Athens - Day 14

Even though we both got up several times in the night, we slept in until just after 10a. The entire group has left by now and we are on our own. We missed breakfast but we have coffee in our room and John had an apple and granola bar. I worked most of my time on photos and my blog, John read.

By 2p we decided we better get out and find a bank and eat a meal. We went back to To Kafeneio (I guess the English spelling) where we ate outside and had yet another marvelous meal. We had an interesting conversation with a couple of men who live in Greece. One is from the UK and seemed distinguished and one from Denmark who was drinking and smoking a lot and clearly it has taken a toll. The two men seemed to be old friends and that is the nature of old friendships that they remain even as we differ greatly in life and experiences. I digress... It is amazing that we have not met one person in Israel, Egypt, or Greece who does not like Trump and yet have a great loathing for both Obama and Hillary. The gentleman from the UK was especially interesting with his views of the US, Brexit, Greece, North Korea, and more. On a lighter note they had Sambuca for their after dinner drink and taught us how to drink this the "Italian" way, which we had as well. You are served the Sambuca in small shot glasses with a small dish of coffee beans. You add some coffee beans to your glass and lite it on fire. The fire does not show but the Sambuca bubbles. You let it go on like this for a few minutes and then cover the shot glass with the base of another glass to put out the flames, then you let it cool. It was a bit embarrassing - since the Sambuca was in a shot glass and I "assumed" it was to be "shot" but when I did the UK man was amusingly horrified. Apparently I was supposed to sip it, well he had a good laugh and so did I. I must say it would have been better to sip. You crunch away at the coffee beans and I am sure that is where I got my strength for the following adventure. 

Lunch

Fava Beans (we messed it up before the photo!)

Greek Salad-A Meal In Itself!

Lamb For Both of Us

Our New Friends

 Sambuca

After the Burn

After our meal we had a banking adventure. We walked to a bank down the street in hope to exchange our US dollars for Euros. Personally I just wanted to use the ATM but John didn't like having so much cash on hand. We were told we could exchange at the bank. Once we figured out how to "get in" the bank (there is a button to push, you then enter an enclosure, push another button to go from that chamber into the bank itself. So once we were inside we asked if we could exchange before standing in the VERY long line. We were told we could not unless we belonged to that bank, which of course we do not. So, that said we got in what we thought was the ATM line inside the bank. After waiting some time watching a woman deposit E$50 bills (at least 30 of them) one at a time, it was finally our turn. I did voice concern to John that the machine looked different and maybe it was a deposit only --- but we went ahead and stuck the card in. It asked for our card number so we put in our pin number and then things got worse. It said that was not our card number. We pushed the button to cancel our transaction and the machine flash black, then said it was out of order, not returning our card. Meanwhile, there is a long line of unhappy people behind us. Well, I assume they were unhappy, I would be, but they did not look unhappy, nor did they grumble at us. We called a man from a nearby desk and told him it kept our card. He opened the machine and worked on it for a few minutes and then asked if we were sure we put a card in? Yes, we did. He said it must be destroyed and that is why it won't come out. He called a second guy who did manage to get it out by inserting another card and forcing the screw on the side to release our card. It was not damaged! They did need our passport for identification before giving our card back. I only had a copy of mine but thank God John had the foresight to put his in his money belt in case he needed to exchange money. The nice man filled out a form and had John sign and we had our card back in hand. Then he pointed out the Cash Withdraw machine, where we used our card and went on our way - of course after the dual chamber exit process. Phew, we won't do that again!!! Back up the hill and numerous steps and we are at the hotel. We got to our room and then our key cards didn't work. Thankfully, the maid was nearby and let us in. Then we called the front desk and had them send up new key cards. All's well that ends well!!! We had a nice, slow paced day. It was such a leisurely lunch, no need to meet a schedule, visiting with former strangers, learning a little bit about their lives, that's what travel is for me as well. We have an 8a call for our private tour to Corinth tomorrow, I hope I sleep tonight after such a lazy day. I am sure I only climbed 9-10 staircases! 

I think somebody wants a walk...