Four years ago, I met this guy. He accidentally came into my life on the 02.10.2010 on one of my gatherings with my bestest friends and made a decision to never leave my sight. We gone out every single night catching up on life, goals and the story of the entire family tree both of us had. We shared things we didn’t like and things we love to do.

One thing, and I suppose the only thing we had in common, was travel. It only took Mr A exactly 8 days to throw those love bullets at me – this date 10.10.2010. Already known that I love such auspicious date by then, he tried his luck and asked me to be his girlfriend, right at a very far place underneath the air planes that were flying right above us, under the amazing bright stars that lid up and the perfect crescent moon. I cried, only because I was emotionally happy but at the same time afraid what people might think of us. A girl met a guy in 8 days and fell in love.

I remembered him asking this, “Forget about what people want, what do YOU want?” It was as though he gave me a hard slap on my face and suddenly I woke up and realised that I need not care about what others think or had to say. I smiled, he wiped my tears, I said yes, and we kissed. That sealed our official deal of being together. Until this very day, four years later, I have never regretted getting to know a guy in 8 days and fell in love…because it was the best love I have ever received in my entire life, honestly, not everyone can give. One of the reasons why I love him from the start – he had this perfect smile, tall, handsome, he sang to me songs from the oldies which I was really surprised that he knew, he was a typical gentlemen – pulled out those chairs at dinner tables, held my hand.. He was kind, genuine and most important, I felt it was real.

Mr A and I are total opposite people. We both didn’t really had the choice to sit down and think through it about what we had in common, but we learned about each other along the way, and we had nothing in common. Mr A and I are world’s apart from each other, we love doing different total opposite things, and only if you know us well, you find split personality individuals coming together. The only thing that kept us alive was we both had the desire to travel. We decided to travel every single year, first was Bangkok, then came Bali, Paris, London, Phuket, New York, Canada to meet his mother, Dubai with my family. We tried to go to one destination each year (sometimes we try to squeeze 2 or more destinations in a year oops!) and this year…… it was Athens, and Santorini.

I know it was suppose to be our honeymoon destination, knowing myself how much love I have and the desire of wanting to travel to a certain place so much so, I know I had to see it before I give up my hopes and the love will just surpass when the time comes, years later. Since my birthday was coming and our 4 years anniversary was also near, we decided to go for it – our couplemoon, Athina. I will bring you through the details of my Athina trip, some may be vague but you’ll get the jeez of it *winks

We flew from Singapore – Dubai – Athens via Emirates Airlines. Firstly, it was one of cheapest amoung the rest of the airlines and I personally like flying with them. Yes, I am a frequent flyer member, yay! The ticket was about SGD1.2K for return trip to Athens from Singapore, but of course it various depending on the different times you decide to depart and arrive in Athens.

Our 2 hour transit in Dubai, another 5 more hours to reach Athens. 

Emirates Airbus 330, Mr A and I have booked both the aisle seats, 34D and 34G so that we could have our own space in the middle as the flight wasn’t full and Mr A was so glad he managed to lie down and have a good sleep prior to landing in Athens.

This was us, all ready to sleep, I skipped my meal onboard this time round cuz I was more tired than hungry.

We landed in Athens at 2040hrs greece time, took a cab via meter from the airport to go to the hotel and it was about 40euros (yes!! europe cab fares are as crazy expensive as that!!) for about a good 20mins from airport to central Athens. It was a perfect time for us to sleep because we were so shagged from the long hours in the air plane and the jet lag had already started for Mr A.

We started the day at our lovely hotel breakfast buffet at Central Athens Hotel, the room that we got was pretty tiny, just like the lift that the hotel had, the most smallest lift I have ever been into! We also had no view cuz we had a late check in and all the rooms with the view of the Partheon was booked, sigh, but knowing that we only had about less than 24hrs and we were basically out of the hotel, our main purpose was to be as close to the Partheon, Acropolis.

Atleast they had free breakfast and wifi!

The greeks were very friendly and helpful whenever asked for directions, we found out that it was walking distance from our hotel, took a left turn, took less than half an hour to climb all the way to the top. This was how the tickets looked like, 12 Euros with many coupons attached to it.

Our main aim for today was to visit these 4 places before we leave Athens: The Partheon, Acropolis, Philopappos Hill, Temple of Zeus and Temple of Poseidon. The 4 must visit places when in Athens, of course there are many other places to go, but with restricted amount of time that we had, it was good enough.

The Acropolis site was absolutely beautiful, the camwhoring begins…

The Erechtheion, located right next to the Partheon.

You know how they say in every #ootd #ootn, lies a very patient and dedicated boyfriend who will go all out just for his girlfriend to get a pretty picture? Who needs a personal photographer if I already have a boyfriend who is great at taking pictures. *giggles

View from the top!

Some history behind the Partheon and the Restoration of the Erechtheion.

We have asked the Greeks about what is that over there, and it happened to be the Hill of the Muses, Philopappos Hill. The Greeks recommended us to go via walking down the south slope and keep to the right til you see the terminal that is the starting point of the hill of Philopappos.

