Travels with Hok

Part I. Mainland Greece. May 2 - 14, 2006

    Καλημέρα, Kalimèra, Good Morning.

     Chris, the Greek guy who sat next to us on the plane from Amsterdam to Athens, looked tired. He had traveled all the way from Chicago and changed planes in Amsterdam. We, on the other hand, had spent several days in Holland, and were already quite acclimatized to the time difference. “You like to visit Greece”, he said. And like most of the Greeks we met, he was kind and helpful and even gave us his phone number to call if we encountered problems. But he warned us against Gypsies and against unscrupulous taxi drivers in Athens. The latter is a standard item in all travel books on Athens.

    An enterprising guy named George the Taxi Driver has even capitalized on this fear by offering to pick you up at the airport and driving you safe and sound to your hotel, insulating you from those nasty scoundrels who would prey on you. His fees are of course comparable to what these unscrupulous taxi drivers would try to charge you, but at least you know up front you will get fleeced and by how much.

    We were lucky. Last year the Metro has just been extended to the airport and as we walked out of the airport the Metro station was just a hundred yards or so away, close to the Sofitel Hotel. For €5 the Metro takes you on a direct line to Monastiraki station in downtown Athens. And as we stepped out of the Metro station, we were on Athinas Street, and two short blocks away was Hotel Attalos, a simple and  clean 3 star hotel in the middle of town. We had a room on the fifth floor and from the balcony we had a view of the Acropolis in the distance.  We were in Greece.

    So we bypassed the taxi problem, and missed the opportunity to meet George the Taxi Driver. But what the travel books do not tell you is that the major hazard in Greece is not taxis, but second-hand smoke. Everybody happily puffs away everywhere and all the time. People smoke during meals, in buildings, in rooms with ‘no smoking’ signs, on the streets, mayhap when having sex, and probably also when fast asleep. In the 4 weeks we were there we inhaled enough second-hand smoke to launch the Hindenburg.

    But we were in Greece. Our first day of Visit Greece.  And next to the centuries-old marble ruins of times gone by, the red poppies, which the Muses created from the blood of the minotaur, were in full bloom.