I left my heart in Athens (25th of September - 2nd of October)

Sunday was the day I finally got back to Athens. I was so excited to see my friends again, and even more, to enjoy my birthday there. I left to the airport early in the morning, and my flights were supposed to be leaving exactly same time as last time. Unfortunately at this point I had absolutely no idea how frustrating that day would get. I was at the Helsinki-Vantaa airport around 9am, and while I was doing my check-in, bad news hit me. There was a strike going on at the Int E. Venizelos airport in Athens, which meant that plane couldn't take off in Finland before things in Athens airport were put in to order so that we would be able to land there. In the end my plane was supposed to leave 10:45, and left around 14:00. Whole waiting was frustrating, but I was just happy to finally get there.

My friend, who lives in Athens, came to the airport and together we went off to my hotel, which also was the same as last time. After arriving to Metaxourghio, the hotel I've stayed in (Classical Athens Imperial) felt already familiar. After getting key to my room, things went back to the way they started that day. My room was directly across to another building, where anyone could see everything that happens in my room, unless I keep my curtains closed at all times. I was way too tired so I just ordered some food from a room service, closed my curtains and got some sleep.

Next day I started my morning pretty normal way, kinda waiting to get the extreme annoyance because of the location of my room, and when that finally came I went straight to the reception to make my complains. Since I've been staying with them before, and planned to stay in the future, I made some good points that when someone from Finland comes to Greece, to a five-star hotel, they expect to at least be able to open the curtains and see glimpse of that sun that shines almost everyday. Receptionist I talked to, was really helpful and upgraded me to a better room without any extra costs or problems.  Room was slightly better than the deluxe-room I stayed on my previous visit, and view was decent, not the best one but at least I got to keep my curtains open. 

Monday & Tuesday, I was about to go outside with my friends, but of course there had to be many strikes going on in Greece, and public transportation was not possibility in two days. So we ended up spending most of that time at the hotel, and took some walk around the Metaxourghio area. 

Wednesday, when metro was still on strike, but train was working normally, we walked to the oh-so-famous Omonia square. To be honest, that was my first time at Omonia and I was expecting something a lot better. So we took a train to The Mall, shopping center in Marousi, Athens. Place was right next to the Nerantziotissa train station, so it was quite easy to reach with a train.

The Mall Athens
(photo: konstantinoskontos.com)

I was highly surprised by all the shops this mall included. Lots of high quality stores and labels, even ones that we don't have in Finland. The Mall included shops like MAC, Guess, Miss Sixty, GAP, H&M, Lacoste, Paul Frank, Replay, Stradivarius, Swarovski, TALLY WEiJL, Tsakiris Mallas, Benetton, Zara & Zara Home and of course many restaurants, fast food places, coffee shops, even Starbucks!

There was a nice view just outside The Mall, to the Olympic Stadium

 On this trip I didn't really take that much photos, I was more interested about everything else that happened, and since the strikes kinda screwed with stuff we wanted to do, there's nothing too amazing to tell from the first days. 

Thursday was my birthday, that started out with little panic because of some personal issues, but soon turned out to be fine. I went out with my two favorite greeks and had awesome time, even tho we didn't do anything that special. We met up at Syntagma square and went to Public which basically is huge store with everything from games to books, electronics to coffee shop. Upstairs we had the most amazing coffee ever, that literally kicked Starbucks' ass 6-0. I hate to say it but I fell in love with their coffee and cheated my beloved Starbucks more than once. I had Capuccino Freddo Latte which was best latte I have ever tasted. Heaven. With that I ate Caesar's Salad and enjoyed the best company ever. 

