A short trip to Turkey & Greece

[Mattg]

We were lucky to be staying close to a metro station so took advantage of the 5-day metro ticket. A day ticket for the Athens metro costs €4 (which in itself is a bit of a steal) but a 5 day ticket is only €10. This covers the metro, buses and some other modes of transport, with the notable exception of the airport :!: - for the airport you need a different ticket which costs €8 one-way (or €14 for two people & from memory €20 for 3).

I'll make some quick comments about the metro. There are three lines and the trains run frequently, although some look very old. Most trains are covered in graffiti and some have smashed windows. It works in the same way as most German subways in that you need to validate your ticket in the little machine before you enter the platform, or after you board the bus. (You only need to do this once per ticket, so for example if you transfer you don't need to validate twice.) There are no ticket barriers, but ticket inspectors randomly patrol the trains and if you don't have a valid ticket you will be fined 60 times the price of the ticket - off the top of my head that would be a €72 fine. FWIW we never had our tickets checked, but YMMV.


Monastiraki metro station

We were keen to get straight into sightseeing but first our stomachs needed attending to. We found a souvlaki place and got some of the most friendly service you could get from a man who speaks zero English. The menu looked like maths equations so we had no clue what we were ordering but I'm cool with playing "lucky-dip" when travelling. The menu did have a few pictures but it wasn't clear which dish the picture was showing. I ended up getting a massive plate of a hot pizza-type sandwich. There was Turkish bread on the top and bottom and it was filled with melted cheese, pork, chicken, various vegetables and a sauce which was absolutely delicious, although I can't pinpoint what it was. It was an awesome meal but I couldn't finish it all!

The menu:


And the food (there were four of us for this meal):


Our first sightseeing stop was somewhere I have wanted to see since I was a child: the Parthenon. The Parthenon is situated atop a large hill known as the Acropolis. The whole hill was fenced off and the only way to get in was right by the ticket office, of course. Entry was €12 each (I believe there were discounts for children, etc.) As we walked in we were hassled by a tour guide trying to sell her services. I felt rather insulted actually, as she basically implied that we were stupid by saying "You won't understand anything inside, you need a professional guide to explain everything to you!"

We made the journey up the hill to the Parthenon (without a guide) and were treated to some pretty spectacular views of Athens along the way. Being November, it seems that it is low tourist season as the Acropolis was not crowded at all. But it works both ways - whoever runs the site has taken the liberty of doing repair work during the quiet periods, without dropping the ticket price I might add. One side of the Parthenon was completely covered in scaffolding and there was even a crane at the top of the hill.

 

[JohnM]

The Parthenon was covered in scaffolding and with cranes well over a decade ago when I was there.

 

[Mattg]

And now for the main attraction: The Parthenon!



And the view from the top:



In the background you can see Mt Likavitos. After we were finished at the Acropolis we walked up there and managed to reach the top right before sunset. The views over Athens were incredible.

 

[Mattg]

The Parthenon was covered in scaffolding and with cranes well over a decade ago when I was there.

Hmm. Maybe they're still doing the same work? It is Greece, after all.

 

[ellen10]

Great trip report and great photos.
I am enjoying the memories I was there 30 years ago.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[burmans]

The Parthenon was covered in scaffolding and with cranes well over a decade ago when I was there.

I've been to the Parthenon 3 times, it's always covered in scaffolding!

 

[JohnM]

Hmm. Maybe they're still doing the same work? It is Greece, after all.

I just checked back and it was 2004 when I was there - and I'm sure that crane has only moved 1 metre since . I must admit, though, I stayed at a hotel in the Plaka with a direct view of the Acropolis and it looked pretty stunning lit up at night.

 

[Mattg]

The first night in Athens we went out for dinner at a Greek taverna. What an experience that was - you must try this at least once when in Greece. I was totally stuffed by the end of the night though, we ate so much and drank quite a bit of Ouzo...

We had one more day of sightseeing in Athens before doing some island hopping. Some of the other notable sights around the city include...

Syntagma Square & the Greek Parliament House:





The Greek guards doing their thing in some pretty ridiculous costumes...



Hadrian's Arch:



Behind the arch was an archeological site which you could pay to enter. My friend & I aren't particularly interested in archeology and ancient ruins so didn't bother, but for someone interested in ancient history Athens really has a lot to offer.

 

[Mattg]

Around Monastiraki:





The stadium where the original Olympic Games in 1896 were held. (Sorry about the poor picture quality.)

 

[Mattg]

We decided to do a couple of day trips to the Greek Islands. The first trip we did was to Aegina Island. Geographically, it's not too far from Athens (under an hour by speedboat from Pireas).

Before we visited, I knew next to nothing about the island, other than that it is famous for its pistachios.

