12-13 September 2022. Returning to Athens, then Home.

We managed to get a pretty good night’s sleep. Most of the hard packing work was done last night, so we were left with cleaning up the last-minute stuff in the morning, which we did after a trip to the restaurant for breakfast. Afterwards, I went to the office to settle up the bill. The boys brought the SUV down the drive to the bungalow and packed up. Then it was on the road once more to retrace our path back to Chania in order to make our return flight from Crete back to Athens.

We returned our dust-covered SUV (courtesy of yesterday’s visit to the Rodopos peninsula) to the rental car agency and then took the shuttle to Ioannis Daskalogiannis International Airport. Our flight was uneventful and we arrived back in Athens in the early afternoon. Our final night in Greece was spent in an older hotel near the Plaka. It wasn’t the worse place we stayed on this trip, but all of us had to sleep in one room with a queen-sized bed and a single. Note to you gay families, especially the poly ones and people traveling with them (like me) – the hotels generally aren’t set up with accommodations catering to us. Beds are generally smaller than we would expect, even those with multi-bedroom suites. So, keep that in mind when booking your rooms.

We reached the lobby of the hotel up a short flight of steps, and both steps and lobby were paved in slick black marble. This is just a fall and a broken hip waiting to happen, in my opinion. The elevator was typically small and could only hold a few pieces of luggage at a time (I really did feel guilty about tying it up, but we just couldn’t lug that shit up two more flights of stairs). Also, as this was our only non-Airbnb accommodation, we were required to turn over our passports at the front desk during our stay. I knew that this was a thing, but it still gave me some trepidation. Once we settled our luggage, we went out to the Plaka to do our final shopping and wandering.

Paul P. took us to see the Choragic Monument of Lysikrates, the sole intact ancient monument dedicated to the choregai who had won honors at the City, or Greater, Dionysia in Athens.

The street that it resides on – Tripodon – was the road between the Sanctuary of Dionysos and the Athenian Agora which once was lined with tripods awarded to the winners of these annual contests. The Great Dionysia was an enormous festival which attracted visitors from across the ancient Mediterranean.

There are small stone dedications on the site commemorating the French purchase of the choragic monument from the Ottoman Turks in 1669 so that it could be incorporated into a small church and library established on the site. The French later restored the monument in 1845 and 1892. These actions saved it from the fate of all of the other choragic monuments, which were dismantled and used as building materials.

The entrance to the Venizelos Mansion, which is located at 96 Adrianou Street, Plaka, Athens.

I purchased a few boxes of mastic resin from the island of Chios and some Greek bay leaves and oregano. The boys bought some beautifully embroidered pillowcases with a pomegranate design. Then it was off to dinner. I don’t remember where we ended up, but it was delicious as all (or at least most) of our meals were. I can’t say enough about the Greek/mediterranean diet, where the ingredients are fresh and healthful. And one of my favorite dishes is Greek salad, known as xoriatiki. Below is a video talking specifically about the Cretan version of xoriatiki, which we experienced on the island.

After dinner, I went back to the hotel room, and the boys took off to meet with a friend of Paul’s at the Drunk Sinatra bar in Syntagma. They said that I missed a good time, but I’m in my 60s and need more sleep than these kids. Maybe another time. On the morning of September 13th, we did our ablutions, packed our things, and arranged a fairly luxurious stretch van to take us and our luggage to Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport for our flight home. We did our final shopping in the duty-free shop, then headed to our gate.

The flight was on time and event-free. None of us slept on the way home. The only hiccup was in making our connection in Toronto, Canada. We had no idea that we had to go through US customs there, so it was a nail-biting wait as we watched the clock. Fortunately, there were ultimately no difficulties, and we made our flight with time to spare. We got home in the early evening. I dropped the boys off their place and was home myself a half an hour later and in bed before midnight the same day that we left Athens.

This ends my retrospective on the 2022 trip to Greece. I want to thank my good friends, Paul, Michael P., and Aaron for helping me to finally realize a dream that was over 50 years in waiting. While I left Greece, it never truly left me. We returned there in 2023, and I will shortly begin working my way through that trip herein. Until then, αντιο.

— Να εχεις μια ωραια μερα. —