Off for ten days in Greece and Turkey

Bonjour tout le monde,

Our Thursday morning flight from Marseilles to Athens, Greece was at 8:50 a.m., which meant we had to get up at 5:30 a.m. (never an exciting prospect for Yvette and me), get to the bus station in Aix (about a fifteen minute walk), catch the 6:40 a.m. Airport bus to the Marseilles airport etc.

However, when we were ready to leave our flat (it was probably about 60 degrees or so), it began to rain. So, quickly, with umbrella in hand, I was off (ten minute walk) to the taxi spot in the town center to hopefully find a taxi. I found the taxi (the driver did not seem to be in a good mood) and we were off to pick up Yvette and our luggage and head off to the bus stop.

At the prompting of our daughters, we were traveling (light) with two backpacks ... but they were not necessarily "light" in terms of what they weighed.

Once we arrived at the Marseilles airport, things went pretty smoothly ... time for a light breakfast ... and soon our plane was off for the hour and a half flight to Munich, Germany where, it turned out, it was somewhat cold (low 60's, but with a chilling wind). When we landed in Munich, we had to take a shuttle bus from the plane to the terminal (a few miles it seemed). And to board our flight to Athens, once again we had to shuttle from the terminal the plane.

The two and a half hour flight to Athens went well. I had the middle seat between Yvette (window) and a young lady from Norway who was headed for a wedding of a friend on some
Greek island. When we arrived in Athens, stuff began to happen.

To begin with, it was a sweltering 90+ degrees outside. Secondly, with all of the turmoil recently in Greece, there was a huge strike of the metro workers and the city bus drivers, which meant there would be no bus service until 5:00 p.m. (it was 3:30 p.m. at the time). However, as the 5:00 p.m. hour arrived, it soon became apparent that the buses were not running every ten minutes, as advertised. In fact, they were hardly running at all and there were mobs (I means mobs) of people standing curb side, upset and eagerly awaiting the next--or any--bus. Finally, we decided to shell out the $50 for a cab.

Our hour cab ride into Athens was an exerience. Stavros, the cab driver, was from the island of Mikenos and was very entertaining. He had opinions about everything in his very broken English. He like Italians, Americans and the Dutch but did not have a high opinion of the French or the English. As it turned out, we think his views were all related to money, apparently to the way they tipped or whatever.

Anyway, eventually, we made it to our hotel, a nice hotel in a great location, right in the center of downtown Athens. We dined at a nice, friendly, outdoor restaurant, with World Cup Soccer (all the rage in Europe) on the TV screen nearby. That was the game where France lost 2-0 to Mexico, certainly not good news for our friends back in France.

More tomorrow on our first full day in Athens, a super experience visiting the spectacular Parthenon which sits amidst the Acropolis atop a rising hilltop in the center of Athens. It is visible throughout much of the city. Tonight (Saturday), we take some sort of boat/ship for an overnight (we have a cabin for sleeping) trip to the Greek island of Rhodes for three days in the village of Lindos.

A bientot for now, from Athens.