After that we took a long walk at Ermou, the famous shopping street that goes all the way from Syntagma to Monastiraki. Since I had two guys with me, I didn't really go insane with all the cool shops, instead I decided to come back there at some point. After having good time with our friend, I spend rest of the day with my guy just taking it easy and enjoying ourselves. We also took trip to The Mall, yet again, to enjoy some coffee's and birthday cheesecake. Whole birthday went rather calmly, but it was actually one of the best birthdays ever since I got to be with people I so much care for, in Athens doing normal stuff that makes me happy. I also took couple cool pictures on our way back to the hotel while we were walking around in Syntagma, like one of the Parliament House at night.

Friday went like any other day, enjoying our time together, which of course was the biggest point of the whole week. We also saw another friend we didn't get to meetup with before, who's exam got cancelled and went to have coffee and breakfast to Gazi College in Kerameikos. Little bit later another friend joined us, and all four headed to the Athens Heart shopping center, where I haven't been before, just for a walk. After few hours our friends took off and we decided to go get some rest at the hotel.

Later that evening we went to take a walk in Panepistimiou, University area and couldn't resist the calling of Starbucks. After coffees we walked thru the shopping streets all the way to the Syntagma Square and back, just checking out places and purely enjoying ourselves. In the end of the evening, we even went all out and had an awesome pizza @ Galleria.

We tried to get out as much as possible, since first couple days we mostly spend near the hotel because of all the strikes that were going on. Also the fact that this week was more personal for both of us, so excuse the lack of photos and interesting happenings. :)

Saturday we took another walk around to Syntagma and Public café. This time I took something totally different, Espresso with cream, chocolate and Oreo cookies, so basically not really a coffee but totally delicious thing! After that I spend some time to buy souvenirs and we headed to Ermou once again. 

This time I actually entered some shops, like Stadivarius, Tsakiris Mallas and Tally Weijl. Bought couple pieces of clothing for myself, then drink from Starbucks with official SB souvenirs and off to look for other things to bring people who have been making my days in Finland, somewhat decent.

Cute street cat that was right outside of one of the souvenir shops

While heading to Monastiraki, we spotted some normal ruins that I'm kinda already getting used to. But they're still really nice looking and beautiful.

After souvenir-shopping we headed back to the hotel to get some rest, after all, it was the last evening before returning to Finland, so we had planned to go out later. I actually captured a beautiful Athens sunset while waiting for the sun go down.

For the evening, we headed to Plaka, only known place around Monastiraki and Syntagma area I haven't been to. We walked around quite a lot and finally found nice place for dinner. Next time I go around there, I should write up name of that place, it's definitely worth of money. Spending some quality time and enjoying the last evening of that week, absolutely best thing to do before going home. I even captured the view from Monastiraki at night.

Sunday morning wasn't really the best one in a sense that we were both quite sad that in few hours I'm off to Finland, or so we thought. Still we enjoyed our time that we had left until it was time to get to the airport. When doing my check-in, I was told that flight would be late, instead of leaving 15:20, it would leave 18:30. This time delay wasn't bad at all, we got three more hours together, even tho we stayed at the airport, we definitely took everything out of that time. 

When it was time to go and there didn't seem to be delays, came the hardest part of the week, but it's not like I'm never returning there, all in due time. Unfortunately, when I got to the gate, they announced at the exact time gate was supposed to open, that flight will leave at 20:00. That point it all came crashing down, since my company had already left home, and I was alone, sad and stuck in that damn airport. In the end, plain left around 21:00, and I was back to Finland around 1am. 

There was many fails on that week, things didn't go how they were supposed to, but while I was with person I care for, or with friends, it was totally perfect. Now I'm just waiting to get back, hopefully sooner than later.

Need For Speed: The Run

Have you ever wondered how would Need For Speed be as an action game? Well, now you don't have to, because the new Need For Speed: The Run offers not only racing, but also action part. So far all the action in the games has been short films and mini movies, but this time were taking the driver out of the vehicle. 

