greece (day 7) - bye car and disaster strikes
i was the first person to show up for the hotel breakfast at 7:30 sharp. it was prepared by the hotelier, demetrius, and consisted of olives from his own yard, yogurt with sour cherries, egg, bread, jams, cake, coffee, and juice (not a bad deal for 5 euros).
morning view:
view from the drive:
i needed to leave delphi early so i could drive two and a half hours back to piraeus, drop off the rental car by 11:00, and make it to my 1:00 ferry to hydra.
this is when disaster struck: the ferries for the day were cancelled due to high wind and poor sea conditions. i let the hotel know i wouldn’t be coming; hopefully my cc will be able to offer a refund, and i will need to ask the ferry company to refund my tickets.
i ended up booking an extra night at my planned hotel in athens (i was even able to get the same room). i’m not sure if i will do an extra day in town or make a side trip for a day. my room has a "view" of the acropolis:
i arrived at my athens hotel around 1:30, rested for a bit, and then went to a skate/design store, lost session, that was nearby.
i talked with the owner, george, for a bit before getting lunch at lotte café-bistrot next door (george said they had good pies).
after eating, i wanted to go to the agora and temple of hephaestus, which, according to google maps, were open until 8:00. the main athens sites and acropolis are around 15–30 minute walks from my hotel. unfortunately, disaster struck again: i arrived at 4:45 and learned that the agora/temple closed at 5:00 and last entry was 4:40.
it was #notmyday.
i decided to just wander around the psirri, city center, exarchia, and monastiraki neighborhoods of central athens. it was mostly just shops and restaurants, and nothing really caught my eye.
after a while, i found a pizza/natural wine/music bar called pizza dough! that was in my hotel neighborhood. this was a jackpot and also a nice change from the greek food i have been eating the last few days. i got an amphora-aged muscat orange wine and a pizza with mozzarella, nduja, and arugula (and tiramisu). nice!
to end the day, i headed back to the hotel and i’m going to watch a movie. check my letterboxd to find out what i watched: frenchtoast1108, and yes, this is a plug :)