Our 1st Night in Athens, Greece

The flight from Philadaphia to Athens, Greece was smooth, uneventful and we thanked God that we landed safely in Athens. But the lineup at Passport Control at the Athens Airport was very long!

This lineup reminded me of the long queue we had to endure at Disney World. It went around and around and seemed endless. We waited for almost an hour before getting through the customs.

But the airport seemed to have the automatic passpport checking machines all set up but they were just sitting there not being used. Perhaps, there were problems with these machines. What a pity!

At the Athens Airport, we were able to buy a SIM card and had some of our money changed to the local currency, therefore we were able to order an Uber ride taking us to our hotel. Since it was in the evening, we couldn’t see much in the dark.

After being dropped us off at the hotel and finished checking in, we went out to the neighborhood looking for a restaurant for dinner. Not wanting to be far from everything, we booked a downtown hotel. However, located away from the main street, the area where we were in was not well lit with only a few street lamps. We saw bold graffiti everywhere on many of the store front steel doors.

Our first impression of Athens was somewhat doubtful. ' Are we in a bad area of Athens? Did we make a wrong decision to be here?' we asked ourselves.

  We did find a small nice neighbourhood restaurant where we enjoyed some genuine local Greek food!

 After our very first delicious Greek dinner, we strolled around the area to check out the neighborhood. Though the local market was closed. there were still quite a few shops open after 8 p.m. We bought some nuts, herbal teas etc. and look forward to start our Greek holiday the next day. RT, Athens, Greece Day 1