2017 - California Day 2 (Los Angeles)

Sunday September 10, 2017. Today we visit the Griffith Observatory, look for the Hollywood sign and wander Hollywood Blvd.

Breakfast was included with our stay at Hollywood Downtowner. Oddly, it is not part of the hotel but actually part of a restaurant a few shops down. The food was okay, it was saved with the waffle maker.

Hollywood Downtowner breakfast

We made it to the Griffith Observatory just before 9:00am. When we went at this time, there was plenty of parking and it cost $4 per hour but it starts after 10:00am. We paid until noon thinking that it would be enough time.

Hollywood sign! From Griffith Observatory.

View from a hike at Griffith Observatory

We hiked for roughly 1.5 hours to see the sign and the observatory itself. The observatory is free to visit, however there are shows that you can pay to see. We looped the observatory and finished at 11:30am.

Griffith Observatory

*Insert glowing finger here*

Made it to The Broad by around 12:10pm and went to try to look for lunch but it seems like downtown Los Angeles is very dead on Sunday. There aren't many cars on the road, but all the parking lots seemed full. We had no idea where people were. Ended up parking at 2nd and Olive for $8 for the day.

Villa Moreliana - Menu

Villa Moreliana - Tacos!

Ended up at Central Market for lunch which is just like St Lawrence Market in Toronto. We wanted to try EggSlut but that failed since the line up was insane and ended up getting food at Villa Moreliana where we got 5 tacos with a large drink which came out to $18.11. While in line, you actually get a sampler for free! There isn't a lot of seating in the area, so odds are, you'll be eating while standing.

The Broad - Giant Balloon Dog!

Went to The Broad thinking that we could see the Infinity Room but it was fully booked by the time we got there. I guess it is really popular. Oddly, there were a lot of people just waiting to get in which is weird since the tickets are free if you order them online.

The Broad - Small part of a mural

The Broad is actually quite a nice art gallery with a large variety of art with some really cool things to see from painting to the giant balloon dog to the giant dining table. We ended up spending an hour there.

Musso and Frank's - Grenadine of Beef

Musso and Frank's - Liver and Onions

Drove back to the hotel to rest and then we headed to Hollywood Blvd on foot. We headed out at 5:00pm and wandered Hollywood Blvd and ended up at Musso and Frank's grill for dinner. Ordered the Grenadine of Beef and Liver and Onions which came out to $62.27 after tip. Food and service was very good.

Jackie Chan!

We ended up at the Chinese Theatre and took pictures and wandered back to the hotel to call it a night.

Tomorrow, we got to Universal Studios Hollywood for the day.

Past POIs - Athens Central Market [Athens, Greece]

As someone who is used to how Canada and United States work where you buy your groceries from a grocery story, going to visit a market in foreign countries is always a treat since you get to see how things operate elsewhere. Mind you, they do have grocery stores as well, but the atmosphere, price, and quality differ significantly.

The Central Market is about a 15 minute walk from Syntagma Square, you'll find fresh meats and fish in the Central Market. It is a market open to the public and you will see stalls upon stalls filled with what I assume are the catches of the day. Mind you, you will walk past 5-10 stalls that all sell the same thing with the same prices, but still worth seeing my mind. Note, the market isn't for the faint of heart. You will see a lot of blood (and liking be walking in blood soaked tile), and some recently killed animals that they are butchering on the spot. We did notice that there weren't fresh seafood, which was a bit odd.

When you are done, just across the street is the fresh produce market which is outside and not covered, however, you can find all the fruits and vegetables that you desire, as well as shops that sell essentials like oils, spices, herbs, etc.

Sorry for slacking off, I'll try to maintain my usual schedule again. Come back next Friday for another Past Point of Interest!

2017 - Greece Summary (Athens)

Duration: 6 days (2 were for the Meteora tour)

Highlights

Meteora is worth the 2 day tour that we did. While the food was disappointing, seeing the sights in person was fantastic. I have mentioned that it is a bit disappointing when you are in the monasteries since it seems normal, however, that in itself is a feat since it doesn't seem like it is built on the edge of a hill.

Panathenaic Stadium, the world's only marble stadium is a definite must see even if you just want to see it from the outside.

Acropolis, try to make it early in the morning or in the afternoon to avoid the crowds and heat. A must see for anyone who comes.

Central Market, a must for people who like markets. While it is always similar, it is just always interesting for me to see.

