I didn't realize how much Saturday's travel stresses wore me out. Even though there was nothing I could control, I couldn't relax until I knew everything was sorted out. Late Saturday night, the strike was called off and did that mean Delta would keep its Sunday departure back to JFK? After some calls and research, I found out the Saturday flight from JFK to Athens was canceled so it was very unlikely there would be plane anyway to go from Athens back to JFK on Sunday. It is so frustrating to hear that the strike was called off to avert travel disruption. I know that there is probably more to the story than I will ever know but to use that as an excuse to spin it positively is ridiculous. So many people have already been inconvenienced.
Anyway we checked into Athens Status Suites Saturday night. Staff there was great in responding and arranged for a taxi pickup for us from the ferry port for 25 euros. For the price and room size (which was huge!) it was a great deal for $144 USD a night for three people right in the city center near Plaka. Unfortunately they were all booked up the next two nights so I had to figure out a place to stay Sunday and Monday nights.
There weren't too many options so we decided on Electra Hotel Athens. It's an old school hotel, very traditional and more pricey. But it was only a block away and we didn't want to move too far so we can relax on our last days and not worry about taking the metro or being in an undesirable but cheaper area. So we bit the bullet and paid for $221 USD a night. And though yes it's a classier hotel, it's a little stuffy and the room was half the size of Athens Status. Oh well.
Spent the day just walked around the center of Athens again. Went to our favorite juice bar Novagea again. Had dinner at some place in Plaka. We had passed by it many times and it was always packed so we decided to try it. After we were given water though, I looked up reviews on Trip Advisor and there were strings of recent bad reviews and how it was a tourist trap. Ugh! I usually look up reviews in advance but I was tired and just wanted to eat. Anyway so I played it safe and got grilled salmon w veggies and it was actually delicious. Salmon was fresh and wasn't overcooked. Was glad it was good but because of my concerns we didn't order much else besides entrees and refusing the bread (in Greece water and bread is not complementary so you need to refuse it if you don't want it).
Then we saw the changing of the guards at the palace (happens on the hour every hour), got some beers to drink in the room and fell asleep.
