Garden), by the way, breakfasts are also served there. And on the intermediate floor between zero and first (in the elevator button H) there is a gym and a conference room.

The room is quite decent, everything is clean and cultured, the bed is comfortable, there is a free-coded Italian-made chest in the closet with the ability to enter a code up to 9 characters, there is a balcony, the plumbing is serviceable and modern.

True, instead of a bathtub, something like a shower cabin was made there: it is separated from the rest of the bathroom by a side about 5 cm high, and the glass that covers half of the bathtub plays the role of a curtain. The mixer is single-lever, there are two shower sprayers: one is fixed, the other is on a flexible hose. There is a hair dryer. Soaps, bottles of shower gel, shampoo, and liquids such as body lotion and hair conditioner are provided daily.

There is, however, such a strange feature: a transparent (! ) glass 30 cm wide and reaching from the ceiling almost to the floor is built into the wall between the bathroom and the rest of the room. Thus, from the room you can follow everything that happens in the bathroom - a real paradise for voyeurs. This glass, however, is covered with blinds (by the way, you know that this word is not only not inclined, but also pronounced with an emphasis on “and”? ), but, o5, from the side of the number.


So a person in the bathroom can become completely helpless under the voluptuous glances of an impudent voyeur neighbor. : D

In addition to the hair conditioner in the room, there is also the air conditioner that regulates the temperature, with a remote control built into the wall. A flat-wall TV is also available, and we even watched it sometimes, which we almost never did on vacation before. True, they didn’t find Russian channels there, and, to be honest, we didn’t really need them.

There is also a fridge-bar, and with not the most draconian prices.

There are no DO NOT DISTURB / REQUEST CLEAN ROOM signs: its role is played by special switches at the door. At the same time, the corresponding inscription on the other side of the door lights up (the inscription "DO NOT DISTURB" automatically goes out along with the rest of the lighting when the card key is removed from the special holder).

WEATHER IN ATHENS IN DECEMBER - JANUARY

Having changed into lighter clothes, we went for a walk around the city. It was pretty chilly outside. Compared to August Crete. But compared to December Moscow, it was very warm - something around 12 - 13 ° C, naturally, above zero. And the sun is still shining bright. Just like spring came early. Beauty, and more! However, do not rush to flatter yourself: in the following days, the weather still spoiled us. In general, from 29.12. 12 and 31.12. 12 from the sky began to spoil with varying degrees of intensity, only occasionally and briefly stopping at zero, which, I must say, noticeably vulgarizes the tour. Although, I must say, starting from the very first day of the new year, the shitting stopped (as, by the way, the local hydrometeorological center promised), and partly cloudy set in, and most of the time it was sunny. And it got even warmer. True, even 3.01.

On the 13th in the evening, clouds thickened, and o5 began to spoil from the sky, but, fortunately, everything was limited to only a few drops.


In short, the weather from November to February is somewhere like in September Moscow (residents of other regions, sorry: I didn’t travel much in Russia, so I don’t know in which month similar weather happens, say, in Krasnodar or Norilsk), with all its advantages and disadvantages, with or without an Indian summer, so, as you can see, there is no small risk of trivializing your vacation. Yes, of course, risk is a noble cause, whoever does not take risks is not buried in a mahogany coffin, but ...in general, think for yourself. Yes, do not forget also that in winter there, as elsewhere, it gets dark earlier. It dawns, of course, also later (somewhere at 7.30 - 8.00), but this is just unlikely to be a problem for a tourist.

RESTAURANTS

On this topic, perhaps, I will not dwell in detail, otherwise some of my reports have already stuck the labels of "restaurant guides".

I have already described restaurants and Greek cuisine in some detail in my two reports about Crete, so that everyone can look there. In Athens, the cuisine is about the same, only the restaurants there will probably be more expensive than in Crete: lunch or dinner with Bukhara for two will cost about 50-60. Bukhara is not meant to be “fingered”, but the most simple (but good quality): serving of ouzo - 2 to 3.5 (ouzo is a clear 40% anise tincture with the taste and smell of cough mixture; when diluted with water becomes cloudy white; usually slightly diluted with water and drunk with ice, but you can drink and clean), a glass of wine - about a shestak (it is better to take wine in bottles - it comes out cheaper), a mug of beer (0.5) - from a triple to a shestak.

Almost all restaurants practice loading - a bottle of mineral water + bread with butter and olives. The cost of this whole canoe can go up to 4.

I perceive this approach as including a tip in the bill and therefore I pay in such cases, as they say, “a penny for a penny”. No, in Crete they usually also bring bread with butter and olives, but for this they charge something around 1.6, and water is brought exclusively for free. In this case, you can still leave a tip.

