Friday September 15th, 2011. Athens.
Today was the "Official" end of this Contiki adventure. We've had to put our luggage outside our rooms last night, so it would get dropped off at the port while we got off. It was very early, as we had to check-out and settle our bills for 7h45. Of course, most of us had a very late/early drunk night, and/or we weren't packed or we had bills to settle, and all that kind of fun stuff. I like to think I'm organized, so very early, I was finished packing my day bag, I was showered and dressed and I was lining up at reception to get my final bill (although I was smart enough to make final credit card payment last night, we still had to make sure I didn't make any more charges to my room card). All of this was taken care of, I was able to go and enjoy a last bit of breakfast. I also made sure to leave a very generous tip to my "maids" in various currencies and wrote up a nice feedback card as well.
It was far from the usual feast, as the cruise was ending and everyone was getting off and in a record time, they had to start the process all over again. The work these guys put in to turn everything around in a few hours is nothing short of amazing. It was impressive. We did feel a little rushed, as the instructions weren't exactly clear as to where to meet and when. (Contiki vs Official directions.)
We did manage to get off the ship, always missing a few people here and there. Once off, we all had to wait around and try to find our bags, and then after everything was settled and we could try to make our way out to the bus, we realized we had an extra set of suitcases. Someone still wasn't off the ship. So we played the waiting game, and let me tell you, people get very pissy very fast about that. On one side, I can understand since I am very anal about punctuality myself and would vote to leave people behind when they're late. But on the other side, sometimes, just sometimes, there are valid reasons for people to be late, and it doesn't matter which way it goes, name-calling and general rudeness and bitchiness and never acceptable. At least in my book, but apparently, I own a very outdated version that no cares about anymore. (FYI- in this case, it was a valid reason that the person got held up on the ship.)
It's about 9 am by then and we have 3 options: You take a cab to the airport or wherever your hotel is if you're staying longer or the bus will drop off most of the remaining group at the President's Hotel or lastly, they can drop some of us up downtown, at Syngtama Square. I chose the last option, as I had booked a small room right downtown for my next 3 nights. I made plans with a few girls staying at the President's to meet them back up at 6pm for a farewell dinner.
So I was now on my own with my big/full suitcase downtown Athens, looking for my hotel. I knew it was on the same street as the previous one we were at, but that was about it. So I had only a general idea of where I was going, and we were litterally just dropped off at the corner of the square, no time to say Goodbyes or anything. I noticed there seemed to be some kind of protests going on in the aquare and in front of the parliement, so I tried to stay out of the way. There were a lot of police and army around. Of course, when I got to the hotel, completely exhausted and sweaty, I was told that I wouldn't be able to check-in until after 2pm. It was barely 10am. This was going to be a long day. I sat at a cafe for a while, sipping on an way overpriced iced coffee, and then spent the rest of the day on the roof terrace, nodding off with my book. When I was finally allowed in my room, up on the 3rd floor with with narrow and steep staircases, it was almost 3 pm. I locked the door and put the coffee table in front of it, not sure who that would've stopped if they really wanted in.
I enjoyed a refreshing 2 hours nap and almost cancelled on the farewell dinner, I just wanted to sleep more. But I dragged myself in the shower, got ready and went downstairs to give my key back and tell them I was going out for dinner. It was a very small place, maybe a dozen rooms, with real keys, so whenever you were leaving, you had to leave your key with them. I walked back to the square, feeling a bit nervous with all the armed "security" people in the street, and I hopped in a cab to get me to the other side of town, to meet with the group.
There were only 6 of us who met and decided to ask for a restaurant near by and walk there to enjoy a last traditionnal dinner, as most of us were leaving tomorrow. The restaurant we were sent to was wonderful. I do wish I remembered the name so I could recommend it to everyone, but sadly I don't. But it was absolutely the best. At first, the staff didn't seem impressed to see us walk in as the place was empty and they were watching some basketball game on TV. But we got a nice table outside and a very nice waiter. We got a huge starter of Tzaziki and bread and a cold beer. After that we switched to the house white which was very good and I had some seafood pasta, and it was delicious. Mid-meal, the waiter brought us another pitcher of wine, on the house!!! And when we were done eating and just chatting away, he brought over for each of us a piece of baklava, again on the house. Wow, who were we to say no to baklava? And it was one of the best I have had. And even after all that, he came back with 7 shots of Ouzo, again on the house, so we could have a cheer with him.
Well, after 2 weeks in Greece, I had been very proud that I stayed clear of Ouzo, not wanting to suffer the consequences, but it would have been rude to refuse. So we clinked and drank. My that was horrible. Like drinking gasoline. It went straight to my head and I felt instantly drunk. Seperating the bill was fun, as we are all generous tipper, we always seemed to end up with as much tip as the main bill. It took a long time to figure that one out lol But so much fun was had!!! We then walked to the supermarket close by to buy bottled water and I also decided I should buy snacks and beer and diet-pepsi. It was too much to carry on a normal day, so imagine when drunk-ish. I saw the rest of the group back to the hotel and then took another cab back to mine. I watched TV for a bit but I was glad to finally go to bed and get to sleep in tomorrow. I had nothing planned but to take the hop-on hop-off bus to get to the sights I hadn't been yet.
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