Was hot, crowded and dusty but you just have to do it. Walking the Acropolis is an absolute must.

Arriving at Athens airport, we were speedily processed through customs and immigration having been first off the plane. We arrived at the carousal and once again, our bags popped up first; however, Alan had to get some Euro’s at the currency exchange and left a little something at the counter that we were to discover that night when Aly went to read his book.

Our driver was waiting for us with a sign and in minutes we were in his air conditioned Mercedes speeding to the Grande Bretange Hotel in the heart of Athens. It was so hot once we alighted the car that I was wringing wet in minutes. We waited a little at reception due to a large number of guests being received but at least it was cool. We were taken to our room which we just loved. Much smaller than our room at the Emirates Palace Hotel but traditionally decorated and a very comfortable room complete with marble bathroom and plenty of storage space.

A Greek guard on duty at the House of Parliament right across from our hotel.

It is a big hotel hosting a myriad of visitors from all over and the roof top pool, while not a big space, was ample to get cool and have a refreshing drink. Breakfast was located on the roof top with the most amazing views of the city, the Acropolis and visions of the sea. I thought the variety of breakfast foods was amazing and it became a highlight of my stay. We did have dinner on the roof top on the last night at the hotel before we departed on the Star Clipper the following day. The feeling on that roof top that evening as the Acropolis commenced it’s thrilling light show was something I will never be able to convey in words. It was felt in the heart and I experienced a feeling of peace and joy. If you get the chance, do yourself a favor and have dinner on the roof top of this hotel…it is a time in my life I will never forget.

Sending the Etihad sleeper suits, amenity kits etc home by mail. We are to receive more when we travel home but I really didn't want to just leave them as I'd like to share them around my family. Our bed in the Grande Bretagne Hotel.

Rather than take organized tours which don’t suit us, we hired a driver for two days who was able to tailor a tour of things we wanted to see and things we didn’t even know existed. David from Athens Taxi service was just amazing. Having been in Australia and now in Greece, his English was outstanding and his knowledge of Greece excellent. We had such fun with David and I would highly recommend him to anyone. His e-mail for anyone interested in using his services is davidtaxi@mail.com . You will not be disappointed and the overall cost of our tours was comparative with the prices of many of the tours available and you don’t have to follow a colored umbrella or wear a number tag.

Our first tour day was spent seeing the hot spots of Athens with outstanding commentary by David and the second day we toured Corinth including the Corinth Canal, Nafplio and surrounding areas having a fantastic lunch of Greek Salad and Grilled Octopus at a restaurant recommended by David. What an amazing day and we have such wonderful footage to include in our travel documentary.

One of the many amazing structures in Athens.

One downside to all this heat and air travel was my old problem of swollen feet moving up to my legs. No matter how much water I drink or how often I raise my feet it always plagues me when traveling. It was becoming really painful and hindered my plans to walk everywhere by foot. The Grande Bretagne Hotel offered an amazing Spa facility which I took advantage of. The lovely masseuse worked like mad to dispurse the fluid from my feet and I was able to use the various treatment rooms on offer. There are a number of wonderful sauna rooms including my fav the amethyst grotto and never ending chipped ice to soak your tired feet. That had to be one of the best massages I have ever had.

On to Aly’s faux pas. He left his Calvin Klein travel bag at the currency exchange counter at Athens airport. It was a laugh trying to work out the number to ring the airline but finally we got through to a London office. They promised to e-mail if they found the bag; however, shortly after they confirmed the bag wasn’t claimed on the flight. Finally we found it at the lost property office at the airport. He was unaware that he had left it there as he swore he recalled seeing it on the seat of the plane.

As we often do, we walked around until we found a restaurant, taverna or cafe that appealed to us. We of course fell in love with the Plaka district and returned numerous times to try out new places. I would walk around in my Havana thongs and carry my good shoe’s ready to throw on when we found somewhere we wanted to eat. I was enjoying collecting more and more Greek words the more we immersed ourselves in the buzz of the city and it’s people and you can see me with my hastily written translations which I kept referring to all the time.

Trying my hardest to speak with the locals.

