Athens DO Dec. 17-19, 2010
 

We want to go back to Athens, and it might as well be party! :p

The tentative agenda is below. I'm keeping this as simple as possible so people will have plenty of time to take in the Christmas festival in Syntagma Square, meander through the Plaka, and visit the shops in the narrow streets on the lower slopes of the Acropolis.

Note: As of today (Dec. 14) the Christmas festival (aka Santa's Neighborhood) is no operating, not sure what's up. It was to have run Dec. 7-31, 2010.

Friday, December 17:
Saturday, December 18:
Sunday, December 19:
Primary Hotel: Airotel Parthenon, 6 Makri Street in the Makrigianni neighborhood, underneath the Acropolis and just around the corner from the Acropolis Metro station, 4* business/leisure hotel, approx. $110 per night.

Look in Plaka for cheaper hotels.

If you want something more upscale, look around Syntagma Square. As long as your hotel's nearest metro station is Syntagma or Acropolis, you're in the right neighborhood.

Transportation: The subway system (Metro) is connected to the airport, and many of the stations also double as archaeological museums displaying items that were unearthed during recent construction & renovation.

Unfortunately, like all Greek government employees, the people who run the Metro like to strike every now and then for whatever reason. You should be prepared to walk 4-5 miles/day or hire ~4 cabs daily if the public transportation is unavailable.

Guides -- available for the Acropolis & the museums but might add substantially to the cost. I'd suggest we consider one for the Acropolis.

For anyone who's "definite", please let me know your preferences for hiring guide(s) and for the Sunday trek (Mars Hill/Prison/Filopappou or the sea).

Definite (13):
Interested/Maybe:
Nah:

Dovster (Parthenon)
SkiAdcock
szg (IC)
violist

Internet Resources Related to Athens DO Dec. 17-19, 2010

Athens Survival Guide: Guide to Athens, Greece 2010

Athens Metro Map

Hotels:

Airotel Parthenon (central hotel for the DO)

You can count me as a definite (heck, Athens is a shorter flight for me than JFK-MIA) but I am not guaranteeing that I will either walk around the city much or go to the sea in late December.

Color me interested in this one, too. I should be safely
retired by then, but if someone comes up with a gig I
can't refuse ...

You could always become one of the street musicians in the Plaka. ;)

Greece with Flyer Talkers, I'm very interested.

I am interested too. Looks like for doing some christmas shopping in Greek. ;)

And one for the Bittites
 

Travelocity emailed a bunch of hotel recommendations, including this one which can be booked at DO-time for $52/night + taxes:
It's 2-3 blocks from the Larissa Metro station. Syntagma (which will be one of our main meeting points) is 4 stops away on the Red line.

This is Travelocity's cheapest hotel offering in Athens. The next one up goes for $72+.

For those of you who remember the Levites (5:-: dwellers :)) vs. the Bittites (1-2:-: dwellers :rolleyes:) in Ljubljana, at 2:-: this might be as close to a Bit as you can get in Athens.

The historical port of Piraeus is looking good for a Sunday excursion:
We can get there by Metro. Ferry trips to the islands reportedly are available, will keep digging.

I have booked the IC for this weekend.

For a single room, I am getting a price of $90 per night (272 Euros for the four nights).

I also found a r/t price of 200 Euros, including taxes, TLV-ATH on Aegean Air, so this trip will definitely be inexpensive for me -- seeing as I am used to forking out just about that much for a flight to Milan and a heck of a lot more to get to the States.

Thanks for the hotel info, but I REALLY, really want to stay at a small hotel in the Plaka. (Points be damned, any suggestions?) BTW did I mention I'm pretty definite for this? Well, I just did and I am. Thanks for setting it up.

& with that we have 5 definites, giving us official "DO" status! :)

There's a discussion of Athens hotels here:
This one is in the Plaka: The Adams Hotel

These two hotels are very close to the Plaka:
Flying home in 2005 I sat next to a Greek native who had moved to the U.S. He gave me the name of his favorite hotel in/near the Plaka which I wrote down on a card. It should be somewhere in the room where we deposit all our travel stuff. "Deposit" is too neat a word, but I'll try to find it.

And speaking of the Plaka, we have to visit Angelo (Angelo: The Ouzo King of Plaka), probably on Friday. :)

I haven't been to Athens in years, so am interested - although it depends on budget at that time of the year. I've already toured all the main events w/ a professor of archeology, but would be fun to do them again. Haven't done the Xmas market though.

I'm a points gal, so at the moment if I did make it I'd probably be at the Marriott (which also has a rooftop bar & pool overlooking the Acropolis), but again that might change depending on the budget.

Cheers.

Yes!

Have a DL 100K Biz award on hold. Need to find something better that doesn't require traversing most of Europe with a one hour connect at CDG.