A Luxurious Ferry Ride to Aegina Island, Greece

Day 1 – There are many island to visit but we were not sure which one to go. Therefore desiring to find out more about the numerous Greek island trips, we went to Port Pireaus via Athens subway – Metro Blue line, the second last subway station. We paid only 1.2 Euro for the ride, very reasonable compared to some parts of the world where passengers are charged by the distance they travel on the subway. In Athens, Greece, one METRO fare is charged regardless of the distance you travel and passengers will have 90 minutes to reuse their tickets which is a bargain when you need to do a couple of errands in the city.

At the Pireaus Port, we asked the ticket personnel about where we could go for a 1 day island visit. She gave us the names of four islands and we chose Aegean Island for a 1 night stay.

The next day, we bought our tickets online and took the Saronic ferry leaving at 5p.m. from Port Pireaus. A one way ticket was 19 Euro; for a return ticket, it was 24 Euro, much cheaper. This was the first time we went to visit a Greek island via a Greek ferry.

Wow, the interior cabin of the Saronic Ferry was beyond our expectation! It was modern and comfortably furnished with leather / leather like furniture with wide seatings designed for families and groups.

In addition to the large group seatings, there were also smaller seatings for 2 to 4 people.

A cafe called the Flocafe - where hot and cold beverages as well as sandwiches, salad and pastries could be purchased. The ferry ride was about an hour and 15 minutes.

We had lovely sunny weather and the ride was over before we even realized it! The first building we saw at the dock was a tiny church! How cute was that! We couldn't get over how many worshop places we have seen on this trip so far!

We got off the ferry at late afternoon on Aegean Island. We saw many nice trendy restaurnats along the waterfront and diners were obviously enjoying this tranquil island setting.

The sun was setting and we took our time strolling around by the waterfront, enjoying the lovely view on this island. There was a bus going to our hotel located on the other side of the island.

However, the service stopped at 6 p.m. We missed the town bus going to our hotel and thought to ourselves: no problem, we could order an Uber ride. When we tried to order the Uber, it came up to be Can $168.00! Even more expensive than our hotel for a night on this island.

Not willing to pay for that expensive Uber ride, we used our cell phone and asked AI what other alternative was there. AI told us not to use Uber, but go to where the taxi stand was near the port and asked them for a price for a ride to our hotel. We did just that! It costed only 20 Euros! AI saved the day for us! Thank you, Chat GPT!

By the time we got into the taxi, the sun had gone down and it was dark outside; we couldn’t see anything on our way to the hotel. The taxi ride was longer than we thought, more than 30 minutes.

We arrived at this oceanfront hotel and all the staff seemed to have gone to bed already. Finally, after waiting for sometime for the staff to arrive, we checked into our room and called it a night. Looking forward to spending a day on this island the following day.

RT, A Ferry Ride on the Saronic Ferry Athens, Greece, 042026

Monastiraki Square and the Little Hook - My Favourite Places to Visit When Surviving on 40 Euros for 4 Days in Athens

Having lost all our valuables and with another four days to go before we could receive our replacement passports, we were careful how we spent our 40 Euros. We spent 10 Euros on the first day after the theft on Metro fares and a roasted chicken and potato dinner. It was delicious and there was even enough leftover for lunch the next day.

For the next couple of days, we explored Athens on foot and looking for things to see that were free. Lucky for us, there were lots to see! Though the greater area of Athens has almost 3.2 millions inhabitants, we were able to find a quiet spot in the busy tourist area and had our lunch under a tree after we had our walk about in the charming winding streets of the Plaka district.

We saw many beautiful churches, shops and trendy restaurants. However, trying to conserve our cash, we were unable to enjoy a meal at one of these nice places.

But we still had lots of fun visiting many unique places. A few places stood out for me:

1. Monastiraki Square - a vibrant, bustling plaza located in the heart of Athens, in one of the oldest neighbourhoods. We walked past this square a few times and each time, we saw lively market with many interesteing stalls. The square seemed to be busy all the time with many people taking rest, sitting on the benches, chatting and hanging out with friends.

We enjoyed looking at the blend of historical architecture and landmarks such as the Church of the Pantanassa, the 18th century Tzistarakis Mosque ( now houses a ceramics museum) and the ancient ruins of Hadrian's Library only steps away. We saw lots of ruins. Athens is a bit like Rome, a living museum!

