Greece 2022 - Day 3: So long Athens and thanks for all the food!

 Our last day in Athens got off to a bit of a late start due to the curse of jet lag.  We enjoyed a coffee and fresh oranges on our sunny balcony.  The orange credit goes to our tour driver Tom from yesterday who insisted on stopping by a road side stand in the Peloponnese to by a 30lb bag of oranges.  He claimed the oranges were for himself to be able to make juice in the mornings, but he proceeded to give us 14 of them!  Needless to say, the oranges were some of the tastiest we’ve ever had.  The remainder will definitely be coming with us. 

After cleaning up, we set out to find the Central Athens Market, otherwise known as the “Meat Hall”.  This place was amazing!  So much fresh meat and seafood…absolute heaven!  Outside the main hall were vendors selling fresh fruits and veggies, spices, tea and everything else imaginable.  I’ve never understood why Canada doesn’t have markets like this.  If we had been staying longer in an Airbnb, I would definitely have come away with a with a haul.  I will admit to buying some spices and olives.

 

 

Looking at all the fresh food made us hungry, so we set out to find somewhere to have a late lunch.  The decision was easily made when we stumbled on a small taverna across the road from the market advertising gyros for 3 Euros.  The pork gyro was delicious, and the Greek salad was one of the best we’ve had yet. 

 

We carried on wandering around Athens, strolling through the Monastiraki flea market and along some of the back streets until it was time to head back to the hotel and pack up for our overnight, “red eye” ferry to Crete.  After seeing how congested the traffic in Athens tends to be, we decided to take the metro to the port of Pireaus.  Once again, a smooth transfer on the train.  After arriving at the port entrance, we took a shuttle to Gate E2 where our ferry was waiting. 

 

We boarded the Mionan Lines Knossos Palace and were shown to our cabin.  Let’s just say, they don’t call this boat a palace for nothing.  Although, we had booked a luxury room, we were not expecting what we got.  The cabin turned out to be bigger than our hotel room in Athens, complete with a queen-sized bed, living room and very spacious bathroom.  There was also not just one, but two bottles of complimentary wine, as well as fresh fruit. 

 

After dropping our luggage in the cabin, we took some time to explore the ship discovering a lounge where there would be evening entertainment, a disco, two restaurants, various snack bars, a gift shop, and a swimming pool.  We then stopped on one of the outside decks to watch the sun set before heading back to our cabin.

 

Not knowing that the cabin would already have wine and snacks, we had stocked up in Athens with a bottle of wine, and the olives we purchased at the market.  With the addition of some chips and nuts that we bought from the shop on the ferry, we settled into our cabin for the night with an array of nibblies.  If you can believe it, the wine cost 1.95 Euros, the equivalent of $2.80 Canadian (including tax), and it was very drinkable.  I love Europe!!!