Walking the Plaka, there are some spruikers who try to lure you into their specific place of business. One night I promised every one of them that I would return the next night for dinner because I just couldn’t say no. Well we returned to the guy who gave me the business card of the taverna the night before. Here is a video of Aly with me as interviewer after quite a few drinks on the roof top of a taverna in Plaka, the name of which escapes me right now. We had an absolute ball there and I have discovered my sensibilities are similar to those of the Greeks.

I just had to include a small piece from our video collection on the roof top in Plaka. We were having such fun and got carried away by the music and atmosphere that we had to order more wine and Mastika which I fell in love with. Unfortunately my bottle of Mastika came to an unfortunate end in my backpack arriving in Heathrow wrapped in Aly’s jocks and socks totally smashed to bits. A sodden mess of Greek liqueur, his undies will never be the same again but I’m happy to say he didn’t suck on them to obtain the juice.

I actually started a thread on Trip Advisor where I declared my love for Athens. It was amazing because this caused a big dispute about whether Athens is the ass end of the earth of a treasure of a city. I believe it is a treasure. Yes there is rubbish around, beggars, tourist shops on every corner and loads of people this time of year but I feel it adds to the heart of this city. I loved the people who in turn love life.

We finished our Athens adventure on a total high making our way by chauffeur driven car to the Port of Piraeus ready to meet our ship which was to take us on a further adventure to Mykanos, Santorini, Yithion, Corfu, Kotor, Dubrovnik, Korcula, Hvar, Mali Losinj and Venice.

The story continues ))

Who misses the dog when on the road traveling???? Me, me, me.

Of course I miss my family and friends but it is China Jones, my faithful furry friend who brings a tear to my eye when I think of not being able to snuggle her every night when I put her to bed. Only the like minded will know what I mean.

Just had to share this photo with you that my friend Lyn sent me. She has been taking China on day trips with her and took a photo of China at her work with Coast Guard Victoria. Thanks Lyns…this has just made us laugh like idiots in our hotel room at Ruzzini Palace Hotel in Venice. Isn’t she cute?

China Jones - she is Diva's little diva.

One of the stunning areas of the Emirates Palace Hotel - our room is on the 4th floor.

Arriving at the Emirates Palace was a mouth-dropping experience. Oooh’s and ah’s were eminating from the back seat as Aly and I realised that the sweeping road leading up to an amazing building was in fact the hotel were we would be staying. I was so thrilled to see Aly just sit there in the car shaking his head in wonderment that the sight before us was actually our hotel. In all honesty, Aly said ‘Bloody hell, we’re not stopping here are we?” Typical him…he loves the good life but is still at heart very humble.

After the incredible Etihad experience, we were in the frame of mind to be spoiled and pampered. What we received was simply perfection and throughout our time at the hotel, everyone was attentive and professional, warm and genuine. From the beautiful bunch of roses imported from Holland given me on our arrival to the single stem red rose kindly handed me on our departure, I felt a member of the Emirates Palace family. Aly and I both discussed this and we agreed that there was a warmth from the employees that didn’t seem engineered or forced.

We loved our room and balcony looking over the front of the hotel to the amazing domed building that changed color every few minutes. At night it looked like Christmas. Unfortunately it was in our room that I lost the first lot of photo’s and video’s that included getting into the Etihad courtesty car, the plane interior and the first day in our room. I lost it because I thought I was downloading it to my hard drive but obviously wasn’t. I’m so disappointed and had to just let it go or I would have dwelled on this and it would have impacted on our fun.

Another amazing vista. Gold and glowing.

It was 1 kilometre from the east wing to the west wing (vice versa) and took some skilled navigation not to get lost amongst the gold guilding; however, there was always friendly staff to point us in the right direction. The heat was quite oppressive though and being outside caused you to be drenched in sweat withing minutes. Consequently we spent a lot of time at the east wing pool complete with swim through bar.

The water was a perfect temperature to keep cool on the outside and the wet bar just ideal to keep the inside cool. Their Mojito's were amazing.

We did venture out to the Marina Mall shopping centre where it was lovely and cool. Only a short taxi ride from the hotel, it was huge and full of global brands we all know and love. I did however see a few women dressed in strappy tops and skimpy shorts. People were right, they stood out from everyone else dressed conservatively and locals did stare and pay them attention. It would have made me really uncomfortable so in my mind there is no doubt that modest dressing will enhance your stay in Abu Dhabi.

