2014.08.18 – Kos – Athens (Greece)

Jenny and I went back for breakfast supplies to the same bakery as yesterday. As it was now Monday, we dropped by the hair studio to see whether I could get a well overdue haircut. At 9 euros, the haircut offer was easy to accept. Even Jenny opted to get her hair cut for the same price. Back at the hotel, we checked-out of our room, while leaving our luggage there until 5pm. We rented a tandem bicycle for Victoria and I while Jenny rode her single bicycle. We rode all around town on the designated bicycle paths. We stopped along the way for some snacks and fruits. We encountered along the road a local fruit seller that befriended Victoria, we got plenty of fruit sampling while we purchased some grapes from him. After a few hours of riding, we stopped at the hotel for some rest under the shade. After returning our bicycle rentals, we walked to the town center where we visited more souvenir shops and ended up having an early supper. We headed back to our hotel by 6pm in order to get our luggage to catch our 7:45pm ferry back to Athens. After a one hour wait, we boarded the ferry and settled into our two bed cabin. Victoria felt asleep on the lower bunk bed forcing Jenny to climb on the top bed. I settled for the night comfortably on our camping mattress on the floor. The twelve hour ferry ride provided us with a good night sleep.

2014.08.19 – Athens (Greece)

Upon our ferry’s arrival at the Pareus pier #1 early morning, we disembarked and decided to walk to the port’s exit. We opted to walk in order to avoid waiting for the shuttle bus as the crowds gathered at the bus stop. We realized that the 40 mins walk with our luggage was much longer than anyone of us had imagined. We took the subway to our reserved hotel. Although our hotel was near the same subway station as our previous hotel in Athens, the building and its surroundings were a bit more upscale. We checked-in to our hotel and left our luggage at the reception. We opted to spend the rest of the day on the number one tourist attraction: the Acropolis. The subway brought us at the foot hill of the famous site. As suggested in our Lonely Planet travel guide, we walked up to the Acropolis and bought our tickets at one of the less frequented entry gates. Although the site was overflowing with visitors from tour buses, we still managed to appreciate the impressive archaeological site. It was there that we first noticed the popularity of selfie-sticks among the Asian tourists. After our visit of the Acropolis, we strolled along the souvenir shops and bought a few items. For our evening meal, we gladly returned to the same modest restaurant as we had eaten before we embarked on our island hopping journey.

2014.08.20 – Athens (Greece)

After our courtesy breakfast, we made our way to a large shopping mall as a last opportunity for Victoria and Jenny to shop for clothes. Sadly they were very disappointed by the lack of clothe choices. We took the subway back to the downtown and boarded a tram for a long ride. Although we showed up at Eugenia’s Paradosiako Cafeneon restaurant for our evening meal, the place was fully reserved. The staff sent us to their sister restaurant a few blocks away. As we were low on cash, we managed to use our credit card for our last meal in Athens.

2014.08.21 – Athens (Greece)

We left our hotel early as we wanted to leverage the remainder of our 24h subway tickets to get to the airport. We bought a few additional souvenirs at the duty-free. The flight back to Montreal was uneventful. Upon our arrival, we took the shuttle bus to our car at the ParkNFly long-term parking lot. As we completed our Greece trip, we felt we had a great mix of sightseeing and relaxing beach time. The food was simply the best while the transportation was quite challenging and even sometimes stressful – namely due to the infrequent bus and ferry schedule.