The journey from Dubai to Athens was not quite so luxurious for two reasons: (1) I was Business Class and (2) the planes for the shorter routes have armchairs in Business Class instead of the seats with privacy ‘hoods’. Nevertheless, I managed to fall asleep for the last hour or so of the journey and was woken by the Captain announcing our descent into Athens.
Getting through passport control took no time, my bag was one of the first onto the carousel and there was not an official in sight in the ‘nothing to declare’ section of customs. I just walked through and was out in the Arrivals Hall about 20 minutes after the plane touched down. I had organised the Emirates limo service to take me to the hotel, and several times during the flight, we were told where to go to pick up our drivers. I was met at the appointed place by a representative of Emirates and I was then escorted to an awaiting car. The hotel is in a very old area of Athens with streets exactly 3 cars wide with cars parked on both sides. Most streets are one-way, so we sort of circled in on the hotel, threading our way past the cars, getting progressively closer. The hotel itself is very modern and extremely comfortable. I naturally enquired about the Internet since I had chosen it on the basis of the advertised connection. I was greeted with the news, that they were having problems with the satellite that day! (I was naturally reminded of my previous experience in Athens.) I expressed my annoyance and was assured that the technician would be there that evening. It being Sunday, I was sceptical, but it was the case that later in the evening the LAN connection in my room was working. It seems though that it limits access to about half an hour (although sites loaded during that time continue to be refreshable), but when I rebooted my computer, I could get straight back on again. The service is free, so there must be some kind of built-in restriction on downloads I guess.
I was very tired by 8.00pm and decided to go to bed then. The hotel is very quiet indeed and this morning I woke at about 5.00am, which is not much different from my normal waking time. I was a bit fuzzy, but as the day progressed, I don’t think that I am too jet-lagged at all. As soon as it got light, I went for my walk in the National Gardens where I used to walk in January. The hotel is in a different direction, but the distance is similar. The sun was shining brightly and it was quite warm already at 6.30am.
After my return, I went into breakfast which was also an improvement on the other hotel. I had organised to be at Stella’s house by 10.30am and decided that I would walk there since the weather was fine. I had called Xenia yesterday and she considered this a crazy idea, but, even though I would be wheeling my suitcase, I had plenty of time. I left the hotel at 9.45am and was actually at Stella’s apartment by 10.20am. It was a fairly long walk and my arms had started to ache as a result of pulling the case, often uphill. Stella put me and our cases into the car (which was double parked) and she went inside to get the several laptops and data projector she needed to take. We then set off to the airport to pick up one of the conference invited speakers called Nancy Nersessian who was arriving from Atlanta. Stella drives a two-door BMW and we already had much luggage. When we got to the airport, I was sent inside to meet Nancy who I had never met, but I was given a description. First of all, her plane had landed over 20 minutes earlier (the time it had taken me to be completely processed) and I was not at all sure that I would recognise her from the description. When I got to the Arrivals Hall, it was teeming with people and television cameras waiting for the various sporting personalities who were arriving for the Champions Cup (the reason my hotel was not initially going to be refunded). I looked at the board and about 10 flights had landed in the previous half hour, so I guessed that it might take Nancy quite a while to exit. The next problem was that there were hundreds of people meeting the flights and 2 exits, so I had to keep bouncing between them looking for people who were obviously on their own and looking for the person meeting them. Eventually, someone satisfying the description and looking rather lost came through, so I approached and asked if it was Nancy – and it was!! Meanwhile Stella had come past me and had gone off to buy drinks and food for the journey to Delphi. Nancy is here in Europe for a month so also had a huge case. After shuffling of luggage which reminded me of our 1999 US/UK visit with the tiny hire car, we managed to get it all in and, in the end, I had plenty of space in the back with bags taking up the 4th seat.
On the journey up into the mountains, which are the ski resorts in winter, we had several thunderstorms and pouring rain, but it only ever lasted 5 minutes or so. We stopped for lunch in one of the mountain villages and it was sunny when we went in, poured while we were eating and was sunny again when we walked back to the car.
We are now here at the Cultural Centre in Delphi, which is up on the side of a mountain overlooking the Peloponnesian waters. (I will take a photo and put it up tomorrow). It is truly picturesque and all the rooms overlook the water. Today is Xenia’s birthday, so we are all going out to dinner tonight to celebrate.
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