Right from landing, we had to slow down. While I’m sure there are Greeks in a hurry or stressed, we could not find any on a late Sunday morning. Deplaning and going through customs was smooth and relaxed. Confirming the saying (often attributed to the Navy SEALS): “slow is smooth, smooth is fast,” as through no effort of our own and a 5-minute pause to fix an issue with my travel eSIM, we flew through the airport. The vacation's slow and unconcerned pace really kicked in when we went for the metro.
The M3 metro line between the airport and downtown runs every half hour and takes about 30 minutes to get you to the Syntagma, the downtown Athens station. We were lucky enough to get to the platform not long after the train (as it's above ground before it gets into Athens), allowing us to sit and enjoy the 32°C warmth and sunshine.
The metro trip revealed that my research on mask rules and other COVID protection measures in Greece, while factually correct, might have missed the local nuances. If you’ve followed our 2018 trip driving through Sicily, you know that while the Italians might have laws governing how one should behave on the road, the Sicilians really take them as suggestions (if you haven’t read through that trip, you should!). Turns out, wearing masks on public transit in Greece seems to follow the same pattern. While masks are required on public transit, it doesn’t seem like it’s a thing around the airport. As we boarded our train, nobody wore masks, but as we made our way downtown, more and more people wore masks. Finally, four or five stops before Syntagma, there’s an announcement ”reminding” everyone onboard that masks are required on public transit. People without masks seem to see it as a suggestion, and nobody looks twice at them. I'm not sure what to make of this yet, other than that it's the local nuances of the law.
While waiting for the hotel to be ready, we went for our first Greek snack. Airplane food is fine, but we do travel for our stomachs. To ease ourselves into Greek food, we opted for a gelato at 📍Le Greche. An Italian dessert made from local Greek ingredients. It was smooth, silky, and delicious. The list of flavours on the board was all tempting, and limiting ourselves to two was a challenge.
After a well-deserved shower and a fresh change of clothes, we felt ready for our first adventure. We started with the 📍National Garden for a walk in the warmth and the shade of trees. We’re dealing with limited sleep, so we’re not going for anything that requires too much brain power. Spending an hour wandering at random in the garden, visiting the many, many plants, trees, turtles and ducks it hosts was just the thing to open up our appetite for the next meal.
📍 Kafeneio is unassuming, a couple of tables on each side of a small alley. They served us the most delicious sfoliata I’ve ever had. Granted, it’s the first time we've cooked feta in a thin layer of phyllo paste and then drenched it in deep amber honey (sfoliata), but it’s something we’re already planning to have again! We actually ordered mezze, the Greek version of the Spanish tapas. It’s small plates to share, but it can contain vegetables or olives on top of the classic cheese, meat and bread favoured by the Spaniards. While we had a couple of plates, it’s the feta with honey that charmed us and has us planning for more.
While our first day of vacation in Greece coincides with the last Sunday of August and the last day of summer vacation for many Europeans, the streets of the city are still bustling. Since Greeks tend to have dinner late (after 21:00), we wanted to secure our meal. Our online research did allow us to make an online reservation for tomorrow (Monday), but we could not find a restaurant that we were willing to visit and that would accept a reservation for Sunday night. We had to revert to a strategy that predates online booking, making a short list of restaurants to visit one after another and asking if they would take a reservation for later tonight.
Our 10-kilometre trek to four different restaurants was a success! We did get a table at one of the more touristy restaurants on our list (still recommended by the Routard). The trek allowed us to visit many of the neighbourhoods surrounding Athens’ famous Acropolis. Outside of the more touristy area, I don’t think I can tell which is better off than the other. Athens is the first city we walk through, and we see a modern and super-maintained house between two run-down houses. The same is true for a low-rent building situated between two squats or high-end homes. I love the diversity that must be created. It also made for a lot of street art, with some of it very striking.
Diner was at 📍Kuzina as it’s in a tourist restaurant row with a terrace with a view of both the 📍Temple of Hephaestus and the Acropolis. The location adds to the price, but they genuinely care about serving great food. Their discovery menu allowed us to taste a broad sampling of their menu. A lot of local products with some further ingredients (like Salmon). All tasty, all well executed with excellent service. They’ve introduced us to wines from Santorini, and we’re now really looking forward to our visit to the island. However, our livers are on the fence about it.
Tomorrow, we’re going to the Acropolis and any must-see museum we can fit in the day. We’ll be packing to leave for Corfu the next morning.