I also want to tell you…

…ABOUT BEER IN ATHENS


No matter how much we tried to find a draft Franciscanner there, we broke off everywhere, although it is probably there. You just need to know the places. After all, even in Crete we found it! But then we were just lucky. Franz, after all, is not so easy to find in Moscow either. Draft beer, by the way, is generally scarce in Athens - it seems that there is nothing besides the analytical Mythos. But there is a good German bottled beer. And in one restaurant we even got a good local beer - Vergina Weiss (only Weiss, that is, unfiltered, because just Vergina - ordinary tests) - see below.

section "THE MOST MEMORABLE RESTAURANT".

True, there was Franz in stores in half-liter bottles of three (as in Moscow), which is a little expensive (in Crete, such a bottle cost about a two-piece bottle). But, oddly enough, Franz in bottles is somehow not very good. Good in kegs, good in cans, but not in bottles. Strange but true!

Oh, I almost missed one more detail of restaurants (and not only). Of course, this is…

At the entrance to most restaurants there is some kind of horseradish and offers to go there with varying degrees of obsession, and sometimes quite strong (they just don’t grab hands). Arguments like “we have already eaten” sometimes don’t work either - they offer to just go in for something to drink.

If you walk past a fur store, speaking Russian, a barker will probably jump up to you and offer to visit his store.

I heard about the quality of the fur coats there that it is rather doubtful, but I don’t know if this is actually so.

NIGHT IN THE HOTEL

After walking around the city center and having dinner at one of the nearby restaurants, we decided to go back to the rooming house, where one of the employees, seeing us, immediately opened the door for us. The staff at this hostel is generally quite helpful and always willing to help. By the way, when we first left the rooming house for a walk, the receptionist asked me if we liked the room. I answered yes. He reminded me that in the special requests section on Booking, I noted that the room should be as quiet as possible, and said, they say, if the room is not quiet enough at night, then tell me tomorrow morning, and we will replace it for you. But we did not demand a replacement: although the room was not perfectly quiet at night (under the windows of the avenue - 2 lanes in each direction), the noise level turned out to be quite acceptable for us.

Double-glazed windows seem to be good. True, if there was some kind of nightclub under the windows, I'm afraid they would not help.

Day 2, Saturday 29.12. 12


The next morning we went for breakfast. Breakfast is held on the top floor (practically in the attic) of the building from 6:45 to 10:30 on weekdays and from 6:45 to 11:00 on weekends and holidays. Breakfast, I must say, does not differ in particular variety: toasts (fry yourself), scrambled eggs, soft-fried eggs, boiled eggs, bacon, fried sausages (rather tasteless, by the way), stewed potatoes, pastries, cucumbers with tomatoes (but tomatoes are quite delicious), cheese, including lamb, ham, sausage, fruit salad, jars of jam and honey, plum oil.

You can pour oranges and grapesocks from a jug of ice (juices, it seems, are not freshly squeezed, but from a bag), but you can’t pour coffee or tea for yourself - this is done by the waiters (when someone enters the bar, they ask for a room number and then asked if coffee or tea should be brought). Coffee for two of us was brought a whole coffee pot for 3 mugs (at the same time, 2/3 of the contents went to me : D ).

Balconies are located on three sides of the bar, from where almost the entire city is visible (the temple of Olympian Zeus, the stadium, of course, the Acropolis and numerous low houses).

True, there was one special moment: a couple of times during our stay there were not enough free tables: the first time we could hardly find a table, and the second time we had to sit down with an elderly Italian woman and have a nice conversation with her in her native language. Apparently, the grandmother likes broken statues: she spoke rather warmly about the Acropolis Museum.

Well, returning to the lack of free tables, in fact, this is not such a big problem: after 20 minutes you look: half the tables are already empty. By the way, at what time there may not be free tables - you can't guess. Although, I think, if we come to the discovery itself, then the probability of such a problem will be negligible. : D

ACROPOLIS MUSEUM

Opening hours: Mon - closed, Fri - 8:00 - 22:00, other days - 8:00 - 20:00.

