Athens: Food review

Food, one of my favourite topics to blog about. Even as I compiled and gathered the pictures together, it makes me hungry just to look at these yummy food.

1. Breakfast at the hotel

Mind my half-eaten croissant,cheese, egg and ham

2. Ariston

Read about this place during our research, and without a doubt I told hubby that we must come here.
The pies are hearty and cheap (about 2 Euro/pie). This shop is located at Syntagma area. Apparently this pie shop has been around for since 1910, hence one of the oldest bakeries in Athens. There are many types of pies to choose from, namely cheese pie, fish pie, meat pie, just to name a few. We got the cheese pie and meat pie respectively and happily munched them as we walked around.

Ariston

Hungry girl eyeing on the pies

3. Smile Cafe Restaurant

This is another restaurant which is highly recommended in Trip Advisor. Smile Cafe Restaurant is located within walking distance to the Acropolis. They even provide free maps of the sites and monuments situated around the restaurant. The food here are reasonably priced. Check out the restaurant here

Posing for the camera

Spaghetti Carbonara with ham, bacon and mushroom

Souvlaki (pork, chicken and lamb) with pita, fries and tzatziki sauce

4. Postscript

As we warned on Trip Advisor not to go out late at night (dangerous), we decided to eat dinner at the nearest available restaurant to the hotel. On the first night, we stumbled upon this shop. We didn't know the name of the shop as it was written in Greek. Later we found out that the English name is 'Postscript' or PS

Their serviette

Bread is definitely served at every restaurant. Even if you ask the waiter/waitress to take it away, it has already been included in the cover charge.

Pork in wine sauce with rice....super yummy!

Beef in tomato sauce and rice..equally mouth-watering!

After the Acropolis climb, and the museum tour, we were both exhausted. Went back to the hotel and pigged out until almost 9pm. We decided to go back to Postscript for our dinner due to the generous food portion and the cheap price.

Onion soup

Their version of Greek Moussaka

Grilled vegetables in tomato sauce

** When dining at any restaurant in Europe, it is good to tip (about 1-2 Euros)

Athens (18th May 2012): The Acropolis

Prior the trip, I found out that it was International Museum's Day in Greece on the 18th May 2012. Therefore, I rescheduled the original itinerary so that we could visit the Acropolis Museum and the Acropolis on that day. Everything free! Saved us 12 Euro:) So my advice, do your research unless you are willing to pay.

Here's some pictures we took:

The Acropolis metro. Impressive. Very clean and it has artefacts displayed in glass enclosures

Dionysus (from the east pediment of the Parthenon) displayed at the metro

At the foot of the Acropolis

You are here, right at the bottom..and you are going to make your way all the way up. May is just the right month to go up, not scorching hot.

Can you spot the miniature statues?

Odeon of Herodes Atticus

Despite the drizzle, tourists are still adamant to climb up the Acropolis

Erechtheion (Can you spot the Caryatids)?

The Parthenon (not so magnificent at that point of time due to the major repairs and reconstruction).

View from the top, you can see the city of Athens

Entrance to the New Acropolis Museum (this museum is beautiful!)

Look at the crowd! 

Miniature model of the Acropolis during the 1500AD

These are glass panels which are part of the flooring of the museum. Below are some new excavations.

Quoted 'Account of the supervisors for the construction of  the chryslephantine statue of Athena Parthenos in the Parthenon by the sculptor Phedias- 440/439 BC'.

An informative video showing the phase-by-phase construction of the Parthenon. The statue in the middle is the Goddess Athena

Artefacts displayed on the wall

The west and east  pediments of the Parthenon. Read more on it here

What's left of the west and east pediments today

Free performance by Greek pianist, Marios Strofalis. I fell in love with his soulful recital.

Athens: Accomodation

One can choose either to stay at the Plaka district, or somewhere else. Obviously because Plaka is a touristy area, you can expect the prices of the hotel/b&b to be more expensive. We chose to stay at Metaxourghio (pronounced Meta-sur-gio) at Minoa Athens Hotel, after looking at the reasonable price offered through booking.com (about 40 Euro/night).

There's nothing fancy about this hotel, besides its price and location. It's 50 metres from the metro, and there's a convenience shop once you come out of the metro. There is also a Greek restaurant called Postcript few doors away from this hotel. More info on the hotel here.  Athens' metro is very efficient, and it's not difficult to find your way around.

The entrance

The cafe adjacent to the hotel

The building opposite the hotel

Too bad I do not have good pictures of the room. We were too tired and couldn't wait to 'dump'our back packs on the bed.

Athens, Greece (17th May 2012)

Strangely, not many choose Greece as their holiday destination (most people I know chose to go Italy and France). We were glad that we decided to fly to Athens from Santorini via Aegean Airline. It was very peaceful throughout out stay in Athens.

Here are some snapshots we took of Athens..

View of Athens from the plane

In the bus, heading to Syntagma Square

Syntagma Square

A statue at Syntagma Square

Syntagma Metro Station

It was raining in Plaka by the time we arrived (around 3.30pm)

Shops at the Plaka district

A church in Plaka

Cafes

Can you spot the Acropolis?

The ruins, somehow look kinda pretty

Was introduced to this shop by Korina while we were shopping for souvenirs at her shop. Did I mention, the guy behind us won the International Barista Competition 2 years ago?

Loved the colour combination of green and purple

I find this website very useful for my Greek trip planning. Check it out here

Santorini: My fascination with doors....

My fascination with Santorini doors begin when I saw some door photographs taken by a photographer when I was doing my research on Santorini.

 Here's some of the pictures we captured in Fira and Oia.

Love this mini gate

Another one..so cute..too bad we can't have this in Malaysia (else someone will climb in easily)