tom911 goes to DUB (AA) + ATH - includes return to the 2004 Olympic grounds
 

Some of you may recall my 2004 report from the Athens Olympics. Haven't been back since then, so you'll see quite a few photos from Athens as this report progresses.

From 2004:
AA/IB to the 2004 Olympic Games (with swimming updates on Natalie)

Day 1

I'm on a paid $550 AA ticket for the round trip to Dublin, and a separate UA award to/from Athens which zeros out my UA account after 24 years with them. Long list of reasons I'm not flying UA but won't go into them here.

Departed SFO at 2:40pm on for DFW. Flight time was 3 hours and I watched a movie on my tablet on the way down (12 O’Clock High with Gregory Peck). My lunch choice was a very good cheese tortellini.

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After about an hour in the Admiral's Club lounge, off to the gate in the D terminal at DFW for the 9:55pm departure. The business class cabin was half-empty earlier in the day, but apparently a British Airways flight at LAX was cancelled and some passengers were rerouted on AA via DFW. Business was sold out.

My dinner choice was blackened salmon and for dessert a raspberry torte. Tablets and Bose headsets were handed out and I listened to CDs by Boston and America. About 2 hours after departure, I was asleep and probably slept 5 hours.

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Day 2

Woke up about 90 mins before arrival at London Heathrow and had scrambled eggs over buttermilk biscuits for breakfast.

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Flight time was 9 hours and we landed at 1p.m. local time. Had to transfer from T3 to T5 bus bus. Enough time for a 45 min BA lounge visit for cold drinks, then a 3:30pm departure on British Airways to Dublin, landing at 4:50p m. After clearing passport control and baggage claim, I caught the express airport bus down to O’Connell Street and was at my hotel about 6:30pm. I'm at the Maldron Hotel off Parnell Square on a 56 euro rate ($63.50). On check in I was offered the option to pay in dollars or euros and was presented a quote for dollars which was about 3-4% higher than the euro bank rate. Needless to say, I never pay in dollars when traveling as I have a credit card with no foreign exchange and this is something I'm always on the alert for.

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High temp in Dublin on Wed was 7C/45F. Didn’t feel that cold. Headed out just before 8 for dinner on O’Connell Street at a cafe that always has dinner specials. Tonight they had shepherd’s pie and a soft drink for 8.5 euros ($9.65). There was a fish and chips place a few doors down with similar prices. Dollar is strongest it’s been in 13 years.

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Walked around Temple Bar. My favorite place there, Porterhouse Brewing Company, was sparsely occupied, though it may be that music wasn’t ready to start at 9. Whole area seemed pretty quiet tonight. I was back at my hotel just after 10 and called it a night.

GPO on O'Connell Street (General Post Office) which has a lot of history attached to it relating to Irish independence:

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In Temple Bar:

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And, finally, a shout out my friend Mike in Tokyo who will appreciate this
sign:

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Dublin photos start here:
http://tom911.smugmug.com/Travel-Ire...ublin-Ireland/

Day 3

After the 9 euro ($10) hotel breakfast, set off about 10:45 down O’Connell Street to the River Liffey. I wanted to check out the Gibson Hotel where I have a future stay planned. It’s the very last stop on the Luas (tram) line out to the Docklands area where the ferries to Wales depart. I walked down from O’Connell Street and it was 27 minutes and a lot of traffic lights. Won’t be doing that again.

Along the way down to the river:

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Dublin Spire:

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Gibson Hotel:

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View of the area around the hotel (still needs some work, and one tall building frame on the right has been like that for years now since the building bust here):

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Bought an all day Luas pass down there for 6.8 euros ($7.75), hopped on the tram, and went to the National Museum of Ireland at Michael Collins Barracks. Collins was one of 90 executed after the 1916 Irish Rising. The barracks housed British soldiers from the 1700s, when first built, until Ireland was granted independence in 1922. They have displays inside showing details of the defense of positions in Dublin by Irish soldiers and the surrender letter given to a British general. Pretty interesting material. There is also a display covering WWI and Irish participation.

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Irish rocket factory during WWI:

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Back on the tram a couple stations further out to take a look, passing the Guinness Brewery.

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Turned back around and got off at Smithfield, a place I’ve always meant to check out, and home to Jamesons Distillery, as well as another Maldron hotel (chain I frequently stay with). You’d need a daily tram pass to make this location work. Rain started coming down around 2pm and had some light rain on and off the rest of the day (so much for rain due in late at night on the morning news).

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This side of the Jamesons building has been converted to cafes and a hostel:

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Tram ride again to Jervis Street, where I got off and walked across the River Liffey to the Grafton Street shopping area, then St Stephens Green, a prominent park.

