Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Budget Travel: Visiting Turkey in 7 days

Istanbul
Turkey is a country, which has intrigued me for the past three years.   Growing up, I didn’t really paid attention to Turkey mostly because they were not in the news that much (I don’t think that’s a bad thing).  Then I came to know friends who visited Turkey and I came to know a Turkish friend.  What really drew me to Turkey to me is its people and its culture.  With their relatively fair skin compared to its neighbors and the European like features, Turkish people stand out from the rest of the middle east.  Turkey is a predominantly Muslim country.   However, compared to other neighboring countries, Turkish people seem to be more tolerant and less barbaric.  I, of course, realize that maybe not all Turkish people are like that.  There are different regions in Turkey where there may still be some groups which might not be in this as liberal as the ones I have came to know.

Cappadocia



I was looking forward to visiting Turkey, especially Istanbul since early 2013.  I have heard from friends that Istanbul is very pretty and its food is awesome.  Due to the vacation constraint that me and my partner has, I was able to allocate only a week of Turkey.   Given that NYC is about ~10 hrs flight from Turkey, I had to simplify my itinerary a bit.

Generally, if you are traveling oversea, the majority of the trip budget is on the cost of the flight.  Turkish Airlines run direct flight between NYC and Istanbul and its tickets were about $900 - $1000 round trip per person.  I found cheaper flight tickets with Ukraine International, which is $714 per person, with a 2 hour transit at Kiev.  That is total saving of $300 for the trip, which can definitely be put into other costs.  (Our flights ticket price actually went down to $600 per person after I bought the tickets. ).

Grand Bazaar - Istanbul
For accommodation, lots of my friends who have been there recommended Air BnB for apartments rental.  Our agenda was a little bit tight and we were arriving Istanbul outside of normal business hours.  So, I decided to just stay at hostels in Istanbul.   The best hotel during this trip would be the airport hotel near Istanbul SAW airport.  It was less than $100 per night but the room was very modern and nice. 

Istanbul Skyline with Galata Tower


Istanbul, being the culture center, is a must on the list whenever you visit Turkey.  My ideal trip to Istanbul would have been to stay at an apartment with a view of the old town.   But staying within budget was my focus on this trip.  I also want to travel as a local, not as a tourist this time around.  I have been on so many trips where we spent so much money on doing things that you never really get a chance to do.   While it is a nice opportunity to be able to do so,  I ask myself sometimes if there’s a better way to spend the money.   So, during this trip, we decided that we actually wanted to minimize our spending.

Here’s the trip Agenda:

Day 1 & Day 2  –  Arrive in Istanbul. More >>
Day 3 – Day trip to Cappadocia.  More >>
Day 4 && Day 5-  Half Day trip to Pamukkale and Selcuk, Ephesus.  More >>
Day 6 & 7 -  Istanbul and fly back to NYC More >>

Last 2 days in Istanbul

If I have to pick a landmark for Istanbul, it'll be the Galata Tower.   The nine-story tall structure dominates much of Istanbul skyline.   For our last 2 night stay in Turkey, we chose World House hostel, which is in the Galata neighborhood, and 3 minutes walk from the Galata Tower.   

As much as I love the neighborhood due to its hippy environment and cute little stores, there was a lot of windy hills.  If you are traveling with elders and/or carrying heavy luggage, I would definitely recommend to choose a different location such as the old town.  Otherwise, Galata is the neighborhood to be.  

Galata Tower and Galata Bridge, which connects to Old Town
The hostel itself was average.  As commented by most travelers, it is a nice hostel for single travelers.  Their breakfast is decent and the downstairs hangout/lounge area is pretty nice.  One complaint I would have about the hostel is their wifi which does not work in our room.  Also, there is a seating area right outside the hostel, which is perfect for watching people IF there is no one around you smoking.  People smoke a lot in Istanbul, by smoking I don't mean Hookah.  It was actual cigarette smokes and that's the only thing I could not stand.  
You will see so many people fishing on Galata Bridge
I was so excited to visit the famous Grand Bazaar.  Even though I was not planning to buy anything, just wandering around the bazaar was exciting enough.  There are so many cute shops which sell colorful lanterns and potteries and I couldn't resist not buying some...