The amphitheatre that we came across while walking down south slope of the Acropolis.

It took us about half an hour getting up the slopes and walking up the steps and the sun was just blazing hot, I could literally feel my skin burning, hence the cranky face while Mr A was just simply enjoying the sun and the view.

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Horse rides were available at the terminal, it really felt as though Cinderella was going to the Castle.

Walked back to Central Athens, where the Temple of Zeus was located right smack in the middle of the city, you can never go wrong with the map provided. In amidst the busy road with cars coming through and the Olympian Amphitheatre next to it, this is the Temple of Olympian Zeus, king of the Olympian Gods.

Amazing isn’t it? I was just staring in awe looking at the structure that remained that way,just so perfect.

Oh yes, we used the same tickets from the Partheon at the Temple of Zeus, so remember to keep those tickets for free entrance! 🙂

No idea why my jumping skills just couldn’t sync to the self timer on the camera, therefore looking like a retard on most pictures. It might be due to all the walking up hills and slopes and stairs with my wedges.

Tired of jumping around, it was also already 1300hrs greece time by then and we know we gotta head back to our hotel and get dressed for the evening.

 

Being piggies, we had to make a stopover for lunch at Plakiotissa, just opposite of the Temple of Zeus, one of the humble outdoor alfresco restaurant along Central Athens. I had the most awesome beef spagetthi bolognese by far and Mr A. had his chicken chop with cous cous.

Yummmmmm!!!

Rushed back to our hotel, got dressed up and I have made a promise to Mr A to make him happy so I obliged to go 2 hours away from Athens to Sounion to see the Temple of Poseidon, Cape Sounion. Knowing his love for Percy Jackson and all his love and stories for the greek mythology, we decided to find out how to get there… via the public bus.

You have to look for this signboard along Filipinio street, its a main road compared to the little street roads, apparently it translates as From Athina to Sounion. The bus only comes every hour so we were already there at 1430hrs greece time waiting for the bus.

According the shop guy nearby the signboard, it is an orange colour bus and it will not stop to wait for people to go onboard.

Boy what he said was true, I was literally running up to the bus with another local guy just hailing and getting the attention of the bus driver to stop, imagine missing the bus and waiting for another hour. No way! Thank God the bus just stopped at the main road and it only took him a split second to close the door and ask us to be seated, tickets and payment for the bus will be made later by a bus ticket lady.

Satisfied that we got onto the bus just like how we planned, time to take a selfie! This is also how the typical bus ride looks like, not too shabby for a ticket that cost 6.30euros each one way from Athina to Sounion.

I couldn’t sleep just yet on the bus, decided to take some scenery views and then slept for a good half an hour before arriving to………………………….

Aaah, to see and smell the fresh air at the Temple of Poseidon!

We arrived at about 1630hrs greece time so we had a chill out time at the one and only Sounion Cafe and walked over to the other side of the cliff to see what it’s like.

Trust me honey, these fried calamaries are to die for! I miss eating them already 😦 they taste soooo goood!

  

The main entrance and the tickets to Temple of Poseidon, likewise stated, 4 Euros per person to enter.

Nawwwww, how’d you like us now?

Here’s our interpretation of how God of Poseidon might look like. Hahahaha! 😛

  

Breathtaking views of the aegean sea!

Deep down I saw how happy Mr A finally managed to be here, telling me the story of greek methology, my personal guide, who needs a sunset tour when you have an amazing boyfriend who knows about ancient history. Just look at him,seeing him smiling from ear to ear makes me so entirely happy too!

Pictures turned out really amazing cuz there were nobody around to block our view. Definately one of my favourite pictures among the bunch.

Nahhh, give you kiss *muah

Honestly we couldn’t let go of Temple of Poseidon, it was holding us back for the longest time til it was time for sunset. Temple of Poseidon, known as the God of Sea, second to Zeus. The temple was constructed way back since 444-440BC, only some of the columns stand today, which had 34 columns, now only 15 standing. It was meant as a hall of worship.

Sounion today is one of the most expensive areas in Greece, some of the values of the homes here can cost up to about twenty million euros, ideal summer home location for the Athenians.

Would definately recommend anyone visiting Athens, to make an effort to make a trip down to Temple of Poseidon, was definately worth every bit of the journey to Cape Sounion. Here is the Sounion Time Table, which might be useful for you getting here:

Here’s a summary of the cost we spent in Athens, Greece:

1. Emirates Airplane tickets: SGD 2,411.60 ( 2 persons)
2. Central Athens Hotel : SGD $365.04 (2 Nights)
3. Mr A’s expenses : SGD$322 
4. My expenses: SGD$282

Total expenditure for Athens, Greece: SGD$3,380

On the next episode of our Athina adventure, we made our way taking an aegean plane down to….SANTORINI!

Definately watch out for this space for the beautiful sunny island, Santorini. *squeals

XOXO

LISAFEMME