On this day, we intended to go to the Acropolis, which is located on a hill and is clearly visible from almost everywhere, even at night - thanks to the backlight. However, the day turned out to be not quite suitable for Akroshka, or, to be more precise, completely unsuitable, because it shamelessly spoiled from the sky. Therefore, instead of the Acropolis, we decided to visit its museum, located nearby: at least there is a covered room there. This pleasure cost us a chirp for two. Museumchik, I must say, an amateur. Even before entering the museum, i. e.


in its “dressing room” there are models of the Acropolis in different eras (before the destruction of it by the Persians, after, etc. ), in the museum itself there are antique utensils, coins, bone needles and other antiquities, but the main part is statues, statues and once again statues of varying degrees of brokenness. In general, a museum for lovers of broken statues. Flash photography in the museum is allowed only on the top floor (there are either 3 or 4 in total), where the same broken statues are located. There is also a bookstore, an eatery, a toilet and a small cinema hall where you can watch a short film about Akroshka in Greek with subtitles in English. By the way…

WHY CAN'T PHOTOS WITH FLASH IN MUSEUMS?

In one of the museums, I saw a sign banning flash photography with an explanation of the reasons (my comments in brackets):

1) the light from the flash can damage the exhibits (I doubt: if this were the case, then such exhibits would most likely have to be kept in complete darkness; we can discuss this aspect if anyone has a desire);

2) the flash irritates other visitors (I treat such visitors with understanding, because I myself sometimes “sin”; however, if flashes are not prohibited, then perhaps there will really be too many of them and they will start to really annoy; okay, this one argument is accepted).

However, there is another argument hidden:

3) and who, then, will buy postcards with the image of museum exhibits?

SECOND PART OF THE DAY

After Akroshka, we went to have lunch at one of the local restaurants, hoping that the bad weather would soon stop and we would move on. And our hope even came true. Repeatedly. But about the same number of times broke off.

However, even in spite of this, we still walked around the city, even reached Syndagma and for the first time saw the parliament building live, which was guarded by guards, either in soldier's or jester's uniform. True, there was nothing particularly interesting on Sindagma that day, so I will tell about it a little later.

Day 3, Sunday 30.12. 12

IN BRIEF ABOUT MUSEUMS AND MORE

Waking up in the morning and seeing that from the sky it still spoils so much that we just have time to flow around, we realized that Akroshka, the temple of Zeusik, which is visible from the window, other sights in the open air, as well as the tour bus, do not shine for us. Therefore, returning to the room after breakfast, we began to look in the booklets, which museum to visit. The schedule of museums there, by the way, is somehow bad: most of them are open only from 8 to 14-15, while many museums are closed on Mondays and holidays, and some also on Tuesdays.


from our rooming house it was respectively the 2nd or 3rd stop.

The entrance there costs three times, but we went for free, because on Sundays the entrance to this museum is free. Not a bad museum, I must say, there are various exhibits from ancient times to the 19th century: weapons, knightly armor, castles, watches, clothes, dishes, musical instruments, a printing press, jewelry, paintings and much more. True, there was not a single broken statue (and even, in my opinion, not a single whole one), except for busts, but I think this is not a big problem, because you will find something, and broken statues in Athens over and above.

The situation was slightly overshadowed only by the fact that we went there on foot and did not use transport, and therefore we got pretty wet, even despite the umbrellas. As you can see, it was possible to travel 2 stops by metro, but the best way, in our opinion, would be to go there by taxi. So, I devote the next 3 paragraphs to transport.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT IN ATHENS

4 - 90 minutes are valid from the moment of the first composting, give the right to any number of transfers to other transport, including the metro;

3) cost 4 - the same as in paragraph 2, only they are valid for 24 hours from the moment of the first composting;

4) cost 14 - valid for 7 days (for the rest, see clause 2.3).

In the case of a trip to the airport, the above tickets are not valid - you need to buy special tickets, as already mentioned (see the ROAD FROM THE AIRPORT TO THE HOTEL section).

Yes, one more important point: if, for example, there are only 5 minutes left before the validation of a validated ticket (clauses 2-4), is it possible to travel further on it? Answer: you can. You just need to have time to re-compost it (before its expiration date) before entering the next vehicle, and the validity of the ticket is extended until the end of the trip.

According to unspecified data, the metro ticket from the airport is also valid for 90 minutes, and it can also be used to transfer to another mode of transport.


It was information for respectable passengers. This is followed by infa for hares, which, by misunderstanding, as already mentioned, we have become (well, without consequences).

INFA FOR HARES

We traveled by transport only 5 times (including trips from the airport and back), and we never came across controllers, so we don’t know what they look like, whether they should have special uniforms or just a certificate (we only saw a peasant in Crete in a blue shirt with a badge “Ε Λ Ε Γ Κ Τ Η Η Σ /CONTROLLER”, but it was on an intercity bus, so it’s not certain that it will be the same in the city). We also don’t know whether, in which case, the inclusion of a fool and / or “forgetting” all languages ​ ​ ​ ​ except Russian will help in order to retaliate.

