Hari kedua di Athens. Semalam tidur nyenyak. Mungkin kerana terlalu keletihan berjalan dan panjat bukit. Sepatutnya breakfast free (included in room charge), tapi malas pula nak turun breakfast. I cadang nak round-round area Plaka sekali lagi sebelum berangkat ke airport to catch my flight to Santorini (04:30PM) by Aegean Airlines.
Athens Satus Suite Hotel
Inilah gambar bilik Deluxe Room tempat I menginap. Review tentang hotel ini akan saya buat kat page Hotel Reviews nanti aja.
Ok Sambung lagi.
Around 11:30am, I checked out tapi bags I tinggalkan di lobby. Staffs di hotel ini sesunguhnya amat friendly dan helpful, selain cantik. I noticed perempuan greek ni minat style rambut 'big hair' ataupun keriting halus kembang. Memang kelihatan sangat exotic! Cara mereka menuturkan Bahasa Inggeris juga kedengaran seksi hihihi.....
Memutuskan untuk lunch dulu sebelum look see look see (new term for window shopping). Lunch di Ithaki Restaurant dekat Katedral di area Plaka. Restaurant ini menyajikan pelbagai menu termasuk makanan seafood. Itu yang buat I santap kat sini.
Selepas makan, I pun meneruskan perjuangan untuk explorasi area Plaka.
Kelihatan Bangunan Parthenon Di Celah Bangunan
The Plaka is the oldest section of Athens. Most of the streets have been closed to automobile traffic, though you should still keep a watchful eye for a speeding motorcycle or delivery truck. At one time it was the nightclub district, but most of these closed down when the government outlawed amplified music in the neighborhood in the seventies in an effort to get rid of undesirables. The strategy was very successful and it is now an area of restaurants, Jewelry stores tourist shops, and cafes.
Though it is quite commercialized it is still a neighborhood and arguably the nicest neighborhood in central Athens. Most of the restaurants are typical tourist places but the quality of food is not bad in some of them and if you follow my leads in the restaurant section later, you should have a few enjoyable evenings and not be unpleasantly surprised by the bill or wake up with a gastro-intestinal disorder on the day you were supposed to visit the Acropolis.
Plaka Neighbourhood
Trying To Be In The Picture ?~ Just Selfie!
As for the tourist shops they are crammed full of stuff, some of it junk but plenty of interesting items if you feel compelled to bring back gifts to everyone you know. Most of the shops have pretty much the same stuff for pretty much the same prices but there are some that are more eclectic than others that sell antiques, or actual hand painted icons, wood carvings and paintings.
If you wander around the Plaka you will find lots of different types of shops and even the regular tourist shops have amazing postcards that you can send home and make all your friends jealous. Personally I like the copies of old taverna and cafe menus and signs which seem to be pretty popular these days. There are lots of jewelery stores. Most of them buy from factories and have the same stuff for about the same price. But there are a couple that are artist-owned which have hand-made original pieces and also copies of ancient museum pieces. Gold jewelery in Greece is inexpensive, not because the price of Gold is any cheaper but because labor is. But generally the pieces that are hand-made by the artists will have more value then the mass produced pieces of the same weight. Of these artist-owned shops I like Byzantino Jewelery store.
There are a few galleries and there are several museums in the Plaka of special note the Children's Museum, the Music Museum, the Greek Folk Art Museum and the Jewish Museum which is right at the entrance to the Plaka at Nikis and Kydatheneon streets.
Masa Kecil Saya Pun Main Lastik, Tapi Lastik Greek Cute!
Melihat lastik ni, teringat masa kecil dedulu. Tinggal di kampung tiada aktiviti lain. No internet cam sekarang. Abang dan rakan-rakannya biasanya main gasing dan memikat burung. Selain itu abang saya juga buat lastik getah ni untuk kami lastik burung, anjing atau apa saja yang bergerak! Simple nya kehidupan kanak-kanak time takde Ribena dulu. Paling sadis bila time gaduh. Awaslah kena lastik!
Paintings
Local Products
Hand Made
Shop around Plaka
Plaka ~ Less Crowded
Berjalan-jalan di sekitar Plaka, teringat Bali. Suasana atau ambience yang serupa. Malahan saya dapat melihat baju-baju yang dijual di toko-toko juga, serupa yang dijual di Tanah Lot dan sebagainya. Mungkin benar dakwaan pekedai di Bali yang mengatakan, kebanyakan produk mereka ditempah or di export ke luar negara.