A place where we spent a lot of time. Mojito's a specialty. Thank you to all the pool and bar staff for your fine attention. You were all exceptional.

Walking around the hotel was great fun as there are so many places to lounge, dine and drink. We had the buffet breakfast in a massive room accessed by two sweeping staircases and it was so comfortable. I’ve had a few hotel breakfasts in my time but this was akin to a breakfast banquet. Foods to cater to all tastes throughout the continents were beautifully dispayed and I went troppo on the fine coffee. I’m often an eat’n'run kind of girl but in the comfortable arm chairs and the variety of food available, Aly had to drag me out. Thank God we got lost in the hotel because we could at least walk off some of the calories.

The night we arrived we took advantage of room service and it was fantastic. We both raved about the food which was delivered on an immaculately prepared trolley table complete with flowers and every accompaniment you could wish for.

Another night we dined at the Sayad restaurant in the hotel and had an absolute ball enjoying a wonderful meal prepared by an Australian chef. Until I can get home and take stills from my video footage, I’m including a small video of our entree’s. The restaurant was lovely and very relaxing. Pricey but worth it.

Whilst I do realise that staying at this hotel is considered wasteful, decadent and obscene to some, it was a stunning experience that we worked hard to obtain over the years. To be honest, not much will come close to the level of personal attention we received. Diva needs to quickly grab herself a tent and backpack before she loses touch with reality all together. Sotto voce – I’ve never camped in my life.

Overall, we would thoroughly recommend the Emirates Palace for those who wish to pamper themselves a little and experience Middle Eastern hospitality at it’s best. We were so sad to leave this hotel. We genuinely felt a little emotional when they said good bye to us and sent us off with a lovely rose and huge smiles. Might sound soppy but it’s how we felt at the time.

Etihad once again were true to form and were waiting for us at 0600 to return us to Abu Dhabi International Airport for our flight to Athens.

Date: 11th August 2009
Carrier: Etihad
Flight: EY 0091
Depart: Abu Dhabi International Airport
Arrive: Athens International Airport
Take Off: 0925
Arrive: 1315
Aircraft: A32
Class: Business

First Class Lounge - Abu Dhabi - Terminal 3. A smile, some food, a massage...what else does one want??

Upon arrival at the airport we pulled up at Terminal 1 Etihad premium class area where we were processed in minutes. I was however; hopping around the airport trying to put my shoes back on and handle our hand luggage once we went through the screening process. Because there was no first class service to Athens we attempted to see if we could access the First lounge in Terminal 1 showing our initial First boarding passes from Melbourne to Abu Dhabi; however, they would not let us in. They told us to make our way to Terminal 3 and use those lounges. At Terminal 3 we entered the premium lounges where they allowed us access to the First lounge given our trip was primarily in F. Yes it was small and nothing like the amazing Etihad F lounge in Terminal 1, but we were treated so well and my waffles were AMAZINGLY yummy. We had soothing massages and sat back enjoying a restful moment in the trip. I had made Aly wear a Birthday badge all day from when we awoke because it was his birthday.

Delicious waffles with poached fruits. I swear it was heaven.

We were advised that we could board the plane now and left the relative calm of the lounge to the boarding area. It was every man for himself boarding the plane and we made our way to our seats 2A and 2C. With only 6 people out of 20 available seats in Business, there was certainly room. Meals were delivered speedily by a lovely attentive crew.

Etihad flight 0019 - Business Class. My fish meal which was so tasty.

Aly's meal - eye fillet and vegetables. He said the steak was cooked perfectly.

After the meal and about an hour prior to landing in Athens, the crew presented Aly with a birthday cake and everyone sung happy birthday. We shared it with the pilot, crew and four other passengers in business. Thanks Etihad….it was just lovely.

Aly's birthday cake at 35 thousand feet. It was so special and he was suprised.

The flight was great. Hardly any turbulance and no flipping out by me. I think I’m over my flying phobia. We slept a bit and watched the scenery out the window.

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