Athens: Day 1 (Traveling and Arrival)

ATHENS, GREECE : Traveling and Arrival

Ah, nothing beats waking up at 3 am, only getting 2 hours of sleep, and being expected to function. However, when you think about the fun in the future, you go on full excitement adrenaline ( with the help of coffee of course. And of course nothing beats running to your flight because you spent 30 minutes trying to find your parking garage and being late. So, thank you Brussels airport. However, all was well and we made it to our flight barely in enough time. Again Expedia, the holy grail of traveling, was used to find our flights and hotel. We flew out of Brussels first thing in the morning and traveled to Zurich where we had a 2 hour lay over. Eventually, we made our way down to Athens. The hotel we were staying at was in the center of Athens, however the airport was an hour away. The hotel suggested that we take a bus, which we did. There is a kiosk right outside the airport where you buy your tickets.  Riding the bus or the bus system of Athens was surprisingly easy to use. We got on and got off with little problems. The only problem we had was in Syntagma Square when we got off the bus from the airport and had to ride another bus to the hotel. Lucky for us, a man helped us find the right bus line (literally a few seconds off the bus). We were a bit skeptical on whether it was right or not. BUT EVERYONE SPEAKS AT LEAST A LITTLE BIT OF ENGLISH!! So keep that in mind, and don't be afraid to ask for help. Eventually we made it to our hotel, Hotel Ledra.. I would recommend this hotel. It was right in the center of Athens and in the summer, if you are at the pool you will have a beautiful view of the Parthenon. In the end....

Top five things of the first day:

1. Everyone speaks english

2. Our trip ( flight and hotel) only cost 389 Euros per person

3. I would Recommend Hotel Ledra

4. If there is a breakfast option at your hotel I would highly recommend

5. Spring is best time for weather in Greece ( not to hot, not to cold)

* Note* One thing that I found funny was the fact that everyone was wearing full winter parkas in 70 degree weather. And here of course my family decides to wear shorts and shirts ( yes we definately looked like we were from somewhere cold, and being blonde haired/ blue eyed we stuck out like white people in harlem.) Another thing I noticed that the main transportation was motorcyles and taxis, which I will later discussed. At the first look of the city. I truly wasn't impressed. 

A view from our bus ride, traffic was insane

Only a little bit of the graffiti. I was amazed at how empty buildings were.