Sam and I are getting prepped for our next trip to Greece and it seems like the perfect time to reflect on our last visit to Athens!
We arrived in Athens via ferry from Santorini – a dreadful 8 hours after departing. I was adamant about taking a ferry over the Aegean Sea, I think because I had a some romanticized idea of what it might be like to sail between islands like Odysseus. Kids – take a flight. The ferry was long, and when you only have a couple of days in Greece, you don’t want to spend half of one getting seasick on a subpar ferry. The more you know, ya know?
Anyway, we arrived in Athens late at night without much of a plan to get to our hotel. There’s a story here I’ll expand on in my upcoming Greece blog but long story short, by the time we got to our hotel we were tired, frankly a bit frazzled, and just wanted to get the keys to our room.
Athens Apartments
Check in was super easy and the staff was great. There’s major expat community vibes here and although we had a private room it felt a bit like a hostel or, I guess, studio apartments. That’s a good thing, in this case. There was a bar downstairs open late and a laundromat that we quickly used to clean our backpack of crinkled clothes. We also needed to print tickets for the Acropolis for the next morning and we were able to do that in the lobby – for like 10c per print.
The location of the hotel was perfect. We were a block away from anywhere we needed to be – in fact, we were so close we didn’t use public transportation once. All the cute neighborhoods and ancient sites were within walking distance.
Besides a pay-per-load laundromat, the hotel didn’t come with a ton of unique amenities. Our room had a little balcony, which is always a huge plus for me, and there was (unconventional) breakfast in the morning. I think I remember eating a slice of bread with cucumber and cheese – but you don’t want a great breakfast in places like this anyway because it gives you a reason to stop at another cafe on your way to you first stop.
Athens Apartments
Overall Rating
We loved our stay in Athens Apartments. Keep in mind that these are humble, basic rooms so don’t expect anything fancy but the location, amazing staff and the attached laundromat made this an ideal experience while in Athens. If you’re looking for a “backpacking” feel and plan to do not much more than sleep in your lodging than this is the place for you!
The Vagabun 