Need For Speed: The Run -gameplay demo

On first thought, why do they have to mess up the main idea of Need For Speed by adding some more action into it? Then again, this might be a good thing since the games have been running around one concept, pure racing, either it is escaping cops or shifting gears on a racing track. And even tho there has been different kinds of stories and missions, you never take the driver out of the car. This will be one hell of a interesting game to try out. When PS3 came out, action buttons came to be more and more common thing during the gameplay. This is definitely game worth of attention, now let's just hope that it won't be a total flop like some of the NFS series games that just can't stand next to good classics.

In love with Athina (Athens, Greece 7th - 14th of August

Sun 7th of August, 2011

I do not want to wake up... do not want.. hey, hold on.. could it be? Athens! I woke up to an interesting day, since this was the day I was going to live to Greece! I've been waiting for such a long time for this vacation, excitement was overflowing. I was at the Helsinki-Vantaa airport 8.35, since my plane was taking off at 10:45. After making it through of the airport check-in, I decided to take a small breakfast that included super yummy (and expensive) croissant and glass of orange juice. I also made a Skype call to my friend in Denmark, just to give some update and get company for my breakfast.

Waiting my flight to leave was really nerve wrecking, since I just wanted to get to Athens and to tell the truth, I'm not fan of flying either. When the plane finally took off, I was already starting to feel happy.

My flight was in Athens about 14.30 or something, even earlier than it should. First I had some problems with lost suitcase, but thanks to my local friend who was waiting for me at the airport, that mess got solved and my suitcase was found. It's good to have someone speaking greek, since even with perfect english, you can't always manage. We took a taxi to my hotel, and finally I started realizing that this week will be superb.

Hotel that I was staying in, is Classical Athens Imperial, five-star hotel in Metaxourghio, definitely worth of money. Staff was nice, hotel was clean and tasteful, before I saw the carpet of my room. It was just horrible. But I shouldn't complain, everything else was nice and I even got upgraded to a better room, from standard double to deluxe, not bad.

King size bed, marble bathroom with shower and bathtub, TV, decent view and basic stuff.

And the view from a rooftop pool & bar.. I don't think there's anything more beautiful than this;

Acropolis view from the rooftop of Classical Athens Imperial

First day pretty much passed by settling in and taking it easy, hanging with my friend and having dinner down in the hotel restaurant. I tried out Caesar's Salad with chiken, probably one of the best Caesar Salads I've ever had. Sleeping was pretty easy after that tiring day, and even the hotel bed was decent enough not to give me any trouble.

Mon 8th of August, 2011

Good morning Athens! Nice to wake up and see sun high up in the sky, even tho I was really tired, american breakfast that was included to my room got me up and going. It was the perfect breakfast that included everything, breads and "bread accessories", yogurts, puddings, juices, coffee, tea, croissants and other pastry, cakes, fruits, bacon, pancakes, sausages, tomatos with cheese, eggs.. basically everything for every taste. Too bad I didn't take pictures from breakfast, tho at least I don't have to drool to my laptop. Delicious.

Second day went pretty easily, me and my friend went out for some basic places-to-see in Syntagma. These included the Parliament house and Athens National Garden. I was enjoying myself, even tho the heat was definitely getting to me, after all, in Finland it was like 10 degrees cooler.

Something to see if you take a trip to Athens;

The Parliament House

We found something super cute from the National Garden! Few clips from there;

Music by Projected Twin
Song: Circle of Two (feat. Temple Tigers)

Album: Earth To The World

Rest of the day went pretty much relaxing at the hotel, first dinner (really yummy spaghetti bolognese) and then amazing time at the rooftop, looking at the view and stars.

Tue 9th of August, 2011

3th day in beautiful Greece, wake up, breakfast and ready to roll! Plan was to finally get to THE tourist spot, heart of Athens.. Acropolis. First we visited Acropolis museum, lots of rocks that we never really looked that much closer, mostly just walked around and I was very interested about my friend telling some ancient historical stories that I almost forgot to pay attention to the museum itself. It was definitely nice to have own private guide who had something to tell about the place and it's history.

