We got up reasonably early and looked at the internet for some directions to the hotel in Athens and spotted some of the comments about the area. People mentioned ‘slum’, ‘scary’ and ‘unsuitable for walking around in the evening’. A bit of further investigation had us cancel the hotel and re-book in a nicer and more central part. In fact, just round the corner from Parliament.

Our plane was only slightly delayed and we got to Athens airport without a hitch. We were about to go to the bus stop when we found out that the strike was a public worker strike – so no busses or metro trains. Our only option getting to the city centre was a 40 euro taxi ride. It made sense to us to try and find some people to share with, but finding people proved more difficult. In the end we shared with a Chinese couple who, when I spoke English to them, asked me if I spoke Spanish. A bit bizarre.

We got into a nice plush Merc and sped off to Athens. The taxi driver spoke excellent English and our new Chinese friend said to us (in Spanish) ‘Let’s talk Spanish, so he doesn’t know what we say’. We agreed and 5 minutes later the taxi driver explained to the Chinese couple in very good Spanish how to get to their hotel. He has a Peruvian girlfriend. His English is so good because he had an attractive teacher. It was the only classes he paid attention in!

He was really nice and went to the trouble of phoning our hotel, whilst punching in details into the satnav (all this while still on the motorway), to make sure he could get us there. He also got onto the radio to other taxi drivers to check if it was actually possible to get to our hotel – the demonstration which accompanied the strike was in front of parliament, so the roads would probably be closed. We got through in the end, but as soon as we saw the riot police, protesters and burning pyres, our driver panicked. Apparently, if you’re in a skoda taxi you’re ok, but a Merc will often be attacked by anti-crisis protesters. We offered to get out and walk, but we wouldn’t hear of it. He got us to our hotel, but checked with his colleagues by radio – the Chinese couple would not be able to get to their hotel, all the roads were blocked. He advised them to eat something and in two or three hours take a taxi. They are staying in the area we had been planning to and he was most insitent that they take a taxi. So glad we changed our location!

So after dumping our stuff we decided to have a walk around and see what all the demo was about – from a distance. It was all basically over, and the fire brigade had extinguished the fires, but seeing about 300 or 400 riot police, in full battle gear, lining the streets was a bit intimidating. Seeing many of them still in gas masks should have given us a clue… shortly after our eyes started watering from the residual gas in the air. I wanted to take some pictures but a stern look and headshake from one of the cops with mace spray and a machine gun had me meekly returning the camera to my pocket. You see a brief video and news report here.

Since the excitement was basically over, we ambled through the Plaka district and had dinner. Now an early night to be ready for a full day of tourism tomorrow.

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