A store in Grand Bazaar
Thanks to my local friend who took us to this restaurant named Aslan in the grand bazaar, we were so happy that we even went there again on our second day.

Another must visit attraction in Istanbul is the Topkapi Palace, which has showcases for the Ottoman's empire wealth and relics.  I am not one who enjoy looking around the Sultan's magnificent jewelry collection nor Prophet Mohammad's beard hair (believe it or not, it was there).  I also do not think that the admission fees is worth it.  Nevertheless, the view of the Bosphorus from the Palace is nice and I definitely recommend sitting in the cafeteria and enjoying the view (even though the prices are expensive).

Inside the Topaki Palace 

View of the Bosphorus Straight - can you see the bridge which connects Europe and Asia?
During our final day, we decided to do the Bosphorus tour as recommended by most people.   We were looking at full 6 hours long Bosphorus tour but the tour was unavailable during the time that we were there.  So instead, we ended up joining the shorter Bosphorus tour.  We tried to get on the evening tour so that we can view the Istanbul in sunset.

Istanbul in Sunset
After getting off the ferry, we decided to walk back to our hostel from Eminonu port.  Instead of walking across the upper level of Galata bridge, we decided to walk across the lower, and it is then that we discovered the numerous restaurants underneath the bridge.  We picked a nice spot which overlooked the old town and ordered some anchovies and pipes.  Hookah was relatively strong compared to what I have tried in New York.  

September is perfect time to visit Istanbul as the weather was very pleasant.  Smoking Hookah and enjoying anchovies in a nice weather with the view of the old town, it was a nice way to end our vacation in Turkey.  




Friday, October 24, 2014

Highlights of South Western Antolia, Pamukkale and Ephesus

Perhaps, the second most exciting thing for me to see in Turkey after Istanbul is the cotton castle. In turkish, Pamukkale means "cotton castle".   This wonder is located in the south western Denizli region of Turkey.  

I'm not really sure why they call it cotton castle.  But Pamukkale is actually a series of terraces made of travertine, a form of limestone deposited by the mineral springs.   They appear white due to the calcium deposits by the flowing water coming from the nearby hot springs.

To get to Pamukkale, we first flew to Denizli.  Denizli airport is located farther out from the town of Denizli.  Outside the Denizli airport, there are local buses, which took us to the Denizli bus station.  If you are going straight to Pamukkale, mention the bus driver and he will give the instructions for transfer to another bus which goes to the Pamukkale town.   We reached Pamukkale town, located at the foot of the cotton castle, about 9.30 am ( bus ride was 20 lira per person).  From the town, we hike through the famous cotton castle and to the top.

Hiking Through Travertine


On top of the cotton castle is the ancient town of Hierapolis.   We spent too much time at the cotton castle and did not get a chance to walk around Hierapolis.   But we did manage to take a look at Hierapolis pool ( an extra surcharge of 30 lira if you want to swim in the pool), which I personally don't think is worth the extra bucks.
Hierapolis Ruins

There are dolmus (local buses) which you can take to the top of the travertine, through Hierapolis.  If you are constraint on time, taking local buses will save some time and allow you to see both Hierapolis and the cotton castle.

After spending half day at Pamukkale, we headed our way down to the town and took a bus to Denizli train station.

Our next stop is Selcuk.  Train travel is very very cheap in Turkey and even cheaper than buses.   The price of a train ticket is 17 lira per person and the train ride is about ~4 hours to Selcuk.  The only complaint that I have about train travel is that it makes all the stops between Denzili and Selcuk.   

We stayed overnight at this amazing B&B called Amazon Petite Palace in Selcuk.  Selcuk is relatively small compared to Denizli.  The town is very quiet but so rich in history.   This is the town where John and Mary last lived after Christ's crucification.   Most people visit Selcuk due to Ephesus,  an ancient Greek city. We were originally debating a lot whether or not to go to Ephesus as our schedule was really tight.  But ruins in Ephesus were very memorable and I was very happy that we did.

