James and I arrived in Athens last night. Our flight was delayed 1 hour because someone missed the plane but their bag did not. The baggage had to be unloaded and reloaded without the offending case. Such is airline travel. The British Airways’ “industrial action” with their cater also meant we had vouchers for food rather than service on the plane.

Our Athens hotel was apparently 50 m from the train station but that was not the case. Well, okay, it is probably true but there are no signs so we spent an hour wandering around, circling in really, like with prey. When we finally found Hotel Diethnes, they did not have our room. Yes, we had a reservation, but there is a conference in town and we think they double sold our room. We were transferred to Hotel Remvi, which is actually quite nice and may be better than our first choice.

James and I wanted to go to the Acropolis and the Plaka today but it is so damn hot, and we slept until 10:30 and by the time we crawled out of the hotel it was 1 pm. Now it is 2 pm and we’ve found the cool of the internet cafe.

I think I’m allergic to Greece, maybe Europe in general. There is smoking everywhere and I’m having a hard time of it, especially having come from Vancouver where it is practically a crime to even think about cigarettes. The last patron in our hotel room was clearly a smoker, it is hanging in the room. Nothing like second-second-hand smoke.

Athens reminds me a lot of Bogota, narrow streets, lots of pollution, crumbly buildings … but I like it. Friends I spoke to who had been to Athens said I’d be disappointed, but I don’t like to set travel expectations so I haven’t been disappointed yet by a city. They each hold interesting pockets. Like right now we are on Folkinos Negri, which is a tree-lined pedestrian street. There are all sorts of cool cafe/bars and it is around lunch time so lots of locals are hanging about having coffees and icy drinks.

Being somewhere without English signs is pretty cool. I now understand the saying “it’s all Greek to me.” Sefcharisto was my word of the day yesterday. No idea how to spell it in Greek, but it means thank you.