Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto

Decided to write a little more as I am on the boat to Santorini. This is the last island we are visiting on the trip, the boat is not too bad, comfortable, cool, all in all it looks to be an enjoyable experience.

So where my last post left off… The Ouzerie; after going back to the hotel and taking a nap we decided call a cab instead of taking the metro back into the Plaka. There is a particular place I read about “To Kaperia”, a low key, authentic ouzerie. We hop into the cab and the driver has never hear of the place (awesome), he turns to his GPS and punches in the address, sure enough it’s there, down a small side street. After a short trip through Athens, past the Embassy, the Temple of Zeus, Hadrian’s Arch then our stop. To tell you the truth when I first saw the place I was a little skeptical, the placed looked a bit sketch, I sucked it up and decided to give it a chance. We decided to sit on the street at a a stretch of dimly lit tables. We sit down and we are greeted by a goofy looking short old dude … I did my best to keep a straight face. We glance over the menu and decide on drinks, a bottle of Retsina and of course a bottle of Ouzo. Let me explain what Retsina is; basically its a normal dry white wine, what gives Retsina it’s unique flavor is the Pine tree resin that is used to seal the barrels that the wine is aged in. The flavor of the resin leeches into the wine and gives it a odd but enjoyable flavor. OK, tangent over … back to dinner. Much of the usual, eat, drink, talk, get drunk. Long story short it was pretty damn good. Definitely would recommend this place. Tomorrow is a half day, so the plan is to visit the Archaeological Museum and then walk through Thissio and lunch in the Plaka.

The next day the plan went well, Museum was nice, a bit overwhelming though. After the first hour there I grew tired of looking at statues could have used a break but I pressed forward and tried to see all I could. Thissio, a bit of an odd place, not incredibly touristy, there are street musicians and performers. Mostly small drink cafes, places you can get a good frappe. Thissio is along the perimeter of the Acropolis park and is the location of the ancient agora (marketplace). We stopped at a cafe and both had a frappe, then decided to walk around the Acropolis and then into the Plaka to Vyzantino. I can’t stop singing praises for this particular restaurant, the waiter remembered us and immediately seated us. At the end of the meal he even gave us a free dessert, Halvas, I liked it but Sunja didn’t; maybe because it was free that I enjoyed it or maybe because it was not as sweet as traditional desserts was. Who knows, as far as I know I like Halvas, add that to my short list of desserts. Now to get to the airport, time for Mykonos.

After about 3 hours of “traveling” for what was a 20 minute flight we land in Mykonos. The airport is rather small and only consists of a small departure waiting section and a two carousel baggage claim. We walk out and were promptly shoved into a packed cab. OK, not so much shoved but we were able to find a cab quickly, but the driver packed us three wide in the back seat of a Mercedes e-class, needless to say this was not comfortable, but was expected as the guidebooks warn you of this (*** tangent **** Frommer’s travel guides are junk, it has led us wrong every time we tried to get information from it). After a short ride we are at our hotel, The Vencia. This place is amazing, the views are beautiful, the rooms comfortable and modern, crazy infinity pool overlooking the hill the hotel is on and the piece de resistance is the shower in the bathroom, man it kicks ass. We are tired and don’t feel like venturing onto Mykonos town after sunset and decide to order room service and enjoy the first day here. I finally got my grilled octopus and boy was it good, the feta cheese is also really good.

After a good nights rest we go to the lobby and eat our complimentary breakfast, nothing special, breads, cheese, meats, eggs. After breakfast we ask the receptionist about a shortcut into town that she mentioned the night before. After a quick explanation we are on our way, let’s see what all the hype is about.

Unfortunately I am tired of typing again, hopefully I have Internet access in Santorini.