Athens Day 1

Our ten hour flight to Athens was on Air Canada Rouge. A relatively comfortable flight which included a simple dinner and banana bread with coffee/juice for breakfast.  We were surprised when we didn't have to fill out any customs or immigration forms to enter Greece. We just had to get our passports stamped. Since our flight to Crete meant that we would have a 6 hour layover, we decided to take an 80 Euro room at Peri's Hotel (4.5 stars) just 10 minutes from the airport and a 20 minute walk to seaside restaurants in Artemida. We were picked up by our hosts and shuttled to the hotel. All in all, just 1 hour from plane to hotel and a cold Mythos beer. 

After a two hour snooze it was now mid-afternoon so we walked to the sea and found Arhontikon, acclaimed as the best restaurant in Artemida and the 5th best in all of Athens. It was supposed to be very reasonably priced which we found to be very true. The sea breeze was awesome and cooling as we enjoyed a complimentary appetizer with a tiny bottle of raki, a homemade Greek spirit. Delish. We ordered a whole grilled Dourada which is a very popular Mediterranean fish, and a Greek salad, both to share. The salad would have fed 4. We were also treated to a complimentary dessert, Jill a delicious brownie with ice cream, and me a dense white cake with berries and ice cream. With a litre of white wine, the bill came to 50 Euros or CDN$75. Truly a bargain.

I stopped at a veggie/fruit store which was so impressive and reasonably priced. I eyed some green figs in baskets and asked if I could have just 4. "Yes" she said as she put them in a paper bag. I was fiddling for some change and she said, " I don't want money for them". Wow! How often does that happen. They were some of the tastiest ever.

It was a hot walk back to our hotel as we appreciated the difference in temperature just a short distance from the sea. We were really surprised to see Ontario represented on a pet store window. Nice.