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A different tram line, now, and off to Dundrum which has a deli I like inside Ireland’s largest shopping mall. My lunch there was 11 euros ($12.50) and had to be one of the biggest carved turkey sandwiches I’ve ever had. You don’t see these in the U.S. This one was topped with stuffing, cole slaw, and salami. Not sure they really needed the salami.

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Back into Dublin and a walk to my hotel, arriving after 6pm. After lunch not much of an appetite for dinner, so just ran down to a nearby Tesco around 8pm for some milk and snacks and went to bed early. Had to be up at 5:30 in the morning for my flights to Athens.

Dublin photos for this segment start here: http://tom911.smugmug.com/Travel-Ire...land/i-sfkV54G

Day 4 - travel from Dublin to Athens

Travel to Athens did not go well. I ran into issues with Aer Lingus not being able to check my bag all the way through to Athens via London Gatwick, and also not being able to issue a boarding pass for my connecting Aegean flight, both booked with UA miles. I did eventually get there, but not without a lot of hassle and hustling. You can read about that on a separate thread in the UA forum if you want all the details:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...ing-issue.html

On arrival at Athens Airport I took the airport express train to Megaro Mousikis station on the #3 line and just a 10 min walk to my hotel. Checked in at 6:15p.m. Went out to Goody's nearby for a burger around 8 but no touring tonight - just too tired.

Tom, what a lovely trip report. And a great set of photos too. I was in DUB a few months ago and I really enjoyed it. Hadn't been in ages.

I know of no other AA EXP who clears upgrades as you do...I think your name is on a special list somewhere ;)

Day 5

Late start today and wasn’t out the hotel door until about 10:30. Didn't sleep well last night. Hotel breakfast was 19 euros ($22) so passed on that.

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My rate here with tax is 100 euros a night ($114).

Looks like I’m only two Metro stations away from Parliament and Syntagma (Constitution) Square, so decided a morning walk was in order. Dark clouds overhead and not sure the good weather would hold, so not planning the Acropolis today. Along the walk in passed a sign for the Athens Classic Marathon Course.

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Arrived at Parliament and the ceremonial guard was in place and went though a slow-motion routine involving a variety of steps. One thing they allow is for tourists to stand next to the guards and take photos. One young woman mimicked kissing the guard for a photo. A army officer in fatigues came and took her camera.

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Walked through the shopping area nearby and saw the Acropolis from several vantage points.

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Hadrian’s Library was down at street level, a very large complex with columns and ruins:

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Popped into Monastiraki Metro station where I purchased a 5 day Metro pass for 10 euros ($11.40). The 30 minute airport trip at 8 euros ($9) is not included in it.

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Some dancers were entertaining to Gangnam Style and one of them lept over the group:

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I would not be able to perform this maneuver from a running start:

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Rain started coming down right after this so I retreated to a gyros shop for a pork gyros for lunch:

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Walked through some of the shopping streets nearby:

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I was approached by one person who may have been a shop owner who said he liked my shoes (actually hiking boots from Columbia) and asked where they were from. He said California (good guess - I did purchase them in Vacaville). I kept on walking. Tonight I was approached by another person in the Placa, an area I went for dinner, and he asked where I was from. He said he worked in Saudi Arabia with Americans from Denver. He wanted me to come into his bar so he could give me a card. Time to keep on walking again.

Stopped in a very small church with lots of silver artwork:

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I found myself in Omonia Square. This is where the hotel I stayed at during the Olympics in 2004 with Natalie Coughlin’s family is located. At that time it was the Omonia Grand and was very likely a 4-5* hotel. Today the building has turned blue, has a new name, and is closed up. They had entertainment every night in the adjoining square during the Olympics.

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A good time to insert some Olympics pool photos from Athens in 2004 and a younger Natalie’s first gold medal (of 12 Olympic medals now). My first digital camera in 2004 had very limited features so no great 60X optical zoom like the current one and it was very slow to process the image which limited taking multiple photos. That was my first trip to Athens and the current one is only my second.

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Started the trip back to the hotel from the Omonia Metro station:

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After arrival at the Metro station near my hotel (Megaro Mousikis Metro), I did head up a block to get a photo of the U.S. Embassy.

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Back at my hotel for a break and went back out at 7 for dinner.

Set off by train to the Acropolis train station. Walked by the Acropolis museum and through some park area below the Acropolis.

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From there a wander about the Placa area. These are mostly narrow streets, some pedestrian-only, where there are cafes, shops and restaurants, as well as a lot of homes. It’s easy to lose your bearings and have to sort out where you may be in relation to the Acropolis train station. I made it out to a multi-lane road last night and the only thing that saved me was a road sign pointing towards the Acropolis and eventually found the street with the Metro station. I really had no idea where I had ended up before then and seemed to be walking in circles. One of many shops:

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Was raining on and off all evening. Found a nice dinner spot with tables inside a sealed outdoor seating area. My meal was a tomato and cucumber salad, moussaka (made of lamb and eggplant) and ice cream. Added on a half-liter of Greek beer. Total bill just under 15 euros ($17). Wandered around some more after dinner and wasn’t back to the hotel until 10:30pm.

