We were joining our cruise ship Azamara Journey in Athens and needed to stay overnight before embarking. Never having been to Athens, I checked where most of the cruise passengers were recommended to stay. Grabbed the name of the hotel from the site and went to book it directly. It was a bit confusing as there were two with similar names and of course I chose the nicest one and booked it.
Well, when we arrived at the airport in Athens we grabbed a taxi and told them the name of the hotel that was in the port area. When the driver started driving through the countryside, we began to get a bit anxious as to what was happening and where we were heading.
Thirty minutes later we arrived Theoxenia Palace, Kifissia, a beautiful boutique hotel in who knew where. We queried where we were at the reception, and they explained that their sister hotel was the one at the port. We were informed we better leave early the next day, as traffic can cause massive delays and we didn't want to miss our ship. Although a bit nervous we decided to make the best of it and explore where we were. To our ultimate surprise just down the road was a plaza with some great outdoor restaurants and even a TGI Fridays!
Joined the locals at the restaurant/wine bar and ordered some drinks which were accompanied by
loads of bread and dips, gratis! (love the European way of always serving food with their drinks) As night descended, we stayed and had dinner which came with so many added extra treats that our mistake was turning into the best time.
The next morning after a lovely breakfast we were guided towards a shopping strip that was walking distance away. Well, another wonderful surprise! All luxury name brands stores which were having an end of season sales. Yes, you guessed it, couldn't help ourselves and were late getting back to the hotel where our taxi was waiting to take us to the ship.
Arrived in the Port of Athens in approximately 40 minutes and started our embarkation process.
When we were finally allowed to our suite, we had a chilled bottle of champagne awaiting us to toast the voyage.
Next, we head off on our cruise, and the first port of call is Mykonos.
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