Athens Travel Blog

If your plans in Athens involve a hostel, apartment, camper, charter yacht or sailboat, you’re going to be happy about the new addition to the Arrivals level: a traditional “pandopoleion” stocked with locally made dry goods, American cereals, fresh fruit, cheeses, meat, olives, beer, wine, herbs,...

Easter is coming and Athens is getting ready. The almond trees are getting showy with their pink blossoms, the streets are perfumed with neroli and incense wafting from church windows, and the shops are putting up fairytale window displays: a rainbow of Easter candles called lambathes suspended from...

It’s not that Athens is out to scare you away but workers all over the spectrum are fed up and have chosen February 23 to air their grievances. Expect flights to be interrupted, boats to stay in port, shops and banks to be dark, trains to stand still, and if all goes to plan, everyone who isn’t...

An all-out Athens public transportation strike is coming up tomorrow, January 31st.  That means another day of hoofing it through the cold, that is unless you book yourself a private driver. I’ve listed in posts of late that it’s a good investment because not only are you enjoying the luxury of...

Alright boys and girls, now gather round. I have to tell you the story of why, for no apparent reason, Greece is granted a few days of perfect weather in the dead of winter- a phenomenon that has been occurring since ancient times. The daughter of the wind, Alcyone, was deeply in love with her husband,...

The Bad and Ugly A 24 hour strike has been called by union workers of several divisions of transportation, including air traffic control and public transport. Banks, waste management, and mass media are also exercising their rights; a demonstration was held at the freshly renovated Pediou tou Areos Park...

Olympic Air, the one year-old, privatized revision of Greece’s national carrier, Olympic Airways/Airlines, has been in the news quite a lot lately. Pilots and handlers have been threatening to strike as a dense cloud of uncertainty forms around their future employment; an EU ruling on whether or...

Wednesday and Thursday  there were nationwide strikes and demonstrations in Athens. The local news is flush with photographs of street battles between police and demonstrators, the underlying stories filled with details about black-masked, gasoline bomb-throwing rioters and air thick with tear gas “sending...

Maybe you’re just on a romantic trip in Athens, Greece, or maybe you’ve met someone and have had a whirlwind romance, the kind written about in beach blanket paperbacks. Whatever the case, you’ve got something to say to someone you’re quite fond of and you want to do it in a way...

I learned a few years back that when you’re sick of chaos of any airport, the best retreat is the airport’s prayer chapel. Maybe associated more with religious travelers it’s also a deep breath; an oasis of calm amidst the din of thousands of frustrated travelers and exasperated employees. Located...