Sebelah kedai ni lah Athens Suites Hotel
How To Find Plaka?
First of all you need to get your bearings. The Plaka is under the Acropolis and stretches almost to Syntagma. There are two main pedestrian streets which intersect at what is generally considered the center of the Plaka: Kydathineon and Adrianou. Kydathineon begins at Nikis st, which is one block down from Constitution (or Syntagma) Square. If you have your back to the square walk down the large pedestrian shopping street of Ermou and take your first left which is Nikis or your second which is Voulis. Walk up Nikis till you come to a small pedestrian street (Kydathineon) and take a right. If you walk up Voulis it dead-ends at Kydathineon.
Adrianou begins in the Monastiraki flea market but disappears in the Roman Agora at the archaeological site of Hadrian's Library, before reappearing behind the wall of the ibrary and Plaka Square. If you are coming from Omonia Square or the Attalos or Cecil Hotels, walk up Athinas street towards Monastiraki. When you get to the square, take a left on Metropolis Street or on tiny Pondrossou street beyond. Take a right on Aeolis and when you come to a small square crowded with tables and the giant ancient Roman remains of the wall of Hadrian's Library take a left on Adrianou and you are in the Plaka. Adrianou and Kydatheneon connect about a quarter of a mile up. Once you know these two streets you can wander around and always find your way back (hopefully).
Or just hail a cab.
Whether you like hanging out watching people, shopping, eating, or wandering around, the Plaka is a great area to be in or near. From it you can walk to all the desirable parts of central Athens with a minimum of contact with the aspects of modern civilization many people find unpleasant: autos, pollution, noise and crowds. The Plaka is like a small island in the middle of the city and it was not very long ago that the Plaka was the city of Athens.
If you have time to kill get off the beaten paths and walk through the back streets. Admire the architecture of buildings that have stood for hundreds of years or climb the hill and see buildings that have lasted for thousands. It is for that reason that I suggest finding a hotel in the Plaka or nearby. If you have a hotel actually in the Plaka you may never come in contact with the Athens traffic that so many people complain about.
It was 1:30PM when I come back to the hotel to collects my luggage. Nasib jalan yang boleh dilalui kereta tak jauh. Just a block away. Lebih bernasib baik lagi, kebetulan ada taxi (merc) yang baru menurunkan penumpang. Hmmmm...selesa dapat bau Merc! Hi Hi Hi. But... nak keluar ke main road sangatlah sesak dalam waktu ini. Hati mula resah, takut tak sempat sampai airport. Menyedari kegelisahan ku, taxi driver yang masih muda remaja itu kata "You can used the car wifi". Wah bestnya. Dalam taxi ada wifi! Barulah canggih. Kereta mewah, pemandu segak muda. Ada wifi lagi! Ha Ha Ha.
Hampir 30 minit kami kandas terutama area Ermou St. Harus bertabah saja. So, sesiapa boleh ambil tips ni ~ agar boleh rancang masa. From 1-2 PM memang time jammed gila!
Akhirnya dapat keluar dari kesesakan dan taxi meluncur laju menuju ke Elefherios Venizelos, satu2nya airport di Athens yang terletak di Spata Area, some 27km far.
Sampai di airport. Fares from Plaka Area to Airport was Eur35. Check-in. Kerana time booking tak beli luggage, I kena charged Eur30 for bag. Hmmmm... Aegean ni betul2 cam Airasia. After check-in masuk ke Gate yang ditentukan. Malang flight delayed 25 minit. Petugas di pintu perlepasan umum jika ada sesiapa yang ada hand luggage volunteer untuk masukkan kabin luggage ke bagasi for free? kerana muatan kapal penuh. Ramai yang setuju. Untungkan depa? so itulah tricknya!
Tiba masanya, berbaris untuk embarktion. Hmmmm.... kecil ja pesawat Aegean Air ni. Penerbangan ke Santorini hanya ambil masa 25 minit. Itu pun hati berdebar-debar tak sabar. Risau juga pick-up service yang dah ditempah through hotel menungu lama.
Airport Santorini petit ja. Tapi time peak time, setiap 20 minit ada kapal mendarat. Bayangkan sibuk dan penuhnya airport dengan pelbagai rupa manusia.
Ok. I'm finally in Santorini. Greeted by my pick-up man and drove me to my chosen hotel : Dreams Luxury Suites in Imerviogli.