There were always taxis at our rooming house, taxi drivers constantly offered to give us a lift somewhere. Just like in Tunisia. By the way, the Athenian taxi has a lot in common with the Tunisian one and the price is quite affordable. For example, from one place where we traveled by trem for 40-50 minutes, we were taken by taxi with a breeze for 7.5 Jews and about the same number of minutes (contrary to my expectations, we never saw traffic jams in Athens). In general, if you want exotic - use public transport, if you want to get there faster and more comfortably - use a taxi.

MARKETS AND SHOPS

There is a large food market in the city center, in the square formed by Athinas, Sofokleous, Eolou and Evripidou streets, where you can buy fresh meat, honey, butter, both butter and olive, and other products. We didn't really ask the price there, but the prices, apparently, should be quite low.


Now the situation is a little different: in the former Sovka, you can already find almost everything the same as abroad, but many are still convinced that it’s just as stupid not to shop abroad now as before. So people go shopping, sometimes not even clearly understanding what they really need and spend a lot of time on it. Someone will say that clothes abroad are cheaper and they will be right, but try to calculate the benefit taking into account the cost of the trip. What is not so profitable? Here, something! Otherwise, the shuttle business would not have died. Or maybe you enjoy the process of shopping? Then spit on all the calculations and just enjoy the process, because in the end, every person lives in this world just for the sake of getting pleasure (the set of sources of pleasure, however, is different for everyone, but these are the details).

The second option is when a person knows what exactly he needs and where it can be bought profitably. He goes there and quickly buys everything he needs, saving time and money.

The third option is when a person accidentally sees a thing he likes on a store window, enters this store and buys it.

And, finally, the fourth option is if during the trip, for example, they stole a coat (fur coat, jacket, etc. ) or boots (boots) leaked. The search for a replacement in this case can take a long time, especially when it comes to lovely ladies.

On this trip, we encountered the third and fourth types of shopping. So, we went to one of the well-known chain stores and bought me 2 pairs of jeans there. They cost us 44% cheaper than in the Moscow magician of the same network. And also, when we passed by one of the stores, I looked for a warm autumn windbreaker for 45. As a result, I bargained for 40. I think it turned out inexpensively.

We also collected olive oils, moonshine with and without honey, Vinsanto wine (a very tasty wine, I wrote about it in a report about Crete from 2011), all sorts of souvenirs for relatives, and I also took a bottle of ouzo for work colleagues . In connection with this, the number of things we have increased a lot, and the need arose for the 4th type of shopping, the object of which was a suitcase on wheels. True, these suitcases were heaped there, so this type of shopping took us a maximum of 20 minutes. As a result, we bought ourselves a suitcase with an average capacity of teapot production in one store (the suitcases that are sold in such stores are mostly produced in the Teapot, and the sellers do not hide this). Initially, it had a price tag of 20, but the grandfather-seller immediately threw us a nickel. Suitcase for 600 rubles. - this, I think, is pretty good (and there were suitcases with a chirp of the same capacity, but those zipper seemed to us somehow unreliable).


On the one hand (where there is no entrance), the windows are covered with a thick translucent cellophane film, on the other hand, where the entrance is, the film can be lowered and zipped, or it can be raised so as not to interfere with the view and photography. This train goes in a circle and passes near the presidential palace, the Kallimarmaro stadium, the Zappeion palace, Hadrian's arch, Diogenes' lantern on Plaka, the Roman agora (agora translated into Russian simply means the market), Monastiraki Square, the ancient Greek agora, the temple of Hephaestus, the Acropolis , the old building of the Parliament and returns to Sindagma. At Akroshka, if you wish, you can go out to hang out and stare and return to Sindagma on the next train - the one that should arrive in 30 minutes.

MEETING THE NEW YEAR

I have never met the New Year at such a warm temperature on the street, but I will say that it would be cool if the weather had not vulgarized everything.

After all, you must admit that celebrating the New Year, say, by swimming in the sea (the option of forced swimming is not considered, of course: D) is exotic, but on the square, which is being spoiled from the sky, it’s already somehow vulgar. Some other drink was also sold on Sindagma Square, but it was meaningless, so we did not try it. Therefore, we moved to one of the establishments, in the same place, on the square, where meaningful drinks are sold. First we took ourselves a glass of wine, then ouzo, pina colada, whiskey and cola. And the soul became somehow more cheerful, vile atmospheric phenomena receded somewhere into the background. And the people in the square were having fun: some kid was juggling a ball, rolling it almost all over his body, one drunk was dancing with a liter plastic bottle of honey moonshine (presumably) on his head. The liquid there, however, remained a maximum of 100 g. All this, of course, was fun, but in Riga on NG, the atmosphere, I remember, was

Translated automatically from Russian. View original
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