2. Little Hook Cafe - Located in the Psiri neighborhood, this whimsical cafe capatured my attention during our stroll around the tourist area. It was enchanting with its colourful and themed decorations. I felt we had walked into a fairly tale wonderland! This unconventional cafe offered sweet and savory crepes and other treats. I liked this cafe a lot and lingered there for a long time taking many pictures of their many fairytale style decorations.

3. Walking up to the Acropolis - There were a lot to see walking up to the Acropolis! Though the first time we did it, we had our wallet containing our valuables stolen from my backpack, therefore, we didn't complete the walk. Re walking up towards the hill, we totally enjoyed our walk up there! However, we didn't have enough cash nor a credit card to pay for our admission to see the ruins and would have to wait until we got the replacements of our stolen doucments.

  We had another great day without spending too mnuch money in Athens!

  RT, Athens, 042026 PS At the Little Hook, I discovered that I am still a littel kid at heart!

A Guided Tour of the Catacombs in Athens

After our Easter Sunday service and church lunch, we left the church anf explore the other interesting places in the area. We came across another church not too far from the St. Paul Anglican church. Passing by the Athens Holy Trinity Church, we saw a sign informing the public about a Catacombs tour during the weekdays. But seeing that the church door was still open, we tried our luck hoping that there would be a tour available on Sunday.

We were blessed! Because the staff in the church informed us that the church guides were here and available to give us a guided tour! The Holy Trinity Church also known as the Russian Orthodox Church - a magnificent old building decorated with huge chandeliers and numerous wall paintings and portraits. The building of the church was financed by a German King for the Russians in Athens; he even managed to have himself painted among the many portraits of the saints. We were asked to pick him out from among these saints.

  Then to the catacombs - Only when we looked carefully, we discovered the small opening on the floor just enough for one person to squeeze through and down to the secret tunnels and rooms below. We learned a lot about the catacombs hidden in the basement of the church.

This was initially a Roman Bath but later became a hiding place for the nuns and other Christians being persecuted at the time.

We learned something from our tour guide about the Roman baths. During the Roman time, the bathers, mainly men ( in some Roman bath places, there might be a separate area for men and another one for women.) would be all naked while lying around enjoying the hot bath. Being naked and seeing all these naked bodies around, some people got excited and might do things to one another and sometimes things happened.

  However, when Christianity arrived to the city, Christians believed that the Roman bath was an immoral place where sexual acts were practised therefore, decided to close these places down.

 

  We had an interesting history lesson about the Roman baths and the catacombs in Athens!

  RT, Holy Trinity Church, Athens, Greece 042026

Attending an Easter Sunday Service at St. Paul's Anglican Church, Athens

It was the Easter Sunday in Athens! We always attend a Sunday service no matter what part of the world we happen to be visiting. We were able to find from the internet that there would be an English Service at the St. Paul's Anglican Church serving the English speaking residents in Athens. We looked forward to attending the Easter Sunday service at the church which was pretty packed when we got there about 15 minutes before service started.

  At around 10 a.m. there was standing room only, we were happy that we got there early enough to find a seat for the duration of the service. With the declining attendance of church services in many parts of Europe, I was very happy to see the church full of congregants of all ages!

The people at the church were warm welcoming and the lady sitting beside me and I even had a small chat before the start of the service. With humour and thoughtful language, the minister shared a heart warming message with the congregation. Being reminded of Jesus' sacrifice and God's love for me once again, I was moved to tears.

  This is why I enjoy going to our weekly church service so much for the past many decades. Many of us living in the west are leading such busy lives that we hardly have any quiet moments to reflect and be thankful to God for His blessings. I am thankful that many ministers' messages often challenge me to think what are the priorities in my life and therefore help me to refocus and reset my goals.

  A light lunch was served after the service and everyone was invited to take part in this lunch. I was surprised how the church could manage to feed everyone on one of the busiest holy days. Well, it did! With just 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, Jesus performed a miracle and was able to feed the 5000 people in the New Testament time! I should not be surprised that this church was able to feed everyone who wished to partake in the Easter Day lunch.

  It was wonderful meeting other Christians from Athens and celebrating Easter together while we were in Greece!

  RT, Easter Sunday Service Athens, Greece

Stretching Our Budget & Still Having Fun - Meeting Athens' Mayor During Open House Athens 2026

Since we had all our valuables stolen on the second day of our holiday in Greece, we have to change our travel itinary. Instead of travelling around to different cities in Greece and going to other neighbouring countries, we have to limit our activities in Athens while waiting for our new passports.

