{"id":276,"date":"2018-11-18T18:15:00","date_gmt":"2018-11-18T23:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.messysuitcase.com\/index.php\/2018\/11\/18\/greece-part-3\/"},"modified":"2018-11-18T18:15:00","modified_gmt":"2018-11-18T23:15:00","slug":"greece-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/messysuitcase.com\/index.php\/2018\/11\/18\/greece-part-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Greece, Part 3: Thoughts About Greece"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"MsoNormal\">\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">\nSome thoughts about Greece:<\/h3>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<ul><a href=\"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-8v_Q2S_sIwk\/W-4b8Sjq9zI\/AAAAAAAAyDc\/B9FOxh5zd1kXZDxb_FDjL8ytkAfatU_rQCEwYBhgL\/s1600\/DSC02626.JPG\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"1200\" data-original-width=\"1600\" height=\"240\" src=\"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-8v_Q2S_sIwk\/W-4b8Sjq9zI\/AAAAAAAAyDc\/B9FOxh5zd1kXZDxb_FDjL8ytkAfatU_rQCEwYBhgL\/s1600\/DSC02626.JPG\" width=\"320\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<li>It is clean! After dirty Naples, it was a refreshing change to see people out sweeping the sidewalks.<\/li>\n<li>It is orderly! After chaotic Naples, it was a relief to see street lights and traffic lights and people who waited or the light to turn before crossing the street.<\/li>\n<li>It is affordable! With a hotel in a prime location costing only $90 a night for a triple and meals costing as little as $6 for an entr\u00e9e, we would recommend it to anyone seeking to visit a European capital on a budget. Entrance to the Acropolis was only 5 euros ($6), the National Archeological Museum was 10 euros, the Temple of Zeus was free on Sundays, the Olympic Stadium was only 5 euros \u2013 and everything was free for age 18 and under (with ID), or for EU students up to age 25. We could have taken a really nice bus from the airport for only 6 euros each, but we chose to take a taxi, which was also quite reasonable. The HoHo bus was by far the cheapest we\u2019ve taken.<\/li>\n<li>The food in Athens offered a different twist on the Mediterranean food we\u2019ve had in the States, and quite wonderful. The desserts were amazing and the ice cream was excellent. The restaurants were stylish and&nbsp;innovative,&nbsp;and really made an effort to provide a comfortable atmosphere and entice people to come in and eat. Every one had a different selection, though many had the standards: moussaka, baklava, kebabs, yogurt, etc. Surprisingly, I never saw falafel on a menu.\n<div style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-BYxIJdwLOMs\/W_GrUwjSvyI\/AAAAAAAAyPs\/beVo4B67ZrEaJNF0F59syQFsFKHS2z7CACEwYBhgL\/s1600\/received_1020699771471298.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"clear: right; display: inline !important; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"973\" data-original-width=\"1600\" height=\"194\" src=\"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-BYxIJdwLOMs\/W_GrUwjSvyI\/AAAAAAAAyPs\/beVo4B67ZrEaJNF0F59syQFsFKHS2z7CACEwYBhgL\/s1600\/received_1020699771471298.jpg\" width=\"320\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>There are cats everywhere. A black cat with no name resided at the caf\u00e9 in front of the Arethusa, claiming a booth for herself out front and sleeping there all day, curled into a furry ball and occasionally opening one green eye, which delighted Lexie (who was missing her cat&nbsp;Ellie). A calico cat guarded the entrance to the National Garden. We ran into scores of cats on the Greek islands.<\/li>\n<li>The weather is lovely. It was sunny and in the high 60s-mid 70s while we were there. When we ran, around 7:30 in the morning, the temperature was in the high 50s. I\u2019m sure it gets hot in summer; the long pull-out awnings the restaurants on the islands have is proof of that. But they were tucked in for our visit and we enjoyed the warm sun.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\">\nI think early November was a great time to visit because it was officially \u201cwinter,\u201d which meant fewer crowds for popular sites, but the weather was quite pleasant.<\/div>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\">\nTwo words: Visit Greece!<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Some thoughts about Greece: It is clean! After dirty Naples, it was a refreshing change to see people out sweeping the sidewalks. It is orderly! After chaotic Naples, it was a relief to see street lights and traffic lights and people who waited or the light to turn before crossing the street. It is affordable! &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/messysuitcase.com\/index.php\/2018\/11\/18\/greece-part-3\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Greece, Part 3: Thoughts About Greece&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[30,134,137,139,178,12,5,6,32],"class_list":["post-276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-adventure","tag-athens","tag-europe","tag-greece","tag-islands","tag-travel","tag-travel-blog","tag-travel-blogger","tag-world-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/messysuitcase.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/messysuitcase.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/messysuitcase.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/messysuitcase.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/messysuitcase.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/messysuitcase.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/messysuitcase.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/messysuitcase.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/messysuitcase.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}