The metro system in Athens is not complicated – just three lines: green, red and blue, as easy as one, two, three and indeed that’s what they are called.
Although I flew to Athens a lot in the last century for sailing holidays I never took the metro. Line one, the green one, opened in 1869 with carriages drawn by steam trains until it was electrified in 1904. Lines two and three were opened in 2000, the latter being extended to the airport in 2004. Yesterday I took the blue line from the airport into central Athens. It is cheap, 4,5 euros, and takes around 45 minutes so not dissimilar to the Piccadilly Line from Heathrow into London. A drawback is the trains run only twice an hour. Inevitably I just missed one and had to wait. It was quite crowded and there are not many seats so I stood, although I was offered one.
I have bought a new cotton coat (from Cordings in Piccadilly), although I have no plans to go on safari to the Kalahari, 350,000 square miles of semi-arid savannah in southern Africa. You will notice the pockets, two large and two small, making it convenient for travelling anywhere warm including the Athens metro. The buttons are a key component as pickpockets are prevalent. Although vigilant, as advised over the tannoy, I was bumped into outside my destination station but although the thief undid the button he was not able to lift my wallet. So my new coat has paid for itself already, the contents of my wallet being just more valuable than the, admittedly high, cost of the coat.
Warning; future posts will have a high Greek content. Please do not read if you have any Hellenic allergies.
Loved that blog.
Well done Cordings, and indeed well done you because whilst costing you a lot -we had a Cordings in Newbury when we were young- it’s saved you no doubt a lot more!? Not sure I’d dare using the Underground in Athens!
We so enjoyed seeing you all on Wednesday and look forward to seeing you down here, by Berry bus possibly though sadly they don’t convey dogs, and will put our heads together. Obviously it would be fun to see Bertie too and I’m sure he would enjoy the walks we can provide.
Anyway, for now just enjoy your educational holiday which will guarantee far far better weather than we are not enjoying. I nearly froze to death yesterday at a funeral down in Devon of a dear friend who spent a lot of his time in the High Commission worldwide and latterly mountaineering…..not the cause of his death, riding and owning racehorses. Devon is supposed to be one of Englands holiday sites….fat chance.
Full of admiration of you. Of???
Years ago, my tailor advised me only ever to keep my wallet in either of my front trouser pockets and never in a back trouser pocket or any coat pocket. This required me to swap my smart leather number with space for a cheque book (yes, that long ago) for a smaller bifold version. His argument was that, if a pickpocket on the Athens Metro (or anywhere else for that matter) starts to explore that, ahem, more sensitive region of a gentleman’s anatomy, the latter will notice immediately and take effective action.