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Acropolis At Night From our Hotel |
The trip from Riccione
to Athens had a few twists and turns.
We had purchased train tickets from Riccione to Bologna. Our flight to Greece originated from
the Bologna Airport. We were
scheduled for an 8 am departure on Sunday morning from the hotel. Everything seemed quite straightforward.
By chance on Saturday
night, Warren overheard a “just arrived” Belvedere guest talking in the
Bar. He mentioned that his arrival
journey (the reverse of ours) had hit a snag. It turns out the Italian Railway was using a few days on the
route to complete some track maintenance.
Just like the recently arrived guest, our train would not be running all
the way to Bologna. Instead it
would run part way, all passengers would be transferred to buses and then
taken to Bologna. We would then
catch a cab to the airport. The
complicating factor was that it would mean a longer trip and we would miss our
plane to Greece.
After much
consternation and a lot of help from the hotel staff, we managed to arrange a
private car hire to take us all the way to the airport from Riccione. So much for the investment in train
tickets.
At 8:30 am we were
picked up at the hotel in an 8 passenger Mercedes SUV. The entire luggage fit in the back and
off we went for a smooth ride to the airport, arriving two hours before flight
time.
Checking in proved
problematic. We lined up at the
unmanned kiosk but no one was successful checking in and getting boarding
passes. We assumed that language
was an issue and we were simply not doing it right. We gave up and joined the cattle corral lineup to manually
check in. After much waiting,
Deborah and I made it to the front o the line for the Alitalia flight. Much to our surprise we were told we
could not check in due to the fact out Internet purchased ticket did not
include luggage. We sighed
thinking about the extra cost but accepted the fact quickly and pulled out the
credit card but alas, we could not purchase the luggage pass at the
counter. We had to leave the line
and bag drag to an Air Alitalia ticket counter a few hundred meters away. The other six couples waiting patiently
in line only to be told the same story when it was their turn at the
front. Needless to say it was quite
frustrating but away we went and then returned with the proper documents in
tow. It was an extra 40 Euros per
person to check bags but we have learned to accept that travel is not always
smooth.
We still had a few
minutes before boarding so some went shopping while others sipped a morning
beer. We went to the gate at the
start of boarding and were surprised to see almost no one there. It appears that Air Alitalia boards
early and as soon as we boarded we took off (a full half an hour before
departure). As soon as all the
passengers were there, off we went.
Italy is not Germany.
Nothing happens exactly when they say it will.
The two flights
(Bologna to Rome – 1hr., Rome to Athens1.5 hrs) were smooth. We arrived in Athens and discussed how
we would get down town - 9 Euros each for train, 35 to 50 each for two cab rides. Warren spotted another Mercedes like
the one we used in Italy and started a negotiation. The Driver asked for 120 Euros and we pay the 10 Euro toll. Warren negotiated 100 total, no
toll. We jumped in only to
discover this Mercedes only had 7 seats so it was a tight ride. Only later when we checked into the
Metropolis Hotel did we discover the standard van cost should have been between
60 and 70 Euros. Oh well.
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Athens Airport |
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Smoking Is Still Prevalent Here |
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Acropolis Is On The Hill in the Background |
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Park Across the Street |
Sightseeing at the
Acropolis in the morning.
