Home of Athena (Country Number 11)

We sleep in a bit this morning. We finally head up to breakfast around 9:30. We are the only ones on the terrace.

Too bad this is the nicest weather day as we are leaving. 

I wonder if they use the grapes on the terrace. 

We head down and finish packing up. The bag is getting lighter now that we are down to one bottle of wine. It's 11 so we need to check out. We leave everything behind except the camera and head out to the museum.

a cat enjoying a nap in a stump. 

Treaty with the Egyptians written in cuneiform. 

We spend our time with the older stuff (BC) from around here. 

I could have been a measuring stick. 

I like these cool roll stamps. 

Reliefs from an old city wall. 

Sphinx column base. 

Roman and Christian ruins relegated to the outside. 

There is a huge section with sarcophagus but we are running out of time. 

On the way back Aparna buys some grilled corn and chestnuts as we head back. I overhear a guide telling his group that it's not chestnut season. Well it isn't corn season either. It's tasteless. I could be eating cardboard. We are back with a few minutes to spare. 

We leave just after 1 for the airport since it's Friday and the traffic around here is bad. I wonder if the roads were fixed/not under construction how it would be. We make it to the airport in 40 minutes or so. There is a bag screening as soon as you enter. Then we head to the ticket counter to check out bags. They check our passports before the ticket counter and ask if we are returning. The passports are checked again as we check our bags. Passport control is next. This is relatively quick and painless.

Another security line for our carry ons. 

We find information booth and there is food by our gate. We grab a sandwich, beer and water. We are 3 Lira short. They take a euro as the balance. We succeeded at getting rid of our Lira. 

It's a decent sandwich but dry and there are no mayo or mustard packets here. 

Our Aegean Airlines plane is an Airbus 319. 

Slightly more room than Air Asia. 

We even get a small meal. 

I thought this would be sweet but it's not. It might be dates in the middle. 

Finally a drink fountain at an airport. I think this is the first one I've seen since China. Paris may have them but I didn't notice when we were leaving. 

Have I been mentioning how much Europeans smoke?  This is before baggage claim. 

We grab our luggage and head to the taxi line. It's only been a half hour since we landed. It should only be about 25 euros according to the hotel. There is no wait at the taxi stand. We are the only people there. I show him the address in Greek via the booking.com app. We hop in and start off. He starts the meter and asks for the address. I show him the app again then he asks me to call the hotel. I call the hotel and hand him the phone. There seems to be a lot of yelling but I think that's the way Greeks talk. 3 minutes later he hands the phone back and he is good to go.

The weather is not looking promising. 

As we get near he goes the wrong way down a one way. I can see the hotel but he needs to turn at the corner because cars are coming. We get out at the corner and he points at the 38 euro flat fee for the city center. I say no and point to meter at 20. He says something and points to a fee schedule. I think there might be a toll. I say the hotel said no more than 25. He settles on 25. I don't know why I tip him 2 on top of that. 

We are to the hotel in about an hour after landing. I'm impressed. The hotel is under renovation. 

Stained carpet in our hallway. Not a good sign. 

Ok the room is decent. 

Our water view from the balcony. 

Aparna starts unpacking and I say let's get a drink and worry about this later. We walk to the beach. 

The first place we see looks fancy so we walk along. It starts to rain and Aparna just wants to find shelter. We come across an empty restaurant that I think is closed. An older gentleman invites us in. I tell him just for drinks. He's asks if I want Greek beer. Yes, please. 

Aparna gets a white wine. It's not so great wine but maybe it's just the type of wine. He brings by menus for us to look at but we aren't hungry.

Our view and no other customers. Some locals walk by or what I think are locals because he doesn't solicit them. He finally turns on the lights on patio but the power goes out. I guess we won't be eating here. It comes back on a few minutes later. He stops by a few times and talks about the food. I order my second beer. I try to figure where we are. I can't find it on the map. I ask him what is good and he gives the standard everything. He offers for us to go to the kitchen and see the fresh seafood. 

I need to figure out the correct way to ask people in a restaurant what is good and by that I mean in season or particularly good today. I know we live in the world where I can by quality meat anytime of the year but if a particular fish is in season I want to know. Maybe it only applies to places with seasonal menus. 

We finally decide to eat. I see they have fried sardines as an appetizer. We ask if we can get grilled and he says yes. We also order some grilled shrimp. 

We enjoy both of these. 

When the food comes so do the cats. I splash them with water which helps. The man comes by and we tell him about Aparna's allergies and he periodically scares the cats away. 

I finally find this place on Trip Advisor a day later and it averages 1.5 stars. One complaint was 90 euros for two people and below average food. Another complains about the cats. I think that is everywhere there is an outdoor restaurant well maybe not the fancy place next door but this is a completely open patio. Our two wines, two beers and food was 42.5 euros. I would say its average for a beach restaurant in a tourist zone. Maybe we had a better experience since we were the only ones. 

Our sunset.