I woke before sunrise while Nia slumbered just a bit longer. Here on the eastern edge of the European time zone, the sun pokes over the mountain in Akritohori at around 7:45.
Neither of us has slept particularly well this
last week. Between the anticipation of departure, the horrendous weather (massive rainful, high winds), and
the cooler nights without the benefit of blankets, sleep has been fitful at best.
I set off alone down the mountain to the coffee shop on the main road, chewed the fat with a couple of fishermen, then headed to the beach to watch the sun rise.
Nia and I tidied up the house, locked
the door and then the gate, and set off for Athens at 10 a.m.—stopping first to give our
dear friend Niko a hug and a pretend kiss on the check. Covid protocol in Hellas.
We returned our old friend Carmen (the little red buggy) in Markopoulo, near the airport, then proceeded for Covid tests
at the Athens Medical Center, which has an office in the arrivals terminal. In
just twenty minutes, the results were in: negative! While I was positive that
we’d be negative, we could not board Tuesday’s flight to Munich without the certified
document in hand. So that was one little hassle that we could put behind us.
We took the Metro to the
Monastiraki station, wound our way through a suprisingly frenetic crowd of vendors and
tourists, milling about the Areopogitou, the cobbled pedestrian walkway at the base
of the Acropolis, manipulated the keybox and—voila!—we were in our AirBnB apartment
overlooking the Parthenon.
Hot water, electricity, light switches—we had arrived in a veritable paradise!
Shortly after settling in, we hailed a taxi and zipped off to Kaisariani, the neighborhood where our old friends Thanasi and Koula live. Together we enjoyed a delivery order of souvlaki, salad, and pita.
Monday is our last full day in Greece. After a morning run, we have shopping and museum plans, a coffee date, then another visit with my koumbaroi in Kaisariani.
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