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Have to take a break from posting installments for right now and hope to get more up later today. Athens photos start here:
http://tom911.smugmug.com/Travel-Eur...Athens-Greece/

Flying back to the U.S. tomorrow and those upgrades cleared at booking, too. Hope to get the last part of this report up tonight.

Good call on the potential scams from the locals. Sad to see as it's nice to chat with the locals, but safety first.

Awesome trip though! I'll hit up Greece one of these days.

Day 6

Out about 10:30 for the train out to the Olympic grounds which I last visited during the Olympics in 2004. Time has taken its toll. The event pool (the one with the stands) and the training pool look in good shape with bright blue water. Looking at the stands at the event pool, some of the flooring is falling apart, and the media seats (the ones in dark blue) that have some woodwork/tables around them look like they’re falling apart. Doesn’t look like the seats have been used in years and there’s visible rust on railings. It's all fenced off so this is the best photo I could take.

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Compare that to 2004:

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The grounds, which they never got around to landscaping in 2004, remain that way. I recall dust clouds back in 2004 when the hot afternoon winds came in. Lots of weeds about.

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The park itself it getting a lot of use from dog-walkers, runners, and those training their children to ride bicycles (loved listening to a parent yelling driving instructions at a bicycling child in Greek). Not a single event being held there on Sunday, The stadium seems to have corporate suites in place (saw Fujitsu and Carrefour), so it must be getting some use. They sure do have a lot of empty land out there as you’ll see by the photos. Maybe change will come as the Greek economy improves.

Some more photos:

Olympic torch in 2004:

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Olympic torch in 2015:

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Stadium in 2004:

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Stadium in 2015:

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Stadium interior in 2004 (can’t get inside today):

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Big screen TV at end of pool in 2004 (another Gold medal):

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Big screen TV in 2015:

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Some photos of the pavilions and grounds today:

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Velodrome:

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Exhibition Hall:

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Not sure what this building was for and no sign in sight - biggest one on the grounds:

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And one of the park users:

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My 2004 Olympics photos are still on-line here:
http://tom911.smugmug.com/2004-Olympic-Games-Athens

After the Olympic grounds visit, back on the train a couple stops where I saw a Goody’s for lunch. They feature hamburgers and chicken sandwiches and advertise Philadelphia brand cream cheese on several of their items (not mine). I ordered an Extreme Club Sandwich for 7 euros ($8) and realized what the “extreme” part meant when they called my name. Apparently there is a smaller version but mine was already delivered before I saw that.

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Another 35 mins or so by train out to the Port of Pireaus, 7 miles from the city center of Athens. This is the largest passenger port in Europe and handles 20 million passengers a year. Plenty of ferries in different sizes about. Good time to mention this city is full of graffiti and the trains are not immune.

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The first ferry did a 180 degree turn in the harbour to back in:

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Back to the train station where I spotted this resting patron:

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Train back into the city center to Monastiraki. A lot more people about there compared to Saturday. There were some musicians out of sight in this photo.

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Walked uphill to the Roman Agora for some photos, and then through the Placa area on different streets than the night before looking at lots of folks drinking and dining.

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Was back at the hotel about 6:30 and other than a quick run down to a convenience store for some snacks and a soft drink (not much of an appetite with the huge lunch), was in for the night after 8 hours of touring.

New photos for this section start here:
http://tom911.smugmug.com/Travel-Eur...eece/i-xVk8smq

Day 7

Lots of cloud cover today but my only full day left to visit the Acropolis. The south slope, near the Acropolis Museum, is only two trains and three stations from my hotel, but I was in the mood to walk so set off from the hotel about 11 on the trek over. Along the way I walked behind Parliament which had a heavy police presence along some official looking buildings/homes, and came out at the old Olympic Stadium which is nearby.

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Not far from there, archaeological grounds and the Temple of Zeus (that photo from the day before). Nice view up to the south side of the Acropolis from there.

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Entry is 12 euros (about $14) and there isn’t an escalator or elevator, so a bit of an uphill walk. Back in 2004 we approached from the other side, so the hike up from this side was new to me.

Along the way up:

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original water system:

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entry gate at the top:

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Once on the top:

ongoing restoration

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Some city views:

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old Olympic Stadium in the trees and Parliament in the photo below it:

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Areopagus Hill viewed from the Acropolis above:

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Views towards the Acropolis from Areopagus Hill which I climbed up on on the way down:

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Walked around between Monastaraki and Syntagma when I came back down to surface streets and caught the Metro to my hotel. Stopped and picked up a 2 liter bottle of cold water and two packaged slices of pound cake for a snack to hold me until dinner.

