Athens

Finally I had a real holiday! It was already a month ago, been just lazy again in posting about it... Greece was one of the first countries to open its borders for tourism, and since the situation in Slovakia was good, it was one of the first countries where you could travel to. I got my flights from Vienna to Athens, and then from Santorini back to Vienna. I wanted to see Athens, and then some island, and I chose Santorini. I was going to  take a ferry from Athens to Santorini, but plans change, as always, and I decided to fly anyway. I stayed 5 nights in both places, I will write a separate post about Santorini.

I thought that when borders are open, there would be quite a bit tourists, but there were not, still very quiet. I would think usually in the end of July Acropolis would be packed, but no… I just walked right in. Greece has mandatory mask in public transport and shops, and also at airports and planes. I stayed in Omnia Pagrati apartments, a nice modern studio in a good location, walking distance to all the main places. I didn't want to have a full schedule, there is so much to see Athens so you can't see much in 4 days anyway. Acropolis was the only must thing I wanted to see. 

Acropolis is a large area, so don't think you can do that in just a couple of hours. It was again a very warm day, during my stay it was 33 degrees and pure sunshine, and it was a bit too warm in the city… I was a few hours at Acropolis, didn't have enough water, and I had forgotten a Snickers bar to my bag :D. Didn't eat that thing anymore. It is an ancient citadel and has remains of several ancient buildings, not just Parthenon that you usually see in the pictures. I think everyone recognises that!

Lake Vouliagmeni is a volcanic lake, about 30 mins from Athens, and you can take a bus there. I did a half day tour, and this was the first stop. I wanted to take a full day tour but it was cancelled. City sightseeing and hop on hop off busses didn't operate yet but some of they day tours did, with some restrictions. For example, they don't fill the bus, there was just 5 of us in the minibus. The temperature of the lake is always 21 to 29 degrees, natural mineral spa and said to have many healing properties. Don't know if it is true or not but at least the place is very relaxing. There is a luxury wellness spa in the area as well.

Then we stopped here, to see the Temple of Poseidon from a distance.

Then longer stop, 1,5 hours at the beach. Got my feet to the sand and sea… felt so nice!

Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion. The view from there was just amazing, and so was the sunset, many people came there just for 15 mins to see the sunset, and the ticket costs 10 €.

Mandatory flower pic :)

On Thursday then I flew to Santorini, the flight is just 55 mins! Basically we took off, and then we landed :D. That's what it felt like anyway. There is definetely a lot to see in Athens and surroundings, and just a few days you can't do that much. I have been in Greece in Athens and Thessaloniki and I think I am done with Greek cities. They are great, but very busy and noisy, and a bit run down. Not my favorite places, but I still recommend visiting especially if you have any interets in history. I really thought about travelling to a holiday, is it selfish and irresposible... Selfish yes, travelling for fun is always selfish but I don't think I travelled irresponsible. I wore my mask, as I have done for months, and I cover my nose and mouth, and change it, and wash my hands and of course social distancing. I don't think my chances of getting the virus and spreading it increased during this trip. But I did think about it. Since that I have not travelled, and now the numbers are getting high again so I decided not to travel abroad at least for a few months. I was going to Finland in few weeks for my dad's 90th birthday, but he is also recovering from a surgery and has asthma. I really don't want to be the one taking the virus to him. Or to anyone else either, but especially to him right now! Next post, Santorini, hopefully very soon :)

Prague

It was a long spring without travelling, and finally some borders opened again! My first destination was Prague, at midsummer for 4 days. The train from Bratislava took 4 hours and return ticket cost about 35 euros.

I was so happy in the train, finally had the feeling of going somewhere again! I even took a video from the train window weehee I am on a train :D. I was also nervous in a way, like this was my first trip anywhere, ever. Weird how this spring has changed our lives in so many ways.

I rented a one bedroom apartment from AirBnB, excellent location with walking distance to everywhere. The weather was not the best, I knew it wouldn't be, but luckily I got some sunshine too. I was just walking around, mostly in the old town, saw the Charles Bridge and The Prague Astronomical Clock. This is exactly the best time to visit the major destinations, since it is so peaceful and not crowded at all. That is why I am going to Athens now, since I hate crowds.

First some random pics around the city

Charles Bridge, going across the river Vltava. I was told that no matter when you go there, it is always full of people. But that was before the pandemic... Now it was very nice! The construction started already 1357 and it was finished about 50 years later. It has dozens of statues, that are not original, but replicas.

Charles IV next to the bridge, King of Bohemia, and Holy Roman Emperor

Didn't go in, but just had to take a pic, I saw several absinth shops around the city actually.

The square and the astronomical clock. The clock was first installed in 1410, making it the third-oldest astronomical clock in the world and the oldest clock still operating. Yep, that's Wikipedia again.

Had to take some pics from a train on my way back

Prague is absolutely a place to visit, if you haven't done that yet. There were no tourist busses operating yet, so I was walking on my own the whole time, which is also nice. I really want to visit Prague again, to get more out of it. I have been there before, but very shortly (one night only on my roadtrip). It did feel a lot like Slovakia, and the languages are close, but still I could hear it is not the same language. I didn't visit Prague Castle, so that is for my next visit :).

On Saturday I will fly to Athens! That will be the topic of my next post of course :). Then I will just explore areas nearby, maybe some weekend trips, and then in September hopefully visit Finland for my dad's 90th birthday. Right now the numbers in many countries have gone up again, same in Slovakia, but still the situation here is good. I hope we won't go back to more strict restrictions but it is what it is... I wish I could travel far far away in the winter but right now it is impossible to make any exact plans.