Ouzo, Schnapps, Rosé & Prosecco

[Gem56]

An easy drive down to Lindos, with photo stops along the way took us a little over an hour. The main tourist attraction in Lindos is the Acropolis which stands on top of the hill. The place was crowded with numerous tourist buses, so we drove down to the water and had an aperitif and looked at it in the distance. We didn't feel the need to fight the crowds to see the ruins. By this stage we were feeling a little "ruined-out".



A very pretty little bay

To drive down to the beach, we headed down the hill towards the Acropolis. There's a round-a-bout at the bottom with a guy directing traffic telling us to proceed up the hill. When +1 indicated that we wanted to turn right, he stopped the oncoming traffic to allow us access. There was plenty of parking along the water's edge.







Our drinks were well priced and I had a Sangria - lovely.

 

[Gem56]

There are an increasing number of these abandoned constructions. The goats have moved into this one. On asking a number a locals, the economy is a long way from recovering. According to one person, it's actually worse than before. Very sad.

 

[Gem56]

Our last night in Rhodes, we needed to make the trip down to the private beach for our free drink.
The entrance to the tunnel is just past the pool.







Looking back at the bar with the hotel behind

 

[Gem56]

Back to Athens. Our flight was due to arrive at 7.30pm so +1 booked a hire car for 8pm.

The agency (SurPrice Car Rentals) was not located at the terminal but supplied a shuttle to their yard. While this is usually fine (all of the previous car hire agencies have been located away from the terminal), on this occasion we needed to wait for the next people to arrive on a later flight. Again, this was OK. The yard was quite a distance from the airport. We arrived at the agency around 8,30pm.

The last people to arrive were last into the shuttle and of course 1st out of the van and consequently 1st into the office.

We loaded our luggage into our car only to discover that one of the rear tyres was almost flat. So out with the bags and into a second car. The cigarette lighter didn't work in this one which may not have been a problem for some but we needed it to run our GPS (the car wasn't fitted with a GPS).

To cut a really long story short, after loading our luggage into a third car (and taking photos of the marks and re-doing paperwork on each), we were in the process of driving out of the yard only to discover that one of the headlights was out. At this time it was approx 9.45pm. They asked if we could return the next morning which I felt was not an option, (and dangerous), so a drive into the service station next door to get the lamp replaced. This only took approx 40 mins

This was the 2nd car we've hired through SurPrice. The first one which was in Crete had a terrible clutch and almost non-existing air-conditioning. I was extremely happy to be handing that one back.

Decision: Never to hire through Surprice again.

BTW, as we arrived at the yard, another couple had arrived back with a car that had been involved in an accident with a motorbike; the driver had injured his hand and the motorbike rider had been taken to hospital.

 

[Gem56]

Corinth - Another stop enroute to Athens. This time at the Wyndham Poseidon Resort in Lautraki. Quite the contrary to Costa Navarino. This resort is extremely tired but we picked up enough Wyndham points when we were in Cusco 12 months ago for 3 Free nights.

We needed a hotel close to the airport and as mentioned above, we had enough points for another 2 free nights with Wyndham. They have a hotel in Attica (Dolce Attica Riviera) which is 15-20 minutes from the airport and has a shuttle service (EUR15 per room, not per person). Seemed like a good idea at the time.......

It is now very clear that the staff training with Wyndham is not in the standard of Marriott or Hilton (as examples).

We removed our luggage from the car and while JV was parking the car, I decided that I would save time, especially given the late hour, move all our luggage into the reception area. I was struggling with the luggage and whilst there were 3 staff members in reception, no-one offered any assistance. It wasn't exactly a busy time of day!

The 2 main staff members on reception took so long to check us in because apparently, they were looking for a payment sheet, It wasn't until the trainee , who obviously possessed some common sense, and asked us a few questions to clarify how we booked, that the check-in was able to be completed.

By this stage it was close to midnight. We had asked earlier if the restaurant was still open and one of the (almost useless) check-in guys had told us "no problem; open until midnight".

The trainee quickly confirmed that this wasn't the case and the restaurant had been closed for a couple of hours. But she took it upon herself to "fix" the situation....

The room was nice - absolutely no complaints.

 

[Gem56]

The trainee phoned a restaurant that was only 10 minute walk from the hotel (Artemis)

Artemis, Vravrona - Restaurant Reviews, Photos & Phone Number - TripAdvisor

Artemis, Vravrona: See 103 unbiased reviews of Artemis, rated 4.5 of 5 on TripAdvisor.

www.tripadvisor.com

to see if they could accommodate us. The restaurant staff member asked if we were ready to come at that time. They then said they would come to pick us up as it was a little difficult to find and take us back to the restaurant and then return us at the end. In no time, a staff member from the restaurant was there.

Basically a seafood restaurant and the food was prepared quickly. It was nice, not too heavy, especially given the time of night, and the price was very reasonable. When we were ready, the same staff member returned us to the hotel. JV offered to reimburse him for his time and he absolutely refused to take it, implying that he was offended.

 

[Gem56]

We were quite sluggish the next morning, understandably, for our journey to Delphi, or Delfi or Delfoi. We had read that the crowds are big in Delphi in the middle of the day, so best time to visit is afternoon - late as possible, or early morning. Thankfully, that allowed us to recover slightly from the previous day's escapade.

