One thing I did forget to mention, is my discovery of Ouzo, a greek liquor that turns translucent when you add water, it had flavours of anise, clove and other warm spices.
On the Sunday, we took the metro from Monisteraki, however we ended up spending some time looking around the square, then we made our way to the National Archeological Museum, upon arrival we were given “bangaz” as I call them which essentially just gave us guided audio tours of the artefacts. This museum had me captivated especially all the vases, it is like each one told a unique story. I spent a good while on my own taking everything in, which I quite enjoyed. We were there for about an hour and a half, while most of the group had already left, Marco, Kyara and I walked back closer to the hotel side, I met some of the girls at a cute lunch spot and had a chicken burger and some tea. By this time I think the jet lag and lack of sleep was getting to me, I walked back to the hotel (about five minutes) and took a nap, then twenty minutes later I was woken up because we had to visit the Wyndham at a specific time. I scrambled to get ready and meet everyone in the lobby, we took the metro again to the Wyndham.
I found the metro in Greece to be efficient and on time, the people were decent and there were no crazy sights that I experienced (compared to NYC and Toronto). Upon arrival at the hotel, the lobby was quite grand, the dining area had high ceilings and the couches were comfortable. Our tour began after a couple minutes where we went up the elevator that had two incredible features.
- You could select your floor and then the elevator came, not vice versa.
- There was a sign that turned red when the weight went over limit, which prevented the elevator doors from closing.
The tour was quite elaborate and the team was more than happy to answer any questions and clear up any doubts. We viewed their presidential suite, which I would book next time I am in Athens (if I can afford it). We got to view a couple of the other suites, such as the Junior Suite. We also viewed the gym, which was a bit small, but had an all purpose machine. Then we went down to the event spaces where we saw their largest room as well as a conference room. Each room has a different set up such as The U, Classroom etc. I also discovered that this particular hotel does not allow outside catering if hosting an event with them. Then, we went up to the rooftop, the views were mesmerising, the view of the Acropolis, the city, my gosh, breathtaking. We got an opportunity to have some refreshing lemonade, while I spoke to a funny bartender, as well as the rooms operations manager, where I learnt that there was a really bad fire that had people stuck on another hotel property, and the hospitality of the greeks really saved the guests.
After the tour, I decided to take a solo walk back to the hotel, Google Maps decided to take me on the weirdest route possible, however, I found a Pakistani area that had some butcher shops, clothing stores and snacks. I did also see a gorgeous outfit and was about to purchase it, but then saw there were some holes in the back. Made it back in time for dinner at Baikraktaris where we enjoyed Greek Salad, Pork and Beef Souvlaki and Greek Yoghurt and Honey for dessert, I had mine and a half, it tastes so pure. When we finished with dinner, a couple of us took a walk around the area, then went to hang out on the rooftop of the hotel and have ouzo.
The next day, we met up in the lobby (after having breakfast) and went on a chartered bus to a town called Atlanta to visit a winery (Domaine Hatzimichalis). I cannot get enough of the scenery of the country. The architecture was intriguing, and the property was gorgeous. I did have some serious issues with my shoes this day. We got to see the tanks, which were huge and there were many of them, the bottling line and the barrels for ageing it. I have to say that the ageing room was a highlight for me as I have never seen any product in the ageing process and did not realise that is how it would be and how the temperature of the room was regulated with an air condition. Also, I have to mention the wall of wine that we saw in there, I believe they said they were vintages. After viewing the areas of the property, we did out tasting, one white, one rose and one red. The white was vegetal, the rose was fruity and the red was earthy (just to sum up the notes of them).
After the winery, we were headed to the feta cheese producer, Pagonis, in a town called Erythres. This is where we learnt about equipment that they use to test the products. We then had a feast with salad, pastitsio (a greek pasta dish, which was out of this world) a variety of cheeses and tzatziki. I found that one of the cheeses there were a bit too tough for my liking, there than that it was amazing. What was nice about this visit is that we got to sit for a bit, take a step back, bond and just chill. We also got to visit the Pagonis shop where I had bought a small pack of cheese for my family back home and a rice pudding.
On the bus ride back, I fell in love with that rice pudding and I still dream about it. Upon our arrival back in Athens, some of us went to an Italian place for dinner, where I regretted not reading the menu before ordering, the food was good but I did not enjoy it in terms of the flavour profile was not my type, it was a bit sweet for a pasta dish. This restaurant was in the more local part of Athens and the servers were so much nicer and pleasant. They gave us dessert on the house- a Nutella calzone. I then introduced the group to a Jamaican staple ‘Overproof’ which they all hated me for after. Our uber took about twenty minutes to pick us up so we walked around but most of the stores were closed. That was pretty much where we called it a night after we reached the hotel.