Holiday Day four
A morning in Central Athens
Day four of our trip was one of those ‘hanging around waiting for a plane’ days. We’d booked a Welcome Pickups very welcome pickup for after lunch, and being the early-bird kind of folk we are, had done the breakfast thing and were ready to head out by eight in the morning. It was a sunny day, and although early March, warm. We were to be blessed with (mainly) good weather for the next three weeks, but we didn’t know that at the time.
What we did know all to well was that the hotel we were staying at had lift music. Just like you see in comedy films, we’d press the button, wait for the whir and clunk, the doors would open, and we’d be greeted by a clanging rendition of The Girl From Ipanema and suchlike. It got to the point of having to cover our ears purely to remain sane or opting for the stairs, but it made us laugh because otherwise, you’d go mad. Lifts were also to play a major part in the days to come, and we’ll be returning to the subject in due course.
Syntagma Square
The first stop of the day was just around the corner and Syntagma Square to admire its emptiness at that time of day.
[Syntagma Square is the central square of Athens. The square is named after the Constitution that Otto, the first King of Greece, was obliged to grant after a popular and military uprising on 3 September 1843. It is located in front of the 19th century Old Royal Palace, housing the Greek Parliament since 1934.]
By the way, these snippets of info are from Wikipedia, so if they are not accurate, you can blame the worldwide know-it-all population who keep the pages updated. For us, it was a case of killing time while doing something of interest, so we watched the Evzonoi at the Parliament building for a while.
[The Evzones or Evzonoi were several historical elite light infantry and mountain units of the Greek Army. Today, they are the members of the Presidential Guard, a ceremonial unit that guards the Greek Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the Presidential Mansion in Athens.]
The National Garden
Okay, so square and Evzones ticked off the list, and onto the National Gardens, or rather, into them. I shan’t bother you with the basic Wiki definition of the… Okay then, I will, as it’s easier than writing it again. The National Garden is a public park of 15.5 hectares in the center of the Greek capital, Athens. It is located between the districts of Kolonaki and Pangrati, directly behind the Greek Parliament.
I’ve always found it a place of surprising tranquillity considering it’s bordered by wide roads and, at times, heavy traffic. It was still early morning by Greece standards, and there were only a few joggers, bird-feeders and yoga classes to disturb as we showed Paddington palm trees and parakeets, the petting zoo and the pond. We must have walked every path and seen every bush, which are labelled so you can read what they are, before we wandered past the Presidential Palace (more Evzones), and back around to Syntagma.
Coffee was taken at the quirky café whose name I can’t remember, but which offers all manner of delights, including a pavement-side view of a spat about parking. This entertainment, between a lorry driver and a fierce lady, included dialogue such as ‘why should you want to get that f*****g thing around that corner anyway, mal**a!’ which was very enjoyable and helped pass 15 minutes. (There was a lot of storming off and coming back, shouting at those trying to mediate and walking off again.) I didn’t dare take any photos.
To the airport
Back to the hotel to double-check the packing and make sure we’d not left jackets in wardrobes, that we had passports, tickets, money, bears, and that everything was paid for and we were free to go. Our taxi arrived ten minutes early, as they tend to do with that company, and we were whisked off to the airport. The usual Greek taxi interrogation ensued; where from, where going, what do you do, why Symi, how much do you earn, what’s the name of your first-born, and was it arrivals or departures? I can’t remember the cost, but it wasn’t much compared to lugging cases across the city. Mind you, I’ve been from Syntagma to the airport by bus before, and it’s not expensive and only takes about an hour or less, depending on traffic, and there’s always the underground for €10.00, but as I’ve said, it was one of those holidays.
Athens Airport has been voted one of the best in Europe, and I’ve always found it easy to handle and comfortable to wait in. It even has a museum to browse. As usual, we were there several hours before it was necessary, and had plenty of time to wander shops we’d wandered before, sit at cafés we knew, and generally poke around once our bags were checked in. It was an Aegean flight, so everything was on time and well organised, but we were checking the news as there was increasing talk of this virus thing that was spreading through Italy. Images of Rome deserted didn’t help our concerns that we might find London in the same state, but then it was still only ‘wash hands and try not to touch surfaces.’ Paddington, being a well-travelled bear, took further precautions.
He had a seat to himself on the flight, which was comfortable and on a new airbus that had a facility where you could track your journey, which I found fascinating.
We’d organised another taxi at the other end, though not through the same company, and it took a while to find the chap who was, allegedly waiting for us in a very quiet arrivals hall. We did meet in the end, though, and he whisked us off at incredible speed from Heathrow to the Covent Garden Travelodge which I’d used before. Except I hadn’t as it was a different one. Then it turned out to be the same one but another part of it, and once I’d seen the street sign for Drury Lane, I knew where I was, and Neil was happy. We were given a room in the basement which, at first, we approached with trepidation, but which in fact, turned out to be perfect. But more about that tomorrow.
