Assalamualaikum and hye!
A chance to travel is one that you have to seize as it passes you by, or you may never have it again. Like a shooting star. People sometimes feel like they'll put it off for later, but often there is no better time than now. Next month quickly becomes next year and next year often becomes never.
My plan first was to visit friends in the UK and Ireland. But when Hana asked "Nak pergi Greece tak?" and my answer was just "ohh ok lah". As usual, my choice is not to travel w a large number of group and travel agency is not my choice too. So, before the finals, we've did some researched and all sorts of stuff. Oh well, banyak kerja but it is much much cheaper. We saved 2K+ if we choose the agent which offered us LE 4K+.
We arrived in Athens rather early at night. My first impression was "God! it's cold".
Can use Metro from the airport to the city.
Combo price for two person : 12 euros
Humble busy city, more or less like KL, heavy traffic on the roads, people everywhere. And can be quite scary at night. While the alleyways and city were dark, the buildings can be surprisingly spacious.
A small aisle led me to our hotel. Adonis Hotel.
Per night : 35 euros. Quite expensive I must say because we decided to stay at the central area. You can get cheaper than this like 10 euros per night but w quite more dangerous area w prostitutes around. So nak advise nya, lagi lagi travel in a small group, takde mushrif pulak, elok lah, sanggup bayar lebih.
So, we went to:
1. Acropolis.
Acropolis itself is such a big area and have a few remnants temple. So this is the main one.
> Parthenon, temple w such a historical history remains behind from Roman, Ottoman and Latin period
> Erechtheion
> Odeon of Herodus Atticus
...and more and more actually.
2. Kerameikos.
Graveyard and remnants of pottery making
3. Temple of Olympian Zeus
All the places above + and three more are all under one ticket,
Normal price : 12 euros
Student price : 6 euros
4. Acropolis Museum.
No camera allowed inside tapi dalam serius cool gile!
Normal price : 5 euros
Student price : 3 euros
5. Meteora.
Consists of 6 monasteries all together. Sacred place for the monks. Quite interesting to see the stuff that other religion beliefs.
Train ticket : 29.50 euros return
Entrance to monastry : 3 euros
Taxi return to monastry : 9 euros
6. Olympic Stadium, Athens
Normal price : 3 euros
Student price : 1.5 euros
7. Ski!
Bus return (Parnassos <> Athens) : 15 euros
Renting ski stuff : 7 euros
Entrance : 12 euros
8. Parliament House, Syntagma Square
Watched the changing guards, bird feeding, makan orange dari pokok orange tepi jalan ;)
9. Athens Flea Market
Bolehlah for souvenir and old antiques stuff
We eat
:
This is no joke. Nak bajet punya pasal.
As language, you don't have to worry that much as the local mostly speak English.
Some other tourists seemed very wonder to see that I am wearing a hijab and keep on saying "Muslim? Japan? Kawaii!" I was internally confused whether or not to reply with "arigato" because (1) I dont think they really know what kawaii means and (2) I am not actually japanese.
This was also when I introduced myself to the Korean troop in the city. They were very surprised with my random Korean vocabulary and how fluent I was with the running man's common phrases and the team members. I don't think they quite realised what a big fan I am lol.
And I love how a random Chinese-living-in-Canada uncle appeared out of nowhere to take pictures with us with his fancy remote-controlled camera.
Tips and Tricks:
1. Bring along your student card as you can get the price reduced everywhere.
2. Use comfortable shoes/sneakers as you have to walk like everytime and everywhere.
3. More jimat, siap2 bawak makanan macam kami. Nevertheless, we're not really sure of the Halal status on the restaurants in Athens
4. Careful with your steps. Maybe terpijak dog's poop. Because dog in Athens are like EVERYWHERE
Alhamdulillah, it was a great trip. Moga Allah redha :)
