We simply passed through Athens to get home, and stayed one night. We were here six years ago, for more information and photos go here.
We took the 11:00 ferry from Hydra to Piraeus Port, where we walked over to the “Green,” Line 1 Metro (easy to do, the only metro line from the port) direct to Monastiraki Square.
This is the metro station where you can catch the “Blue” metro line 3 to the airport.
Because of the (in my opinion) unreliability of the Greek ferries, we are staying the night and flying out tomorrow, rather than chance a one-day connection.
I got a great little hotel, just five minutes walk up the main street, at the very good price of €99 for the night. Our room is on the 6th floor with a view to the Acropolis. You might check out the Attalos Hotel if you are going to Athens. It is not the fanciest place but it is comfortable, well located, and a great price.
We wanted to go back to Syntagma Square (the main square in Athens) to see the Pom-Pom Boys at the Monument of the Unknown Soldier in front of the Hellenic Parliament.
I wanted to walk the narrow, crooked streets of the Anafiotika neighborhood, where people from the islands made a different sort of neighborhood right under the Acropolis.
And we wanted to eat and drink and look at the Acropolis, which I had fun calling the “Apocalypse.”
We ate a simple, forgettable meal of sardines, cheese, and pork souvlaki at the Anafiotika Cafe. It was a let down after the good food on the islands, but oh well.
We walked the graffiti cover alleys leading up to the Anafiotika neighborhood, looking up at the Apocalypse here and there around every corner.
We passed by a great bar with something like 100 bottles of Greek wine open and rows and rows of every kind of liquor you could imagine.
Around sunset:thirty we returned to the rooftop bar to see the lights go on, then to our patio to drink the last bottle of good wine we brought from Hydra.
We were up at 5:30 to grab an espresso, catch the metro to the airport and fly home.