Notes From Abroad: Izmir to Athens

 

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I don't have many pictures of the day we spent in Izmir, and unfortunately the visit is an unpleasant, albeit funny, memory.  Our drive was great until we tried to find the museum and parking, and then we went in circles for a little while!  We did eventually park and hike over to the Archaeological Museum, which did not live up to Fr. G's memories, I'm sad to say. (Although I too visited the museum ~25 years ago, I have very little memory of it.) The day was oppressively hot, and most of the (un-air-conditioned) museum was closed for renovations.  The outing that we were expecting to take the better part of the day took only fifteen minutes, which left us with hours to kill before our evening flight to Athens.  

We walked through the stuffy, crowded, covered bazaar, but weren't in the market for anything on offer.   Although the food was decent, we were completely scammed at a döner restaurant (our fault for not checking the reviews).  We posed for a few photos by the clock tower in a bright square before we were conned into paying for overpriced kool-aid.  The kids were exhausted and grouchy, and we were ALL ready to get back to Greece.  We drove to the airport and waited (and waited) there, hoping the air-conditioning would be better.  It wasn't, really.

But as soon as we landed in Athens, we felt much better!  A driver met us and brought us through our old neighborhood to the Plaka, where we had reserved another Air Bnb.  Our excitement and relief was in such stark contrast to the discomfort of the previous hours, that it's almost unfair to Izmir!  We laugh now about what a terrible day it was. Maybe we'll go back someday and enjoy it more.