GREECE APRIL22-MAY12, 2018

April 22, 2018

Our neighbor Cheri graciously took us to the airport around 1:00 today to check for our 3:50 flight to Frankfurt on Lufthansa Airlines.  No problems checking in and security was easy so we were at the gate an hour early.  Grabbed a couple of tacos for our last US meal and can't imagine we'll find them in Greece, but who knows!?  The world is getting smaller every day!

We traveled in the Airbus A380-800 which carries over 500 passengers!  Nice service (loved the hot towels before meals and free wine and Bailey's!) and we enjoyed several movies - 3 Billboards, Molly's Game and The Shape of Water.  Neither of us were able to sleep.  They had neat video trackers which showed your plane and progress.  Here we are landing..

 We arrived in Frankfurt 9 hrs 45 minutes later and had a rather close connection (just an hour).  It took almost 30 minutes to get everyone off that huge plane, and the immigration line was very long and very slow.  And then there was security again.  We got to the gate after boarding had begun but they were running a little late so we had time to spare (at least 5-10 minutes!)  Good to get the blood going after sitting so long! The Frankfurt Airport is very large with terminals A,B,C,D,E and Z and another under construction! We had to take a bus from our gate to the plane because they don't have enough near gates!

This leg was only 2 1/2 hours and went smoothly.  Our first view of Athens shows a quite densely packed city by the sea...

We arrived in Athens, exchanged some dollars for euros, retrieved our bags and met the driver for our tour as promised.  Yeah!  We and three others were taken to our hotel in Athens, about an hour drive with nice freeways through the countryside, and then heavy traffic when we reached the city. Our driver pointed out some interesting sights including grape vines and olive trees, the Olympic stadium from 2004, etc.  Parts of the city looked pretty sad and there was a great deal of graffiti in areas.

With a population of 4 million and an economy in the dumps, there are obviously some struggles.

We were dropped at the Grand Wyndam, a very nice hotel, got our room and rested for a while. We asked directions to a place to get a new sim card for our iPhone and found one just a couple of blocks away.   Greg discovered a nice view from the top (9th) floor.

The shower was great and we felt refreshed by the time we went downstairs for a meet and greet for our group from GoAhead Tours, to be followed by dinner. There are 27 of us from Ontario and all over the US.

Met Emmie, our tour director and had our first taste of ouzo, which isn't bad when diluted. Emmie explained etiquette for the tour (mostly BE ON TIME) and explained tomorrow's agenda, which will be rise, breakfast 7-8:00 then a tour of Athens and visit to the Acropolis.  Seems like a pleasant group with 8 guys and the rest women.  We mostly talked with a couple from Hershey, PA who both work at the Hershey Medical Center, and a couple who are both working but beginning to live full time in their LARGE rv in Indiana.  Probably half or more are retired and there are a few groups - 6 ladies from California who often travel together,  and 3 sisters - one of whom had passport issues and will be arriving tomorrow.  One couple from Arizona by way of Iowa are easy to remember since they are named Steve and Eddie. Surprisingly most of the group has traveled with GoAhead tours previously.

Dinner was a buffet done by the hotel which was pretty nice.  By then, we just wanted to hit the sack!
We visited the 9th floor again to see the Acropolis illuminated and said good night.