After spending five nights at the Civitel hotel in northern Athens, and being left exhausted by a very long three days of TBEX, a travel bloggers’ conference, and in preparation for our 20 hour journey home to Bali, we needed a break.
We had three nights to fill before we left Greece and knew that we would not want to board another flight at the end of an amazing month of eating and touring and eating more. After all, we just wanted to be near the water, to rest up, maybe get some work done, and eat great Greek food. We were also unsure of the late October weather in Greece, as we despise the cold (no big secret here), and were nervous about off-season island hopping in Greece.
That is how we found ourselves at a seaside apartment in the tiny suburb of Athens, Alimos, aka Kalamaki. Instead of a trip to the airport, and all of the hassles that come from a plane flight anywhere, we paid about 15 Euros for a taxi through the city and south.
It was quiet in town, being entirely off season. This meant that when we ventured from our apartment, which was really only for meals, we were surrounded by locals. This is certainly our goal anywhere we travel. But, in this case, we perhaps lived a little too much like locals.
The apartment had a large TV with pretty good English language stations, which left plenty of opportunity to watch quality (and trash) TV, from old favorites like House Hunters International, to Keeping Up With the Kardashians, and lots of History Channel programming in between.
We went grocery shopping for breakfast. We did several loads of laundry. And, we worked. I needed to decompress and reorganize after TBEX. I organized via post-it note, as I settled my to do list for when we returned, and we started to plan out 2015.
Eating, and Living Like Locals in Athens
Although it was a little too cold (well, cold for us) to spend time on the water, we quickly did one more thing that made it seem like we were living like locals in Athens – we became regulars at a seafood restaurant, Kiourtos, that was so perfectly recommended by the manager of the apartment. We ate most meals there. Happily. Including our final meal in Athens before heading to the airport.
In the end, we used the heck out of this apartment, and were the ideal digital nomads. Working in a new environment, adapting quickly to our surroundings, and making the most of living like locals in Athens.
We were hosted by Flipkey in this lovely seaside apartment that helped us in living like locals in Athens. When they agreed to host us, they probably didn’t realize how much we would actually use the apartment. As always, my opinions are my own.
Amber Hoffman, food and travel writer behind With Husband In Tow, is a recovering attorney and professional eater, with a passion for finding new food and drink destinations. She lives with her husband, Eric, in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. Together they have traveled to over 70 countries.
Amber, thanks for that great description of Athens. We are planning our next trip there shortly and look keenly forward to implementing your invaluable tips. Just spent a fortnight in New Zealand and are still reminiscing about that fabulous country. The long white cloud sure kept its promise!