Ephesus itself is about 10 minutes cab ride from Selcuk town.  There are two entrances to Ephesus, the top gate and the lower gate.  We took the cab to the top gate, as recommended by our host and made our way down to the lower gate.  This map is a very accurate description of the Ephesus.
The Curetes Street
Believe it or not - this is the brothel, right next to the public toilets
Library of Celsius
One can hike from Ephesus lower gate entrance back to the town of Selcuk.  On the hike back, one can also stop to see Temple of Artemis, which is only a site and definitely can be skipped.  You can also see the Temple of Artemis from the hills of St. John Basilica.  Since we had to catch the flight back to Istanbul from Izmir, we took the dolmus back to the guest house.  St. John Basilica is right across from our B&B, so we also stopped by to see the place where John the Baptist and Virgin Mary last lived.  Even though I’m not a Christian, I felt very special to have visited the place.    I would have loved to visit Virgin Mary house, but it was not near Selcuk and we had a plane to catch to be back to Istanbul.

If we had more time, I would have loved to visit Virgin Mary's house, which is a little bit farther away.  

Monday, October 20, 2014

12 hours in Cappadocia

Day3 

Today is the day trip to Cappadocia Region.  Cappadocia is a region in central Anatolia, famous for its cave dwellings, underground cities and the moon like landscape.  I have read it from somewhere that it is in this region where Star Trek movies were filmed, but this rumor was proclaimed to be not true. 

Since we are staying at the SAW airport hotel the previous night, we just walked to the airport in the morning and got on the flight to Kayseri.  

There are two major airports which serve Cappadocia region.  One is Kayseri airport (aiprot code:ASR) and the other one is Neveshir airport(airport code:NAV).   If you look at the Cappadocia map, Neveshir airport is closer to Goreme, where most of the attractions are.  But I have heard that Neveshir airport is actually located farther out.  So, in the end it does not really matter which airport you fly into.  

Map of Cappadocia. Courtesy of New Goreme Travel.
It was very hard to make a decision on whether or not to spend overnight at Cappadocia.  In the end, we decided not to because:

1.  Our next stop is Pamukkale  and there is no direct flight to Denizli from Cappadocia region.  So instead of having to go back to Istanbul for transit, we decided to save time and money by doing day trip.

2.  The only other reason to stay overnight at Cappadocia is to do the famous hot air ballon ride.   Almost all people who visited Cappadocia experienced the famous hot air balloon ride and watched the sun rise.  After intensive thinking, we opted not to do the hot air ballon ride as:
- it was very expensive; I was quoted that it is at least >$150 per person.
- I think we will still have the chance to do the hot air ballon ride in life
- Hot air ballon is really a touristy thing.
(A friend of mine also went to Cappadocia recently and they did the hot air balloon ride.  The sunrise view from the balloon was so beautiful that I had tiny bit of regrets of not doing it.  But I am sure I’ll have this opportunity next time again.)

We rented a car in Cappadocia.  Cappadocia roads are good and not hard to drive around by yourself. The car rental was not expensive, but it was a bit difficult to find a rental which has automatic cars.  Luckily in the end, I was able to rent an automatic car with a chauffeur for about 58 euros from Sixt car rental.  We had trouble communicating with our chauffeur as he doesn't speak English.  But he can understand the name of the attractions and were able to drive us to where we wanted.  

First stop is at Goreme open air museum.  Before going, I was not sure what to expect there.  I went there because it was recommended as a must see.  After visiting, I would say that this is a place which I would recommend to skip if you do not have enough time.  There are small rooms hollowed out into the cave, and some rooms are actually churches with cave paintings.
Cave Rooms and Churches with Cave Paintings - Goreme Open Air Museum
After Goreme, we drove to Pasabag, where the famous fair chimneys are.  Visiting fair chimney does not take more than 15 minutes.   But if you like to hike, there is a path behind the chimneys which leads to a hill, and from the hill's top, you can see a nice view of panoramic view of the Cappadocia.

Fair Chimneys - Pasabag valle


View from top of the hill next to Fairy Chimneys
I have read about the underground cities when doing research about Cappadocia, and was very intrigued by it.  People actually lived in those underground cities, which can go down to 8 stories. So, our next stop after lunch was the Derinkuyu Underground city.  There is another underground city called Kaymalki which is closer in distance.   

After Derinkuyu, our last stop for the day is Uchisar Castle.  It is a citadel situated in the highest point of the region, and the view from top is stunning.

