Athens Journals

ATH

An October 2006 trip to Athens by panda2

Ambrosia Photo - Ambrosia, Athens, Greece

Quote: Rich history, strong family oriented culture, food is delicious - fresh and tasty, the Greek wine is wonderful; young, beautiful women; hot or cold desert climate.

18 Photos

ATH

Overview

Quote:

Travel to a different country, with a language culture and values different to your own, to remind ourselves what it's like to be in a foreign land or foreigners visiting our city or town.The local food is wonderfully fresh and delicious, the taste buds get excited, with the exception of fast food like Goody's - it costs more and isn't nearly as good - a sign of the times? The Greek wine has very low amount of sulfate so it doesn't keep on the shelves long, it's not exported, and tastes great and don't suffer as you would from wines with higher sulfate. Ouzo is the drink of choice, a very strong alcoholic beverage that you mix with water to taste. There are many young, beautiful, petite, t...Read More

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Art Gallery Hotel

Hotel

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Art Gallery Hotel, is a nice little 22 room hotel with a cute little cage elevator running trouble free for decades.The rooms in the front have a balcony but are noisier from the street, the rooms in the back don’t have a balcony but are quieter. The beds are firm but generally comfortable enough to sleep on, though we frequently hit our legs on the bedposts walking by in one of the bedrooms, an annoyance. Air conditioning/heating with remote control, mini-fridge, TV, shower stall with an external handheld hose to shower head lacks a mounting bracket for the shower head.This area is a really ni...Read More

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on October 23, 2006

Art Gallery Hotel
Erechthiou 5, Koukaki
Athens, Greece 117 42
(30210) 923.83.76

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Ambrosia

Restaurant

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Ambrosia was recommended by the hotel staff, about a five minute walk away, has very good food, chicken or pork gyros for €2 to go. There’s a €1,5 cover charge per person for bread, water if dining in. The €30 mixed meat platter, fresh pita bread, fresh bread, and gyros were all quite good.

Metro Line 2, Syngrou-Fix station, exit Drakiou Street

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on October 23, 2006

Ambrosia
Drakou 3-5, Koykaki
Athens
(210) 922-0281

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Ouzeri Kouklis

Restaurant | "Sholarhio Ouzeri Kouklis"

Quote:

Sholarhio Ouzeri Kouklis, a traditional family restaurant since 1935, offers for a party of 4 or more, selecting 10 of 18 dishes, a choice of 1 liter of wine, 1 bottle of ouzo, 2 beers, or 4 soft drinks plus mineral water; bread and dessert for €12 per person. Their dishes are between €2,5 and €5, house wine—1 liter €5, large beer 500cc €2,5, house Ouzo or Tsipouro 250cc €5, mineral water 1.5 liter €1, soft drinks €1, dessert free. The food was generally quite good though not piping hot, a tray was brought out displaying 16 of the 18 dishes we may select from, the two other dishes not included on the display are the fried cheese and the fried calamari dishes, whi...Read More

Member Rating 3 out of 5 on October 23, 2006

Ouzeri Kouklis
Tripodon 14
Athens, Greece
Athens

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Everest Fast Food

Attraction | "Everest"

Quote:

Everest, a chain restaurant in Athens frequently located near Metro entrances offering baked food items like various pites (pies) with meat, spinach, cheese fillings, pastries, grilled sandwiches, pizza, or their iced coffee with chocolate, caramel, classic, with optional whipped cream are quite good and tasty. If you’re interested in a sandwich, you queue up and order from the designated sandwich maker, then pay for it. Open late night, cash only. It can be quite busy.

