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.
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| 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.
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.
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| 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.
