Articles from this Category
8 September 2009
One of the highlights of Lisbon is Sintra, located about 45 minutes out of town. It has an Moorish castle plus a few villas and palaces dotted around the unusually green hilly landscape. Due to the distance and topography, it is essential to get around these sights by bus … and that itself is rather […]
7 September 2009
We took a public tram (number 28) uphill to an old part of the city called Alfama. It was very picturesque as the tram ding-dinged its way through the steep narrow streets where it was so narrow you could touch the houses on either side. There had been about two-tramloads of people waiting. Imagine if […]
6 September 2009
We did an online check-in for British Airways last night and it said on the Boarding Pass that bag-drop opens at 0500. So we thought we’d be able to drop our bags after breakfast then head into the city for a few hours and return to the airport for boarding the evening flight. Unfortunately when […]
28 May 2006
I have an evening departure from Athen to Dubai tonight, connecting there to Singapore. I have most of the day to kill around Athens. Going out after breakfast, I headed to Syntagma Square to see the changing of the guards. There were lots of people. The ceremony was more elaborate than I had expected with […]
27 May 2006
My room included a continental breakfast buffet. I started my outing early to avoid the heat. It was nice and cool around 0815 when I walked up the back alley to revisit the Acropolis. But best of all, it was still quiet. There were quaint little shops in people’s homes selling souvenirs along the way. […]
26 May 2006
Today I make my way to Athens, a city I first visited 14 years ago in 1992 on my first big ambitious adventure that took me to Egypt, Greece and Turkey. George, my pension owner, took me to the ferry around 0900. The ferry arrived about 0915 for a quick turnaround. The Blue Star Paros […]
25 May 2006
I should have known better. The wine and kytron at dinner last night woke me up around 0330 this morning, and I only dozed lightly thereafter. I didn’t get out of bed till late. After breakfast, I walked to town and then looked for the bus to Halki. Due to misunderstanding of the placard on […]
24 May 2006
I must be in holiday mode waking up at 0900. But I had plenty of time to do everything so it wasn’t a worry. I headed out around 1000 walking along the waterfront and found the bus to get to the Temple of Apollo. It turned out to be a short ride which I could […]
23 May 2006
I had interrupted sleep. I had felt knocked out by the beer around 2100 and went to sleep early. But obviously the sleep was short lived and woke at 0100. While I don’t drink often and seldom have sleeping issues, I have noticed that alcohol does wake me up in the night. I had to […]
22 May 2006
I woke up tired. I didn’t feel like going to Oia, a village in the northwest where houses spill down the slopes, with a good view of the crater. I decided I’d take it easy and skip Oia for now. Oia is better at sunset anyway. After internetting in town, I returned with some bakery […]