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on October 23, 2006

Everest Fast Food
Entrances Of Some Metro Stations
Athens

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Germapps

Attraction

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Germapps, Falirou 3/Dimitrakopoulou N, a phone store chain with a location in the neighborhood of our hotel we found by asking people around the area for a phone store by showing a mobile phone.Get yourself a SIM for your mobile phone has a 900MHz, 1800MHz GSM or G3 signal. Recommend getting a Cosmote SIM as it covers all three frequencies from one vendor.€19.80 for a GSM prepaid SIM to insert into your GSM mobile for use, comes with €8 calling credit, refill cards for topping up are easily available at convenience kiosks starting at €9. A four digit PIN is provided and requ...Read More

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on October 23, 2006

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Marks & Spencer

Attraction | "Marks & Spencer"

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Marks & Spencer, a large UK based department store chain has 8 franchise locations in Athens are dwarfs in comparison with the stores in the UK; to shop for some underwear and socks. Inquired couple of people where this store is located informed us where it’s located but also thought the store was already closed for the day, but we wanted to find it at least to see where it is, and found it was still open. The directory indicated men’s underwear is on the fourth floor, ascended the escalators counting along the way up four floors. Apparently reached the third floor later we found out with very little underwear and socks selection. Finding the ...Read More

Member Rating 2 out of 5 on October 25, 2006

Marks & Spencer
33-35 Ermou St.
Athens, Greece
+30 2103240675

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Taxis in Athens

Story/Tip

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Taxis in Athens are relatively easy to get and inexpensive except during rush hours when they're very hard to get. The rates are regulated, and not expensive unless you go far like to the airport or get yourself an unscrupulous driver by the bottom of the funicular tram as we did looking for ignorant tourists to gouge.There are two fare zones, zone 1 is from 5pm to 12am hours, zone 2 is from 12am to 5am a higher fare zone when the buses and metro stop service.Coming from a bar, we hopped in a taxi, handed the driver our hotel card which gave the address in Greek along with a mini street map. He also had a GPS in the taxi to guide him to our destination fairly quick and inexpens...Read More

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ATH Athens International Airport

Story/Tip

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ATH Athens International Airport is a relatively small and compact airport facility, as you enter the airport - domestic flights are to your left, international flights are to your right. Locate your carrier and flight to see where you need to go to check-in for your flight.Security for domestic flights are rather laxed but the international flights have a rather rigid screening and quite slow. Liquids and gels must be three ounces or less packed into a single see through quart size zip top bag and one layer thick, not overpacked or stuffed. Otherwise, check you bag with the liquids to avoid the hassle, delay, confiscation. Allow at least two-three hours to check-in and clear security prior to...Read More

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A3 Aegean Airlines

Story/Tip

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Aegean Airlines, one of the two Greece airlines with flights to Egypt, Germany, Italy, and Romania, is where we booked our inter-island flight to Mykonos online. When we first saw the one-way fare to Mykonos, there were three fares, with €19 being the lowest depending on the time of day traveling. But by the time we finally booked, the price was more than €80. It so happens that we booked our flight on the same weekend that Greece was having their elections, and it was mandatory that everyone voted from their hometown.

The airline doesn't do multi-point or multi-stop tickets, being more of a spoke approach, with the hub as Athens, of course.

When we boarded our flight out, the female flight attendants' uniforms reminded me that it was a foreign airline showing skin to the shoulder (I thought of being in a James Bond movie at that moment). Our seat assignments aren't given till we checked in, and based on weight distribution on the plane, as it wasn't full, but we were almost the last ones, so we got assigned the tail section. It was the worst ride I've ever flown in, the weather being quite turbulent. And my partner is frightened by this kind of flying. We made it through, but it was a rough ride though relatively a brief 23-minute flight. Even the flight attendants seemed quite shakened and stirred from the experience.

We were booked to return the next evening, but we all wanted to return of the afternoon flight, hoping that the weather might be better coming back at that time of day. We called ahead to see if there would be space. We were informed that would not be a problem; just come to the airport to change it. Apparently, we weren't the only ones thinking that, as the afternoon return was about full.

Because the flight was domestic and brief, no alcohol was served. If you need or want alcohol, the coffee concession kiosk just prior to entering the airport facility selling coffee will also sell wine.

They have a frequent-flyer program and are partnered with Lufthansa.

Email comments: wwwcontact@aegeanair.com

Telephone reservations 801 11 20000 available 0700-2300 hours to assist. Within Greece from your mobile or abroad, call +30 210 6261000, or visit one of their ticket offices. Read Less