Athens, February, 2006  
People go to Greece for many reasons. 

Many use Athens as a base for a cruise to the Aegean Islands,
....not us, anyway cruises are just about impossible to find in February.
 
....Many others are attracted by the history and the architecture. 
....Well, we did want to learn more about Greek history and architecture.

Mainly, however, we were interested in visiting sites that were linked to early Christianity. 

It was a great trip. We found the sites we wanted to visit most, learned a lot in the wonderful museums, and even got to one of the islands without having to tolerate a cruise director. 

We thoroughly enjoyed the people of Greece and the food, and we certainly did more shopping than we’d planned. Even so, we still didn’t get enough of Greece. We want to go back soon!

We did have a “Murphy’s Law” experience with the cameras on this trip.  Someone accidentally left our good digital camera at home (we won’t mention his name).  But Regina had a backup, a compact 35mm film camera. Then Murphy took command and it began to act up, refusing to reset after a picture was taken. Finally, it died, refusing to completely rewind when she’d finished a roll of film. She carefully removed the film in a dark place but, still, some of the early shots got too much light and were ruined.

At Ron’s suggestion, we finished the trip with a disposable camera.   It worked, but had its limitations. So, we had to fill in with postcard pictures in some places.  Regina has just acquired a new digital camera to use on her next trip.

The Athens Metro
It's how we got around

The Metro had undoubtedly been fixed up for the recent Olympics, but we found it to be fast, easy and inexpensive. The line from the airport to downtown was a well-oiled machine. There was also a convenient train between the city center and Piraeus, the harbor.

     

Ron liked the day-glow, bi-lingual "Do Not Disturb" sign so much, he stole it.

 

We began our stay at the Attalos Hotel, a comfortable family-style accommodation in the commercial center of Athens. Later, we spent two nights here, in the Athens Hilton, on a reward stay using Hilton points. The room was huge compared to the one at the Attalos and the bathroom luxuriously appointed. Plus, there was a bottle of wine from the manager waiting in the room and had access to the Executive Lounge, where we indulged in free drinks and snacks, and a nice view of the Parthenon. What a nice place to spend Valentine’s Day!

As impressive as it was, it was a move from the heart of the city to the middle of a modern high-rent district full of embassies. We missed the people and shops in the Monastiraki. Fortunately, the two hotels were not far apart so we walked, rattling our luggage behind us. Then, when we arrived at the Hilton we found we had to go through a metal detector to get into the lobby, and standing outside 24 hours a day there was a very intent Uzzi-toting soldier standing guard. It seems that there were Israeli diplomats in town and some of them were staying at the Hilton.  We didn’t know whether to feel safe or alarmed, but we had a pleasant stay all the same.