JAKEB is off on another travel adventure....but this time it's only AK with B already on a travel adventure of his own (Ringwood Secondary College Performing Arts World Tour) and JE staying home (for work and uni)
We flew out of Melbourne at 6:45pm on 22 March and arrived in Singapore for a brief stopover and watched the clock tick over to 00:01 23 March; Kerryn's 50th birthday - let the celebrations begin
Next stop was an early morning arrival, 4:50am, in Dubai. We had a 6 hour stopover here and were glad to be able to access the Emirates Business Lounge, thanks to Andy's Qantas Club membership, which meant we could have a shower to freshen up then enjoy some tasty choices from the extensive breakfast buffet. This included a Swiss chocolate ice cream for Kerryn - well it was her birthday....
Then the last flight had us in Athens by 2:30pm.
It had been a long haul so we were glad to finally arrive. After purchasing an EU SIM card for Kerryn's phone, we caught the metro train into Syntagma (central Athens), then walked to our accommodation, Palladian House, in the Plaka district. Weary from the travel, but wanting to celebrate Kerryn's birthday is style, we walked to the Strofi restaurant, which had good reviews on Google and promised Athenian food with Acropolis views.... we were not disappointed.
We sat on the terrace and watched the sunset on the Parthenon, while enjoying our feast - grilled haloumi with tomato, pine nuts and olive oil lemon sauce; spinach pie in home made phyllo with feta; Kerryn had Sofrito (special dish from Corfu) slow cooked veal with rosemary on mash potatoes and cherry tomatoes; Andy had Lamb wrapped in vine leaves stuffed with feta and gruyere served with vegetables and roast potatoes - all washed down with a pretty nice house red wine. For dessert we had yogurt with honey and walnuts and "birthday" baklava while the waiters all gathered around to sing "Happy Birthday". We finished with ouzo then mastika (a local specialty liquor - on the house). A throughly delicious and memorable dinner!
We wandered home along the Dionysiou Areopagitou, admiring the floodlit acropolis before collapsing into bed after celebrating Kerryn's birthday for more than 30 hours!
No comments:
Post a Comment