We went to Athens, the capital city of Greece and it was really awesome! The weather was fanstatic, mediterranean climate as they call it. It was hot like naija weather so no complaining there. Besides London is getting cold now. We arrived Thursday evening and went to our hotel. On our way to the hotel I couldn’t help but notice the many storey buildings and a lot of sign posts and placards. It reminded me of Lagos in a way.
I had done most of the planning i.e the hotel, places to visit with the help of a Greek colleague (lets call her GC) at work. GC had detailed all the major tourist attractions to visit. If not for that girl, we for miss road in Athens o. Anyway, I booked a sea view room , as our hotel is by the sea and I was really impressed with the view (not as much as the room though). So serene and lovely.
After unpacking and stuff we went down for dinner in the hotel. We paid for half board (breakfast and dinner). Big mistake. I will explain later. When we got to the dinner area, the first thing we noticed was all the stares from people already having their dinner. As in if stares could kill, I won’t be here to give you an account of our trip. I would have thought in this day and age white people will be used to seeing black folks like me and husby but apparently that was not the case. Abit this people no dey see black person before?? Anyway we had supper..which I thought was comestible. Hubsy thought it was "just there". I asked for butter for my bread and this was what I got.
Maybe na my accent o, or they just didn’t want to give me butter because the following morning there was enough butter for breakfast! It actually tasted ok sha.
Anyway on Friday, we took the tram to the Athens town which is about 45 mins from our hotel. We went to the Acropolis, the ancient Greek temples. The Acropolis is on a hill so we had to do some climbing to get up to the temples. I kept waiting at different points to rest. Climbing no easy! We also visited another place called Ancient Agora. It was all really cultural and stuff. Here are some pictures (will try to upload some more later).
Can you see my head? LOL
Later we had lunch at a restaurant in Plaka area. GC had warned me that people would try to drag you into their restaurants, so in a way I was prepared for dragging. Funny enough because we were farmished and tired, we just entered the first restaurant we found after the guy hollered at us. It was situated outside, I guess because of how hot the weather is, with fans blowing all round. We had chicken souvlaki (Kebab basically) as recommended by GC with rice and potatoes. It was quite tasty!
Afterwards, we walk round the shops on Ermou, Athen’s high street. In some of the shops we entered, we still got stared at and some people even asked “where are you from?” Answer: “London”. Funny enough I am sure if it was just me I would have said Nigeria..lol..but I just followed husby’s lead: “We are londoners, ese (thank you)”. When we got tired of walking about we decided to go back to the hotel and we headed to the sea side. As per bush girl like me that cannot swim I decided to stay by the tip of the sea for fear of being carried away by the water. At least my hubsy managed to enter small. The weather by the sea was really breezy and refreshing I didn’t even realise when I dozed off on my beach towel, kai aloted & sleep!
Dinner time, katakata nearly burst! Husby was not thrilled with the food at the hotel and you know how men can be when it comes to food. I was busy enjoying the food…or at least managing to enjoy it and I guess that infuriated him the more. He settled for the biscuits and juice I packed from home. I thought the whole episode was funny and I told him if it was possible to cook from home and put in a cooler I would have but with all them airport rules et al that wasn’t feasible. Point for next time- book only bed & breakfast or make sure we go on holiday where there are family and friends, so we can stop by to eat eba and ewedu or something Nigerian. Or any ideas for next time???
The plan for Saturday was to go to Poros Island for the day (according to GC's bible). As at Friday night, the plan was still on but by Saturday morning, husby said he didn’t feel like going anyway so we chilled in the hotel room and later on went to the pool in the hotel (I watched while husby attempted to swim). For lunch we jeje-ly went to Pizza hut (familiar grounds) and bought KFC takeaway for dinner. Food sorted there, Phew!
I am not much of a narrator so apologies if I have not been able to describe Athens very well or how much fun we had in Greece but we sure did. The highlights for me was:
1) How Athens reminding me so much of Lagos.
2) The stares we kept getting from people, we ran into maybe just two other black people except for those hawking so in a way I understand.
3) The beautiful weather
4) Hubsy not enjoying the food! I have sure learnt a lot from this experience. :) No dulling next time!
Meanwhile today is Ten things Tuesday. I am thankful for: finally going on my honeymoon albeit eight months after wedding day, journey mercies, the gift of life, gift of love & friendship, the different kinds of people/races in this world, my hubsy, my parents, my parents-in-law, my business and GC for being our virtual guide.
Lastly, Happy new month to y'all. This is your month of signs and wonders. The "Ember" months will be for signs & wonders in Jesus Name.
