The day arrived too quickly. It was July’23 when we agreed and booked to do a cruise together and today we were heading to the airport all packed up.
This holiday was couples only and 6 of them, Vikash & Meeta, Doc & Tina, PCB & Yogita, Jaynesh & Seema, Kaushik & Alyssa and D&N (us). Kids were not coming with us, they were much older now and could do their own travels 😉 ! All of us were doing Athens and a Cruise around Greece and Turkey, from there me and Cheeky were doing Italy, and then we would continue to Amalfi coast and London alone with Cheeky heading back. This was a long 5 week holiday for us, been a long long time since I had done a long holiday and a much needed one it was .

The day of travel, we ate at mum’s place, she had cooked chicken curry for us all, Neha & Pooja were a bit teary but Dadi was there to comfort them . It was not all bad and feeling sorry for them either…. they both have just had visits abroad with friends and this week they both were heading to see Yash and Yashica in New Zealand for a cousins get together! It was great timing.

Bhavik (Legend … to avoid confusion with Doc!) dropped us off at the airport with Neha & Pooja. In to the terminal and to our Checkin Counter – ROW 10 for Qatar checkin…. the queue was very long! Could see Jaynesh and Cheeky already in the queue ahead, Doc had already checked in. PCB was still not there.
We hugged Neha and Pooja, and told them to head back home, no need to wait … this queue would take atleast 30 minutes of slow progress. They headed off home and we made our slow progress to the checkin counters. No issues with Checkin, and soon we were all through immigration and next stop was the duty free. Good thing to travel with Whisky drinkers – get to try a few good varieties of single malt at the Whiskey Counter.
Out of duty free, next stop was a round of drinks at the Bar.

Boarded our flight soon after, did not have the luck of a spare seat in between – had tried our luck with booking a window and aisle seat, hoping for a spare middle seat….. but was not to be, it was a FULL flight :(.
Countdown for the 14 hour flight to Doha….
Food was surprisingly good, a welcome change from the last few flights and definitely better than Emirates.
Nita had soon nodded off post dinner service and I could only get about 2 hours of sleep – I just cannot sleep on planes.
Doha transit was only 1.5 hours, and that terminal was a mess…. the process to transit was definitely chaotic and it took some time, luckily we did make it to our flight on time. Doha airport needs to sort out its transit system, whilst their airport seemed amazing, their transit process was painfull. This time the flight from Doha to Athens was not full, our method of Aisle and Window seat booking worked… got a free spare seat in between, was great for us to take turns in sleeping with stretched legs!!

Flight to Athens from Doha was 5 hours, landed on time, immigration was a slow process, they only had 3 counters open for the numerous passengers. Slowly we progressed and finally we were through. Luggage all arrived for everyone without any issues…phew!

Taxi ride from airport to our Hotel was just over 40 mins. Passed through what seemed like a very run down place. Lots of Graffiti, empty / closed stores, unmaintained roads/footpaths….. this was not looking too good ;(.
Things changed rapidly as we entered the main Athens city centre …for the better :). It was looking like someplace nice and where we would like to explore :).
Reached the hotel soon after @ Athens Tower Hotel by Palladian Hotels… was a great location, directly next to Monastiraki Square – which has brilliant views to the Acropolis and so many nearby eating spots!

A bit of wait for the rooms, about 30 mins and we all had our rooms, and then it was out to grab a bite, we all needed lunch. Did not have to go far, rather, simply go up to the rooftop area of our hotel with amazing views to acropolis. Did not even know our hotel had a rooftop bar!

A light snack done with the mandatory wash down with beers and wine. Next to hit the streets and explore the markets and side streets off Monastiraki Square.

Walked about in our large group, exploring just some of the many laneways. One thing was apparent, with our large numbers, tracking everyone and going together was proving difficult. We all decided to head our own ways in those lanes and then regroup for dinner at A for Athens rooftop bar which we had already booked.

Nita headed to numerous jewellery stores, shopping had started !Am glad we had all split, things were taking time and even though we continued to run into each other, we still were free to roam about and not have to wait for others.
Laneways done, then it was heading up to some sights….. to see some very old pillars.

Sights done, we started heading back to the hotel to freshen up and go for dinner. Along the way, noticed a very redish tinge to the atmosphere , initially it was light orange which then started to get more intense red. It was next day we realised via news that it was due to the very fine dust being blown all the way from the Sahara dessert due to a large storm…. it was an epic sight.

Made our way to A for Athens Rooftop bar and slowly everyone else rocked up. Am glad we had booked this place from Brisbane, very busy and we were super lucky to have front row seats overlooking the square and onto the Acropolis. As the evening progressed the red haze faded away, was amazing seeing the change of colour.

A for Athens rooftop had the most amazing views and was superb to see the dusk light and then nightfall. Food did not quite live up to the view, so would recommend this place just for drinks. Still a great first night with good fun company. Tomorrow it is hop-on hop-off bus with a visit to the Acropolis.