A week in Greece for just £350!
Our Budget Trip to Greece (Athens)
So me and a couple of mates have just returned from our budget trip to the starting point of western civilization, Athens, Greece! In total, the return flight and week rental of a central AirBnB (right next to a metro line) only set us back £350 each!
We started our trip getting a very long but very cheap ride on the metro line from the Airport to the centre of Athens where we met our AirBnB host (who was lovely and extremely helpful). She showed us around the apartment, how to get in and out, and local things to check out (like the 24/7 bakery around the corner, yes we used that… a lot.)
The first day we headed into town to get our bearings and see what was about. We went for our first meal to a restaurant just around the corner from our apartment. This is where we had our first taste of Saganaki Cheese… If you ever get the chance to try this, take it with both hands! Myself and Kelly liked it so much that we had it for every appetizer when available. I believe it is just halloumi but fried in a special way (called saganaki, this isn’t the type of cheese just a method of frying).
This smallest elevator known to man takes us to our apartment
The Acropolis
On the second day, we naturally had to visit the Acropolis. Luckily we visited Athens outside of the tourist season which meant much less busy streets and cooler temperatures! (If you can all 30c cool… well I’m from England so I definitely can’t.) It was such an incredible thing to behold, looking up at this behemoth of stone carved and placed so intricately over 2000 years ago. Really puts buildings today to shame!
Moni Egina’s Beach
On the second day, we wasted no time and booked last-minute ferry tickets to Aegina Island. (Only £18 return!) so the next day, we got up early took the metro down to Piraeus Port, ran up and down the port like lunatics trying to find our boat (This was our first rodeo), eventually found the damn thing and we were on our way!
One thing they don’t mention about Greece is that you cannot put anything other than whatever comes out of your body down the toilet (yes this means toilet paper) So after not going for a few days I took the opportunity (not a wise one) to go on the boat. Well of course there was only one working toilet out of three which wasn’t covered in shit. And did this one working toilet have a door? Yes. Did it have a lock? No. Did it have a massive hole in the door that I had to plug with toilet paper? Yes. Did I have to hold the door with my food as the Mediterranean waves tried to get everyone to view my pork pouch? Why yes, yes I did.
Anyway, after a difficult shit, we arrived on the island, however, we wanted to get to Moni Island, a small island off the coast of Aegina. Luckily we found a little stall selling rides to the island for 10 Euros. So after grabbing some tickets and knocking my friend’s iPhone out of his hand and smashing the screen (fuck sake). We quickly grabbed some drinks and food for the beach (Everything on Moni island was closed, out of tourist season remember)
And after all that, it was totally worth it! Not only was this a typical picturesque Mediterranean beach with crystal clear blue water covered in wild deer and peacocks, but it was also empty! Hardly anyone was there so we had our pick of where to set up our towels! Unfortunately, this island is not too sandy… the coast is mostly volcanic rocks, but we made the most of it!
As mentioned before this island was swarming with deer and peacocks, not sure how they got there but hey, it was awesome to see and have near you. One thing we didn’t know it was also teeming with were Sea Urchins… These little bastards pack a pinch. Everyone managed to do a pretty good job at avoiding them, including myself… until I ended up grabbing one by accident with my big monkey paws. (Yes it did hurt, like a bitch) If you want to see a video of Kelly pulling the spines out of my finger, head over to my Highlight on Instagram here
Salamina Island
On the 6th day, we decided to take another trip to a geek island called Salamina (A bit closer than the last one) It cost us just 3 Euros each to get there! This one was a bit more of a “Let’s turn up and see what happens” sort of event. You couldn’t book tickets online so we just had to turn up and get them from the boat. The trouble was, we didn’t know where or what the boat looked like. Again, after a lot of running up and down Pireaus port and asking a lot of staff members, we found our boat and were on our way!
This was another relaxing day of laying on a beach and enjoying the water. We arrived at the island and got a bus to a close by stop to what thought looked like a nice place to relax along the coast. We set up camp and we didn’t move for about 4 hours… we got pretty badly burnt. I came out alright, despite my Norwegian genes, I tan pretty well. My mates… not so much, they’re pale… Like paranormal pale.
Despite the burning, and my call from work telling me I’m getting paid more! (what a place to be told that!) We took our last swim in the ocean and looked for a place to eat. The first thing we noticed was how quiet it was. It was almost apocalyptically quiet. I guess tourist season really was over? Or perhaps they don’t get many visitors even during tourist times. Either way, there weren’t many places open.
We eventually found a place to eat. At this point, we had barely eaten a thing all day so let’s just say ordering 2 mains and a starter was not out of the question. We were accompanied by a couple of stray cats (These poor things dominate Greece. That and tortoises.) I failed to fight the urge to feed them put it that way. We demolished our food and headed back out to catch a bus back to the port.
After some wandering and waiting we wondered if we missed the last bus. Turns out we didn’t, however, we did miss the last boat back to Athens… At this point, Kelly starts to panic wondering which bush we’re going to have to sleep in for the night! I’ve travelled a fair bit at this point so I didn’t panic as there is always a way out of sticky situations like this! Long story short, a lot of running about and asking people here and there with different levels of English speaking capabilities, we got tickets on a car ferry going to a different port at Athens (Perma).
Not ideal but at least we were back on the mainland! We then had to grab a 30-minute bus back to Piraeus, our original port, so that we could get the metro back to our apartment! Everything turned out fine in the end and Kelly was relieved we didn’t have to cuddle together for warmth. We even got some amazing views of the sunset dipping behind the island as we slowly sailed away. It’s also where me and Kelly got this cool, totally candid photo. How much did this fuck up set us back? 1 whole Euro. Now that’s a bargain!
Conclusion
In conclusion, it was an amazing holiday for an amazing price! We made some great memories here, ate some of the best food I’ve ever eaten and it didn’t kill our bank accounts! We did a lot more but I’d be writing for the next few weeks which I don’t fancy doing. Some of our days we just dotted about and explored the city shops and flea markets (which are great for picking up cheap gifts for friends and family.)
Oh, I also got interviewed at the flea market which as you can tell from this photo I was ecstatic about.
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