Back out at 7 for dinner. Looked around the Placa and checked a couple menus, but in the end I ended up at the same place as Saturday night which wasn’t empty like some of the other restaurants I passed by. I selected an appetizer of olives and feta cheese and had a tortellini with cheese sauce as my entree. Along with a half liter of beer, bill was 17 euros (about $19.50). Was back at the hotel around 10pm.

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New photos for this section start here:
http://tom911.smugmug.com/Travel-Eur...eece/i-99HNnNP

Day 8

Got the 7:09am train to the airport and arrived 35 mins later. Took all of 5 mins to check-in, drop off a bag, and get through security, as neither had lines. Headed to Turkish Air’s contract lounge with Skyserve where I had some hot chocolate, yogurt and some marble pound cake, along with a banana and some water. Departed on time at 10:05am.

Turkish flight to Istanbul was an hour long once in the air, but that was enough time for a snack tray of a small salad with feta cheese and a turkey sandwich. Landed in Istanbul in the middle of a snowstorm, and had to be bused to the terminal from a remote stand, and that meant walking down the stairs in the snow and waiting on the bus with doors open while snow swirled about us. Fortunately my connecting Dublin flight did not get cancelled (saw one flight on the monitors to Pisa cancelled, and an Irish woman told me 30 others were cancelled). We did depart about 45 mins late and had to be deiced. Wasn't expecting snow for this trip but a nice diversion.

Lunch on the Dublin flight was eggplant, rice and chicken with another feta cheese and tomato salad, with chocolate mousse for dessert. Had a nice chardonnay with that. My in-seat audio was not working so fired up the tablet and watched Where Eagles Dare. Once airborne, flight time was 4 hours. Irish customs requested to scan my bags as I had torn off the airline destination tags. Told me not to do that again. Saw one person to the side who was flagged for bringing in too many cigarettes.

Caught the Airlink 747 bus into the city around 4:45 and was checked into my hotel about 45 mins later. Stopped at a Kentucky Fried Chicken at 7:30 for a chicken sandwich. Headed out just after 9 for music and ended up at Fitzsimon's in Temple Bar which had a very good singer/guitarist. Sipped on a pint of Smithwick's Irish Ale during the performance. Was back at my hotel, Maldron in Parnell Square, at 11p.m.

great TR....

Ahh…the true gyros with french fries….it is amazing how many places muck that up. And love the regulatory compliance slice of feta in the salad. How things have remained the same since my last visit in 97.

With sochi, bejing and so many others, the Olympics are becoming monumental…that is a…a monumental waste of money in countries that honestly don’t see any benefit from them. I can see the photos of what Rio will look like and the venues in one perhaps two years after. So silly. I hope our city Toronto, NEVER gets the Olympics. Honestly, I am not even a fan of the pan am games this summer and I am dreading the traffic.

i heard the old airport has some very nice derelict.

ironically, the ones you posted seem to be in the best shape.

Well, I know one swimmer that's going to be there leading the U.S. team, and for her it's good prep for 2016 Olympic Trials in Omaha and the 2016 Olympics in Rio which will be a year out by then. I was planning on coming up for that myself until my youngest nephew decided to get married the same week. I hope the Canadian swimmers see the same value in using this event as a springboard going forward towards the Olympics in 2016.

Natalie Coughlin to lead strong swimming team at Pan Ams

Montreal hosted World Championships in 2005 and I came up for that, and we've also had Pan Pacific Championships in Saanich, outside Victoria, in 2006, that I was up for. I enjoyed them both. I'm disappointed I can't make it up this summer for Toronto.

Fascinating TR Tom, it's interesting to see the pictures of the Athens venues as it's always talked about in terms of the bad after effects of the Olympics. Thankfully London has done much better in the aftermath. Nice to see a Tr on Athens at all actually - it doesn't seem to be a very popular destination for FTers

I really enjoyed Athens, and can see a lot more to return for. I still haven't sorted out why folks keep coming up to me and asking what hotel I'm staying at. It happened an additional time and this guy, probably 70, near the Acropolis Metro, was adjusting my collar as he talked to me and wanted to have a drink. He said the food on that block was too expensive (which I knew-- had looked at a couple menus) and their moussaka was not prepared fresh each day. Walked off from him, too. I'm really good at walking away from folks as I grasp my travel wallet in one pocket and my cell phone in the other. This person said be visits a cousin in Houston every year or two. I'm really curious why they all want to know where I'm staying - is it to gauge my value as a target? Would they walk off on their own if I told them I was at a hostel and not an hotel? I rarely have more than 100 euros so they're not going to make a big catch with me if they're looking for cash.

Maybe this?