After the museum, it was time to meet "The Rock", Parthenon to be exact. Climbing up to the hill was some hard work in that 35 degree heat, it's a good thing my guide took care that I got enough to drink and had some time to rest in shadows so I wouldn't totally die.

When we finally got up, it was totally worth it, even tho that time there was still cranes and scaffolds. Maybe someday I get to see that place when it's clean from all of that modern stuff that kinda ruins the main feeling.

Acropolis under reconstructions

Even the view from Parthenon was worth of climbing up;

When this picture was taken, I had no idea I would end up to that exact spot some days later (saturday);

Acropolis was definitely the place to visit, and worth it, tho I highly recommend to visit it as late as possible to avoid a heatstroke. Good thing my friend/guide kept me from not dying because of thirst or heat. Smoothie after all that climbing was definitely the savior for the trip back to my hotel. This day definitely tired me pretty good, after dinner and some pool time, I slept like a baby and my feet muscles enjoyed the break.

Wed 10th of August, 2011

Wednesday started out with super early wake up (5:54), since I was supposed to go for Hydraiki Tours Athens One Day -cruise and bus was coming to pick up me and my friend at 7am. So no time for breakfast and I have to say, I was super tired. When the bus came, our trip to Piraeus port began. From there, we got on ship and got really lucky, since there was somewhat many tourists getting on the same cruise, but thanks to my friend who is greek, we got in faster instead of standing outside waiting for masses to get on that boat. For some reason they asked for two greeks out of the masses, so I guess this local-thing really pays off. I definitely couldn't have had better Greece guide.

First we set sail to Hydra, one of the three Saronic Islands we were going to visit this day. Hydra was 69km away from Piraeus, so trip there took quite a while. Tho it was really nice to enjoy the sun and sea. Hydra was pretty tourist-crowded but nice and pretty island. It was second smallest out of the three islands we visited (64.443 km²). Public transportation was mainly donkeys and water taxis. If we only knew that there was nice place for swimming, since my friend didn't take any swimming gear with him. That's why before leaving to the other islands, we took a while to visit the shops and find swimming trunks for him, just in case we get another chance.

After Hydra island, there was also lunch served at the ship, but this was definitely something that explains why price wasn't any higher. But at least it was some food.

Hydra's alleys were pretty but really narrow.

Sunset Restaurant was really nice looking, too bad we didn't have chance to eat there. Shadoww!

Sunset Restaurant @ Hydra Island

Swimming spots were more than tempting in that heat;

Hydra had lots of homeless kitties all over the place, and most of them were really nice and cute;

Second Island we headed to was Poros, smallest of the three islands (49.582 km²) and most traditional. We didn't really walk around too much, the main spot was Poros clock tower but we decided not to climb there, at least not this time. This island didn't have swimming spot anywhere near, so we decided to take it easy because the heat was really getting to us, and especially me, super white finnish girl that I am.

Port of Poros

Third island we went to, was biggest of the three (87.41 km² ), called Aegina. Most modern but to tell the truth, we didn't really enjoy the island itself too much, since while we were arriving to that island, we spotted really nice beach and we both were dying slowly because of the heat. So right away, after getting out of the ship, we set our course to that beach and cooling waves. We played in the water pretty much the whole time and made it just in time back the ship. Water was super warm and nice, and even tho it would have been nice to look around a bit, I have no regrets, beach time was awesome. For the same reason I don't really have pictures from the last island, but that's why we have google.

Aegina port (photo from wikipedia)

Then it was time to get back to Piraeus and to the hotel. We stopped to grab some local food right next to my hotel, and when I was fed, it was time to rest because next day another friend(s) would be joining us. Cruise took the whole day, and I would definitely recommend it for anyone visiting Athens. Price is really good, and it was nice to see the places. Whatever I didn't see this time, I have all the time in the world to go back there someday and visit these islands again.

