In Athens - again!

Here we are...in Athens...again! The sun is shining and it still feels like summer days are lingering in Greece.

We flew with Air Canada to Toronto for the first leg of our trip. Our departure from Vancouver was almost delayed due to lack of staffing at both check-in and security. Several passengers (including us) managed to board the plane just minutes before scheduled departure despite arriving 90 minutes ahead. Meals on the domestic flight were not included and the breakfast sandwich was sold out by the time the flight attendant reached our seats. Needless to say we did not have time to purchase anything in the terminal before boarding!!...so breakfast was a curried chicken wrap!

After a 3 hour wait in Toronto we boarded our Air Canada flight to Athens and learned that there was no inflight entertainment onboard!!!...no movies to help me through the 9+ hour flight!!!! We were advised to download the Air Canada App on our own devices. REALLY???

Dinner was included on this flight...a choice between chicken or pasta. We both chose chicken (maybe) which was accompanied by a strange half frozen salad of corn and cabbage...should have been tossed to the pigs!...and a frozen bun. The highlight was a piece of dry chocolate cake.

Sunrise over the wing

The flight attendants appeared sometime after sunrise (where do they go for the rest of the trip?) and rolled their carts down the aisle with offerings of banana bread for breakfast. Wow!

Our bags were among the first to roll out on the carousel and we made our way to the Metro like seasoned veterans. The trip into Athens costs nine euros each now. After a small glitch at the Syntagma station we made our way to the Phaedra Hotel without a problem. Miraculously our room had already been cleaned so we were able to put our heads on the pillows just after noon for a four hour nap.

A friend called the hotel with an invitation for dinner but we declined. The idea of joining friends for an 11pm meal was not a good idea. I explained that we would not be good company...falling asleep in the pasta!

So...we will go for a walkabout and an early dinner before revisiting our hotel beds.