Stinyamas!

That was the only sort of preparation I had done before the trip to Greece, the word translating to ‘cheers’. Thus, before the trip had even started, we were all in the right mind space in order to enjoy it to the fullest.
A bit of a background context to the vacation: it had been over 3 months that I had been waiting for this particular vacation to Greece. Slogging it out in college had really taken its toll on me and with the summers approaching, all I could imagine was the picturesque sights of the European country. One could argue that such an exotic destination is to be visited with a spouse or a ‘special friend’, but to me, the vacation was more of letting go of my inhibitions and rediscovering myself. That’s the thing I love about vacations, they allow you to be whoever you want to be with no sense of responsibility and social pressures that we are subjected to in our daily schedules.

Days passed at an agonizingly slow rate and I couldn’t help conceal my excitement to myself, it shone through my gleaming smile whenever someone happened to nudge the topic of the summers in general.
Finally came the 6th of May and everyone was super excited as we were Greece-bound. Flying via the Emirates for the first time was a great experience although the Indians on board weren’t being too polite with the air hostesses, a real disappointment to all others on board. The flight was via Dubai where we had a layover for 3 hours or so and then, Athens.

With temperatures of about 20 degrees, we landed in Athens at 19:55 local time, just in time to capture the stunning sunset. It’s like the sun never sets in the European countries during the summers ( I do not want to get into the technicalities as to why this phenomenon occurs ), and couple that to the coastline of Greece which comprised of a stunning landscape, picturesque sights all across the land were almost inevitable.
Our accommodation? 47 luxury suites, which was basically these apartments that travelers use as accommodation.

According to me, this is a very convenient way to travel, especially to Europe. Being on a constrained budget, homestays allow you to save up on your accommodation and thus you can invest a little more in food, travel and maybe shopping if that’s your thing.

Later that night, we visited the Acropolis and then headed to the street adjacent to it ( which basically would lead one to Plaka) and had some amazing food at this restaurant called the ‘Yard’. While in Greece, you have to try out the ‘Souvlaki’, which is a Greek dish that is essentially skewered chicken with a salad. It’s a different take on the more conventional ‘Kebabs’ that we Indians are so accustomed off. We traveled back home via the Metro, in order to absorb the culture of the city. With tickets costing 1.40 Euros and systems akin to that of India, the Greeks too follow the multiple colored line systems with stations like ‘Monastiraki’ and ‘Syntagma’ being the main stations that act as linking bridges to the other lines in the city.
Stay tuned to find out how the whole trip panned out.