After arriving at the ferry terminal in Pireas (easily reached with the metro - the trip from the city taking ~ half an hour) we walked into a travel agency and asked for ticket for the next boat to Aegina. The boat was leaving in 8 minutes and cost €13 (one way).

The boat trip was pretty uneventful. You are seated inside a cabin and although there are windows, they are pretty dirty so there is only really half a view.



Inside the boat:



It was a stunningly beautiful day when we arrived on Aegina Island. We started by having a wander around the main town by the wharf.





After spending a short time in the main town we realised that we still had several hours on the island but everything was too far away on foot. It became clear that the best way to use our time would be to hire a vehicle, be it a motor scooter, car or even a dune buggy. I was keen on a dune buggy but in the end we agreed on a Jeep. We went to one of the car rental places and negotiated the price of the Jeep from €35 down to €30 for a few hours. We may have been able to get a better deal if we tried harder... or maybe not, we were on an island in the middle of the Aegean Sea, after all.

The car:



The first thing we had to do was fill up the Jeep with petrol. The guy who rented us the vehicle told us which petrol station to go to. When we arrived, we paid the girl €10 and she filled up the car. Except, there was a problem. We weren't watching closely enough and we are pretty sure she only put in €4 worth of petrol. When we turned on the car it didn't seem like there was that much more petrol in the tank, and I recall seeing €4 on the blazer out of the corner of my eye, but we couldn't prove it as the girl zeroed the pump when she had finished. We had no choice but to pay more to get more petrol as we didn't have enough for the day, but we were not happy. We complained to the girl and she suddenly didn't speak any English. (She could two minutes beforehand.) When we mentioned contacting the police the manager appeared. He tried to convince us that it was not possible that his employee had ripped us off by showing us something on his computer. I was still not satisfied, but we had no way of proving they had done wrong since the bowser was zeroed and our receipt stated "€10." In the end we left it. We suspect the petrol station had some sort of agreement with the guy who rented us the car, but again have no proof. We were quite angry but took it as a lesson and got on with our day.

 

[Mattg]

Despite the bad start, the rest of the drive around Aegina Island was most enjoyable. We were treated to some picturesque views the whole trip.



We stopped at this church along the way:



We passed through a small town on the other side of the island and decided to search for some pistachios. We picked up a couple of bags for €6 each. We got a good deal as the pistachios around where the boats arrive & depart were €10 per bag.

The pistachios were absolutely delicious, easily the best I have ever eaten, and I'm a pistachio eater at home. I didn't have enough room in my backpack to take them home, but eating them all within 2 days wasn't a problem.



One of many beaches around the island:



We left around sunset on a boat back to Pireas. It had been a pretty nice day!

Watching the sun set near the wharf:

 

[Mattg]

We had booked some tickets for a basketball game on the evening we returned from Aegina Island. We arrived back at 6pm and the game was scheduled to begin at 9pm, so we had a little bit of time to kill in Pireas.

At one point we got on the metro in Pireas and were talking about money and what we had with us (trying to work out what we needed for the evening, etc.). As a pretty frequent traveller, I should have known better than to talk about how much money I had on me in a public place like on the metro, but for some reason I wasn't thinking at that moment. When we were on the train we noticed a couple of boys (in their teens) getting very close to us when we were talking and hovering over me when I opened my backpack. At the time I thought nothing of it but my friend was suspicious. When we got off the train they got off too. We were being followed. For about 10 minutes they kept very close behind us as we walked all around the station trying to lose them. In the end we boarded another train and managed to lose them, but it was a disconcerting experience. Who knows what would have happened had we not noticed and stayed in a crowded public place while trying to get rid of them.


We arrived at the basketball stadium at about 8.30pm, half an hour early... Or so we thought! We thought it was quite strange that there was no-one else entering the stadium at the same time as us, but when we got in the stadium was full of people. There were no players on the court, so it didn't click just yet. But about five minutes after we arrived the game started. Except that it didn't begin at that point. The score was already 40-40 or so. Then it clicked: we had arrived at half-time. :shock: Somehow, between the time we bought the tickets (about a month ago) and the day of the game, they had changed the start time to 7.45pm and didn't think to tell us!

So, we only got to see half a game, but at least it was a good one! The game was Olympiacos v Valencia and the game came down to the last 1.5 seconds - literally!! With 1.5 seconds left to play, the score was tied at 76 all. You could feel the tension in the crowd but to the relief of the stadium Olympiacos came through and scored in the last second, winning the game. Just.

 

[Mattg]

Our second island trip was to Hydra Island. Hydra is smaller than Aegina and unique as cars are banned on the island. (Well, almost - we did see an ambulance.) To get around you need to either walk, take a boat or ride a donkey.

The boat trip was more or less the same, although a bit longer and more expensive.