Lowlights

Athens in general outside of the tourist area is a bit sad to see. Lots of graffiti and poor people. I knew that they were hit hard with the recession, but this was unexpected for me. While I wouldn't say it was disappointing, it was eye opening for me.

Food Suggestions

Meliltos, suggested by our Visit Athens volunteer and I would suggest it to anyone. It is a bit pricier, but the food was very good.

Thansis, you should stop by for the kebap. I think there are two restaurants next to one another, but I never found out what the difference was.

Tips

Negotiate! It doesn't take anything but a minute to ask for a discounted price. We got 15% off just for asking if they could give us a better price on the 2 day tour which is a sizable amount.

Final Thoughts

Athens has its charms although I feel like I enjoyed Meteora more. Plan accordingly since if you are not interested in ruins or museums, I felt like Athens does not have much to offer.

2017 - Greece - Day 15 [Athens]

Today is our last day in Greece before we head back to home to Toronto and our goal today was to look for graffiti art. Since we fly out I'll write about our experience flying out as well in this post.

Athen's graffiti

Breakfast was the same as usual, no change at Athens Center Square Hotel.

Breakfast

We wandered to the Gazi area by foot in search of some graffiti, since it was early in the day, we didn't really worry about anything (we were told to be a bit careful when it is dark). I think overall, we never felt worried while being here at all. As long as you are in the tourist areas you'll be okay.

Athen's graffiti

Athen's graffiti

Athen's graffiti

Athen's graffiti

Athen's graffiti (look closely, you'll see half of it on on a brick wall, the other half is on the side of a different wall)

Ended up finding some graffiti, but it wasn't as crazy as expected. My opinion on this is based on my desire to find graffiti that looks like art and not fancy tags (graffiti which is just words).

Kebap on the left, cheese on top, souvlaki on the right

With that done, we ended up back at Thansis for lunch and we ordered the chicken souvlaki, kebap, saganaki today which came out to 24 euros. The saganaki I would avoid, I think it is just an overall salty cheese and it seems a bit disappointing compared to the Halumi we had the other day.

Central Market

Central Market

Central Market

Central Market

Central Market

Central Market

Visited the Central Market by our hotel and it is well worth a visit for those who don't know markets, or those who like them. Imagine if you walked into a grocery store, but your usual areas like meats, veggies, fish, as all operated with different owners, but they all more or less sell the same thing.

Central Market

Central Market

You will see stall upon stall that sells meats in one section, an area that sells fish, and then outside it was fruits and veggies. Very neat place. Not, if you don't like looking at dead meat/fish, you might want to avoid this.

National Archeological Museum

National Archeological Museum

National Archeological Museum

National Archeological Museum

National Archeological Museum

National Archeological Museum was next and we walked there from our hotel, it wasn't too long of a walk and we ended up being there from 2:30pm to 4:30pm at a cost of 10 euros per person. This museum has a lot of things to see and it is a bit confusing in terms of layout in my mind. Your stay depends on what you like and you may not even be interested anyways. Unfortunately, it is a bit outside of the usual tourist area, it just happened to be near our hotel, so we paid them a visit.

Oddly, our hotel staff told us to just take the metro to the museum, we did opt to walk there and was a bit confused by the suggestion. Maybe tourists don't like to walk? We weren't really sure.

Aspro Alogo Greek Salad

Aspro Alogo Calamari

Aspro Alogo Anchovies

Dinner was at Aspro Alogo again where we ordered the calamari, anchovies, and greek salad for 20 euros.

So concludes our trip to Greece! Overall, a lovely country with lots of history to explore.

The next day, we walked to the nearby metro station which had a train to the airport. We noticed that is cost 10 euros to 1 person, 18 euros for 2 people, and 24 euros for 3 people. So it is actually to your advantage to have more people! Similar to our experience with the trams in Germany.

There was plenty of signage to get to the airport, so, no worries there. Note, the station that we were at has trains that operate on the same station, even though they are on different lines. In our case, we were at Monastiraki station and we needed to wait for the blue line and not the green line. There is a sign board at the station in case you get lost. In our case, we just followed the people that looked like they were going to the airport. Note, the train took 40 minutes from our station and the train itself comes every 30 minute, so check the schedule before heading out.

Once we made it to the airport stop, again, just follow everyone. It seemed like there we plenty of people going so you probably won't need to worry. The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful.

Over the next few posts, I'll cover the summary of the areas that we visited in Greece.