Our accommodation was at the Kastalia Boutique Hotel. A really nice hotel with a lovely restaurant/breakfast deck. The room was on the smaller side however well worth the money we paid - €67 including breakfast. They also have half board (dinner/bed/breakfast).







The view from the deck




Taken from our room

 

[Gem56]

The drive up through the mountains and the little town of Arahova was beautiful.

 

[Gem56]

On advice from the Receptionist at the hotel, we visited the Museum that afternoon. The cost to enter the Museum and the Archeological site was €12 per person. This can be taken over 2 days.

Pair of identical marble kouroi, possibly depicting two heroes from argive mythologhy. The work of an archaic workshop of Argos. ca 580 BC

Sphinx de la colonne des Naxiens (570 - 560 av JC)

 

[Gem56]

 

[Gem56]

The Sanctuary of Athena Pronaia

Entry to this area is free. It's a 10 minute walk down the hill from the Museum and Archeological Site.













Oh look JV... more poppies!!!


A sunset to finish the day

 

[Gem56]

We arrived in Delphi early afternoon and the area was swarming with buses and cars. We had received advance warning that all the sites are really busy in the middle section of the day. So we visited the Museum and the Sanctuary of Athena around 3pm. The following morning we headed for the Archeological Site at 8.30am. Our timing was perfect. Having said that, July and August, which apparently is peak season, the crowd situation could be quite different.

The Archeological Site
They sure were gullible in those days . What a load of rubbish!









And so scams began... (Read the 1st para from above). On the basis of this "scam" the "faithful" donated money/assets sufficient to build various buildings, statues, temples, pottery etc..

 

[Gem56]

Back to the hotel and load our luggage into the car again and head back to Athens. On the way through to Delphi we went through a lovely village, Arahova, that is apparently a very popular spot for skiers. There is a ski station there along with ski and snow board hire. I can imagine it would be thumping during the winter season. Knowing a little more about the village, we took more notice going back. It has a lot of charm.

 

[Gem56]

Back to Athens. We dropped our luggage off at the hotel (yes... Wyndham... another free night) and headed into the city to see the changing of the guards in front of the Hellenic Parliament. Very entertaining and quite theatrical.

This happens every hour on the hour. and takes approx 15 minutes.

Forget parking on the street anywhere around this area. We found that the Polispark Urban Parking S.A in Rizari Street is quite close by. Best solution is to catch a bus or the Metro. The National Gardens and the Hellenic Parliament are next to one another.

 

[Gem56]

We had dinner at a little restuarant in the National Gardens. This was our last night in Greece. The meal wasn't anything out of the box but the ambiance was nice.,, until it started to rain.

.

 

[Gem56]

We then dropped the car off at the car hire yard and they drove us to the airport. We'd organised a ride with the hotel shuttle. This was a cost of €15 per room. To catch a cab is around €30. The trip is around 20 mins so we thought €15 was a pretty good deal.

We had a better view from our room this time.



Outside dining area




Views from the outside dining area

 

[Gem56]

Another shuttle back to the airport at 5.30am to catch the flight to Geneva via London. Sorry, I don't have any photos of the lounge in Athens. We visited the Galleries Lounge for a short transit of approximately 1½ hours...











Two BA flights, and the service and food on board was good - no Neil Perry gourmet grass clippings here! Also the best thing was that our luggage arrived with us. We've had 8 or 9 flights with BA over the years, and the service onboard has always been good, however on at least 2 occasions they have managed to lose our luggage. We accept that happens, however the attitude of the ground staff of BA compared to Qantas is terrible.

Qantas bend over backwards to get your luggage to you as soon as possible. The last time BA lost our bags, they didn't even want to talk to us about our luggage, insisting that we had to send a notifiction via their online form. Other than the automatic response telling us how much they care for their customers, we didn't receive a proper reply for 5 months! When JV rang them to try and track down our bags, the customer care agent hung up on him; yeah, they really do care.

On that occasion, it was only due to the help of an Air France agent that we managed to get our bags back (after 3 days). Air France had never even seen our bags but still did everything they could to help us.

Fortunately our bags made it to Geneva with us this time so we were quite relieved.

 

[Gem56]

Switzerland and les Alps



We arrived at Geneva airport on the Swiss side, however we had a car booked from the French side. No problem... just walk through a doorway - monitored by a customs person, checking to ensure that we have actually arrived by air on an international flight, and voilà. In France without even leaving the terminal.

JV booked a rental car to be collected from the French side of the airport because it was approx €350 cheaper for a 13 day hire; that's a saving of almost EUR27 per day! We collected a Peugeot 2008 with less than 4,000 kms on the clock - no "Surprices" here.

We then drove to the Swiss Douane (Customs) point to purchase a Vignette to allow us to travel on the Swiss motorways. The cost of this was CHF40 which is for 12 months coverage and therefore there are no tolls to pay as you drive around.

 

[Gem56]

Evian - The home of Evian Mineral Water.

As accommodation is quite expensive in Geneva, JV found a Hilton in Evian overooking Lake Leman (or Lake Geneva as the Swiss and most of the world call it). Most of the southern shore of the Lake is in France and the Hilton is only an hour's drive from Geneva airport so it's a good spot to base yourself for exploring this part of the world (if you have a car); and being a Diamond member, we had free breakfast and access to the Executive Lounge for €127 per night compared to $$$$ in Geneva.







The views from our room




Switzerland on the other side

 

[Gem56]

In the Evian area