It was yet another gorgeous day, perfect for hiking, swimming and just relaxing.

The main town:







Unfortunately swimming was forbiten in the vicinity of the docks, but there were other opportunities if you ventured a bit further out.



Venturing a bit further afield on the island:

 

[Mattg]

We had a very enjoyable, long lunch by the water. The highlight for me was the half litre of homemade wine for €3.50.

After lunch I couldn't help but want to go for a donkey ride. I paid €10 for a ~10 minute ride around town.



With a couple of hours to spare until the boat departed, we hiked about a third of the way up the mountain, giving us some great views out over the main town.



This is was our last full day in Greece - the next morning I had to fly home.

I'll make a couple of comments about Athens & Greece. Although we had a good trip, Athens was a slight let-down for me. It just wasn't quite as nice as I had expected, and we kind of felt like we had seen everything worth seeing after just a couple of days. We also found some (but not all!) of the Greek people to be quite rude and/or lazy.

Despite the economic crisis in Greece, the prices were about the same as we paid in Turkey, except the currency was Euros, not liras (meaning the prices were actually double to triple those in Turkey for the same thing).

We were quite amused by the total disregard for rules in Greece too. For example, there was a sign in the taxi saying "please fasten your seat belt" yet the driver did not wear his. As another example, restaurants would display "no smoking" signs yet place ash trays on every table.

I would definitely go back to the Greek Islands but in future I doubt I would use Athens as more than a transit city. At least the airport is nice, albeit a long way from the city.

Istanbul on the other hand was amazing. I can't wait to return!!

 

[Mattg]

Flight 6: A3 852 Athens - Berlin (Tegel)
Airbus A320
Departure time: 08:40
Arrival time: 10:25

The final flight of the trip was quite average, I'm sorry to say... except for the views, which were excellent.

The hand-luggage-police were out in force at the boarding gate in Athens. We saw several people being told their cabin baggage was oversize, and being forced to pay to check it in. The people they pulled up had bags which were well and truly oversize, so I think this was reasonable.

We were on the same plane as we had over to Athens from Berlin, which lacked even drop-down overhead screens and had those slimline seats like Lufthansa & Germanwings have on their A320 fleets, which I'm really not a fan of. We were however seated in row 4, which had extra legroom as I believe this row is sometimes part of business class. Business class on this flight was just the first 2 rows, although it was completely empty.
The meal was just another cheese pastry and some yoghurt. The man on the aisle got a proper hot meal which looked much better - we're guessing he had a special meal. Either that or there were actually two choices and the FA just handed us one without asking what we wanted. Unlike most of my experience with Aegean, the FAs on this flight (with the exception of the purser) didn't seem very interested in their jobs so this wouldn't have surprised me.



Later in the flight the FAs came around with tea and coffee. The man on the aisle was offered a drink, at which point I unfolded my tray table in anticipation of being offered something. Instead, the FA totally ignored me and turned straight to the person in the row behind. Before I knew it she had disappeared and I actually had to use the call bell to ask for a cup of tea. I shouldn't have needed to do that.

As I mentioned before though, there were some pretty good views of the mountains as we overflew Northern Greece, Macedonia & Serbia.





We arrived 20 minutes late for no apparent reason.

 

[Mattg]

That marked the end of our trip, however the stars have aligned and I will be returning to Turkey next week!

I was very keen to return to Istanbul after having such a great time on this trip. But I was not expecting that I would be returning so soon! I got my roster a few days ago and found that I have several free days at the end of next week. In addition, Turkish Airlines is having a pretty good sale now on flights from Germany to Istanbul. I decided to take advantage of this and will be returning next Thursday! On Friday I will be doing a day trip out to Gallipoli & Anzac Cove. Can't wait!

 

[Ric]

Wow! wish I could do that!
One quick question....pretty easy to get around Athens with English only?

 

[Mattg]

Wow! wish I could do that!
One quick question....pretty easy to get around Athens with English only?

I wouldn't necessarily say easy, but certainly not impossible. Not everyone speaks English but I would say that enough people speak enough English that you would be able to get help if needed. Certainly, many of the people working in the tourist areas and travel agencies spoke some English.

Some announcements on the metro were made in English and you could change the language on the ticket machines.

You might find find yourself at a restaurant where the menu is in Greek and the waiter doesn't speak English if you venture outside the touristy areas (which many people don't)... in which case you're screwed. Although that is half the fun of travelling, right?

 

[ellen10]

Enjoyed your trip report Mattg.
Loved the photos too.

 

[amaroo]

Excellent TR!

April we're doing 3 nights in ATH followed by 4 in IST....then a 4 day tour leading into ANZAC day. Your views on ATH are interesting - our bookings are flexible so we might cut a day out of ATH and enjoy IST a little longer.