Thu 11th of August, 2011

Morning started again with really yummy breakfast and getting ready to meet couple more friends. We went to really nice beach club for some coffee. It was really nice to hang out with some friends, but I didn't take any pictures since I was enjoying myself way too much. After coffee we went some food, crepes to be exact (pictures can be found in google). These come in salty and sweet forms, however you want it. These are basically another version of pancakes, so nothing extreme but not the most common food in Finland. Mine was sweet with chocolate, coconut & ball of vanilla ice cream.

Crepe dish (Picture from google)

When our friends went home, it was pretty late so I decided it was good time to go up to the rooftop just to chill out, and to be honest, I was a bit scared to go out that day when it was already getting dark. I also took a good rest that night, because next day was going to be fun beach time with one of our friends.

Fri 12th of August, 2011

Wake up, breakfast, make up and out! Time to head for a nice beach. We had awesome time and again, no pictures... I fail so hard when having too much fun! It was nice to go swimming again, I love greek sea, so warm, blue and clear. After having superb beach time, we headed for local fast food place which was really good. I just sticked with chicken, when the other two had something more burger-place stylish food.

It was time to say goodbyes for a friend that joined us for two days, since this was the last time I would get to see him before my next trip to Greece. After that, taxi to a metrostation and back to the hotel. At the hotel we took some pool time on the rooftop, and after that shower and clothing change before going out again.

When we got out, we headed to Kerameikos, really nice place with lots of restaurants and clubs. There we walked around for a while and then stopped for eats to a place called Gazi College. Really nicely decorated study-styled restaurant / bar, with some basic foods. Prices weren't too bad either, and their smoothies were super yummy.

Gazi College @ Kerameikos

We spotted many other cool places that looked like something to try out when I get to Greece next time;

That was definitely a place worth of seeing and I definitely wanna go there again. ;) After visiting Kerameikos it was time for sleeps. It was actually kinda sad, since at this point I knew, I have only one full day left.

Sat 13th of August, 2011

It was kinda sad to wake up, knowing this was the last full day in Athens. But I was also happy that it wasn't the last day. Time for breakfast and best pancakes ever, some pool time and after that it was time to head out.

Hanging by the pool and getting some slight tanning in good company, swimming in the pool and having some light lunch, oh all the good times.

Rooftop Pool

Rooftop view by day

Crazy bird by the pool, this bird had the coolest hair-do ever! CUTE!

We went for a cool place, University of Athens in Panepistimiou, that I saw earlier and I wanted to go see closer. Took some really nice pics of the place and walked around quite a lot.

University of Athens

After visiting University of Athens, we headed to Monastiraki square. There we walked around a lot, checking out places and restaurant. We had nice long talk while sitting in the park, since that was the last day to go thru what we've done that week and what we haven't talked about yet.

After that we went a bit further to see where to eat and discovered how nicely you can see Acropolis from there;

We found nice place for eats, even tho our waiter had stick in his ass for some reason..

And darker it got, view got better and better. It was sooo amazing.

After eats and having some good time, it was time to get back to the hotel and visit the rooftop for one last time;

Rooftop pool by night

Last night was pretty sad, knowing that tomorrow would be the day I have to leave, I didn't sleep that well. My body had finally adjusted to the heat and sun, I got used to the culture and how Athens looks like.. But I guess, I had to come back so that I could return, or that's what I tried to think.

Sun 14th of August, 2011

Last breakfast in hotel restaurant, super yummy and I enjoyed it as much as I could. This morning I decided to go unhealthy and just stick to sweet stuff, like pancakes, little bit of cake, watermelon and fresh squeezed orange juice, just to make myself feel better.

I remembered to take picture of the restaurant bar, which is one of the main things to see in this hotel.

Hotel Restaurant & Bar

No more pictures from this date, since it was such a sad day for me. My friend helped me get to the airport, which was also very emotional trip with metro, because it was so fun to spend that week together. There was some crying included when I had to go, but at least I took off with the thought that I will come back. I love Athens.