Herodion Hotel in Athens, Greece
As soon as I stepped out of the taxi, I knew we chose the best hotel in Athens, Greece. We have been to Athens before but we have never stayed the night and explored the city ourselves. On this visit, we flew in a few days before our cruise and plan to tour around before getting on our cruise around Greece, Turkey and Crete.
The hotel we chose was the Herodion Hotel. It was perfectly located. It was on the same street as the Acropolis Museum and it was practically on the foothills of the Acropolis.
First night was rough because I could not turn down the thermostat. It was like an oven in our room. I had to complain to the front desk and ask for help with the thermostat but they said it is central heating in the winter, meaning the hotel sets the hotel thermostat centrally and overrides each thermostat in the room. That did not make sense. They gave me an electric fan to cool down my room. We had to open the window to let the cold air in, but on ground level, we could not leave the window open all night.
The location of the hotel was perfect. Next time, I would ask for a higher room. Perhaps if I left the window open, it wouldn't matter from a safety perspective. Across the street and down a block was a restaurant that Rick Steeves had been to. It was ok. We ordered a few items from the tray that she showed us and the Greek waitress managed to make it into two plates for us. With a beer, it was a simple dinner.
Breakfast next morning was good. With fresh croissants and a selection of hot foods, it was a good start for the day. We ate quickly then walked up to the meeting place where our tour starts. From the map below, you can see how close the hotel is from the Key Tours office. (Note there's a pizza-by-the-slice restaurant almost next to the tour office)
Second breakfast, we met some people from Singapore who was also on the cruise we were taking. We decided to share a cab with them to get to the port. Mary and Alucius from Singapore. We also met another couple, Lorin and Kathleen from North Carolina that was on the cruise too. Interesting how we all found this hotel.
On our last night at the hotel, we decided to give the hot tub a go. We called the front desk for the pass. They have to check the monitors first before giving out the passes. This was how they limit the number of people on the roof. There were two hot tubs and each tub could hold 8 people. When we arrived on the roof, there was one guy in the hot tub and three girls in the other tub. I found the floor next to the tub really slippery and it was dark too. I was surprised no one slipped and I wasn't planning on being the first.
One swipe of the pass and the hot tub starts swirling. We ended up in a hot tub to ourselves. It was nice sitting in the tub and admiring the Parthenon at night. The air was cold but the water was warm. Too bad it didn't last long. The hotel staff notified us that it was closing for the night and that we had to get out. Wrapped up in robes, we slipped and slid inside from the cold.
Would we stay here again? Yes, if we can get a higher floor room. It was clean, well maintained, good breakfast and perfectly located.
Comments
Post a Comment