We left the boat to our hotel in Athens near all of the famous sites in the early morning. The NLH Fix Hotel was a nice surprise, as it not only was well-located, but had a full kitchen hidden away. Since we will only be here overnight, it was wasted on us, but good to know. It would be good to keep it in mind for a future visit.
Today, we will get some laundry done (avoiding the heavy cost of having it done on the boat or hotel), by going to a nearby self-service laundromat. We found it, and it was close to our hotel. An hour later, we were done and ready to enjoy the day.
Our hotel is about a 20 minute walk to the Parthenon and Acropolis. We first encountered the Temple of Zeus arch. Even early in the day, there were many tourists making their way to the ruins everyone wants to see. As you look through the arch, you can see the Acropolis, where we plan to go afterward.
It is an easy walk, although uphill to through the Plaka, a beautiful neighborhood with many markets, and restaurants. As we got close, the view of Athens’ Agora Temple stands out. The Agora was the original market thousands of years ago. From the base of the Acropolis, we could see the huge lines of tourists getting tickets to walk up to the Parthenon, as well as a crowded queue to see it up close. Both Jim and I visited the Parthenon on year’s past, so we decided to forego the actual visit this time. It was a good decision.
Once back at our hotel, we relaxed for a bit before our planned cooking class at 4:00 PM. This class is in a restaurant called The Artist in a rooftop kitchen with Stam, our chef. He was adorable, very funny, and well-trained, to teach us the basics of traditional Greek recipes. All of us were from the US, coincidentally. As we worked through all the steps of creating a multi-course meal, he had us chopping, mixing, combining, and measuring the ingredients, so we all contributed to the creation of the meal.
The menu included an Aegean Salad, Spinach Pie with handmade Phyllo, authentic Greek Moussaka, Tzatziki Sauce, and Galatopita (a creamy custard dessert). We donned our aprons and jumped right in. Once everything was prepared, the food that had to be cooked was taken away, while we made the salad and sauce. By 6:30, we assembled in a rooftop dining room with a fabulous view of the Parthenon. We got to enjoy each course with a wine pairing. It was a very special evening.
By the way, the area near the restaurant is known for amazing food items. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to go in on the way there, and by the time we finished our meal, the shops were closed. If you want cured meats, Greek seasonings, or specialty cheeses, these shops are where you want to be!
We packed in a lot in one day in Athens, but we were ready to fly out tomorrow morning to Budapest to start our next cruise on the Danube.