It was a good thing that a buffet breakfast was included in our hotel therefore, we didn't have to spend anything on breakfast. It was a Saturday and we were wondering where we could go to spend this day without spending too much money as we were still awaiting emergency funds from our relative back home in North America.

We left the hotel heading towards the hill and saw some people lining up for something outside a building in a square close to our hotel. Curious, we went to see what was drawing the crowd.

Lucky for us, this weekend was Open House Athens 2026 weekend! Many government and some famous buildings were open to the public for free!

 

 

  We just needed to line up, got a number, entered the building and had a tour of the place.

 

 

 

 

 

  The first building where we had a brief tour was the National Bank of Greece with an imopressive open space on the main floor.

The tour guide gave us a talk about the history of the building which started out as a hotel and over time, it evolved into other uses and currently is the home of the National Bank of Greece.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  The second building we toured was the Athens Municipal Building.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The building has many beautiful rooms adorned with many manificent artwork such as colurful stained glass windows, huge wall murals depicting the history of Greece from its glorios past.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We got to see where the city employees work, and receive their guests as well as the mayor's office too.

And lucky for us, the Mayor of Athens was working this weekend and he was in his office while we visited the building.

He was gracious enough to receive us and spoke with us briefly about the future plans for his city. He was friendly, down to earth and approachable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  I even had my picture taken with him!

 

 

  It was a great day for me and my husband as we didn't have to spend too much from our 40 Euros to have a good time in Athens!

RT, Open Day, Athens 2026, Greece

Stretching Our 40 Euros for 4 Days While Vacationing in Athens, Greece, Part 1

Whatever could go wrong while on holiday has gone wrong for us in Athens, Greece. All our valuables - passports, bank cards and cash were stolen on the second day of our vacation in Athens.

We thought we were lucky as my husband still had his credit card in his pocket but that card was swallowed up by the ATM machine when we tried to withdraw some cash from it!

After searching everything we had in our possession, we managed to scrape together a total of 40 Euros! Because we were in Athens at the time of the western Easter holiday duration, we would not be able to get our replacement passports until after the 4 day long weekend!

Determined not to have our vacation ruined by the theft in Greece, we needed to stretch our 40 Euros for at 4 days! We had to be creative and thrifty so that our money would last! We faced the challenge head on.

First, we called our loved ones, E. assured us that he would use his credit card and book hotels for us for the rest of our holiday in Greece. Thank goodness, our accommodation has been looked after and we would not become homeless in Athens!

Athens is an ancient historic city, full of history with lots to see and visit. We would try to look for FREE things to do and visit places with FREE admission in this lovely city so that we would only need to spend our 40 Euros on food and transportation.

Since we bought a 2 day city bus tour the day before, we still had one day left on our pass.

We hopped onto the tour bus by the Omonia Metro Station and tried to enjoy the rest of the city tour. It took us around and we completed the part of Greece we didn't see from the last time.

In fact, a number of attractions were close to the hotel where we were staying for the first two nights in Athens.

We went to the famous Fish Market (no admission charge ) where many vendors selling fresh seafood inside the building.

 

  Near the Fish Market, there were many other stalls and shops opened selling spices, fruits and vegetables, arts and crafts and many other things.

 

 

 

 

  We were kept busy looking and trying to decide what food items we would purchase and taste.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  In the evening when we walked back to our hotel, we rediscovered the Omonia Sqaure and the Hondos Centre at night.

The Hondos Centre - a building with six or seven stories for retail where you could shop til you drop. What we liked most was the roof top restaurant, nicely furnished with a relaxing atmosphere where we could rest our tired feet, sipped our beverage and had a bite to eat.

 

  The best part of the Hondos Centre's roof top restaurant was the view! We had a lovely view of the area and the many buildings below us as well as the lighted up Acropolis in the distance!

Zooming in the Acropolis, I could even had a decent view of this building at night!

 

  With only 40 Euros with us and stretching over four days, we could not order a meal at the restaurant but We enjoyed our coffee and the view there. The restuarnat closed at 9p.m.

  As for dinner, in a eatery nearby the Omonia Square, we were able to buy a chicken with roasted potatoes for 6 Euros! It was delicious and a good dinner! An enjoyable day without spending too much from our 40 Euros!

  RT, Athens, Greece p.s. We still had about 30 Euros left for the next 3 days!