View from Uchisar Castle
Uchisar Castle
We flew back to Istanbul and get ready for our next stop, the cotton castle and ancient ruins of Ephesus.

Istanbul First Day

Day1

We landed in Istanbul past midnight.   We hop on the shuttle bus operated by Havatas, which runs between IST airport and Taksim square for 10 lira(~$5) per person.   We planned our first night to spend near Taksim Square as we do not want to travel farther into the older town for the hotel after 10 hours flight and 30 mins bus ride.  So, as soon as we got out of Havatas bus, we walked across Taksim Square, down the famous Istiklal Street (Istiklal Caddesi) and to our hostel, which is a block off from the Istikal street.  

Taksim Square and Istiklal Street are similar to NYC's times square; they are very crowded with tourists, locals, street performers and shops.  When we arrived to Taksim, it was past midnight, yet Istiklal street was very busy.  Loud music are blasted from all the clubs and lounges from the floors above the ground in the buildings.  I read about the noise intensity of staying near Taksim, and even though our hostel was a little bit further outside from the main street, you can still hear the musics and the beats.    

Day2 

Since we only 3 full days in Istanbul, I wanted to cover as much sightseeing as possible for the first day.  So, for the first Day in Istanbul, we visited Old Town.  We also had a very nice Turkish breakfast at Van Kahvalti Evi in Chihanger, which is close to Taskim square.   (For a list of other recommended breakfast places in Istanbul, I recommend the following post).

Traditional Turkish Breakfast - honey and cotted cream (on the right side) were to die for.
Traditional Turkish breakfast normally includes some spread, a variety of cheeses and some boiled egg with tea.  We also ordered Menemen, Turkish omelet, which was extremely delicious.  

All the main tourist attractions are in the old town, within the walking distance of each other.  The Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia are situated across from each other and the Basilica Cistern is nearby as well, within 5 minutes walking distance.
Blue Mosque
Entrance to Basilica Cistern
Hagia Sophia 
We spent the night at the airport hotel in SAW airport as we were visiting Cappadocia region the next day.  To get to SAW airport, we again take the bus from Taksim Square to SAW which costs about 13 lira per person.  I am so pleased with this airport shuttle service.  SAW airport is located on the Asian side of Istanbul, and it took about 45 minutes even without traffic!  So, can you imagine what the fare will be if we took a cab there?


TipsThis is my first time staying at airport hotel and using the airport as the base.  Turkey is a big country and flying to other parts is relatively cheap.   But most of the local budget airlines fly out of SAW airport, which is located farther away from the Istanbul.   There is no direct flight between Cappadocia and Denizli, so the airlines make a transit stop at Istanbul.  So, instead of spending the night at Cappadocia, we came back to Istanbul and spend the night at the airport hotel.   This definitely saves us some time in our already jam-packed schedule.  

Monday, September 1, 2014

Greek Islands - Santorini

It has been 3 months since I got back from Greece.  Yet to this day, I cannot stop reminiscing about Santorini.  

We flew to Santorini really early in the morning.  Among all the Greek islands, we chose to stay in Santorini and Mykonos for 2 nights each.  Even before going, I know Santorini was going to be the highlight of our trip.   

The flight from Athens to Santorini is a little over an hour.   From the plane windows, Santorini was covered in the clouds.  After landing, we got our luggage and got the taxi.  After driving for about 10 mins, the driver left us off at a sidewalk.  From the reviews, I know that there are a lot of walking and climbing involved in Santorini.  But what I didn't expect was that the difficulty of finding our lodging.  I saw the sign of our hotel at the sidewalk, so I know that the hotel is there.  But all the buildings are so tightly nested with each other and all of them have similar paints, so it was very hard to spot our hotel.  It was 7am in the morning.  Everyone was still sleeping and resting.  And all the shops were still close.   So, there was no one I could really turn around and ask.  Luckily, someone came out of nowhere and he led me straight to the lodging. But as soon as I started climbing down the stairs to our hotel, that was the moment I knew that I have already fallen in love with it.

Santorini 
We stayed at Firostefani, which is nested between Imerovigli and the Fira port.  The famous Oia is the northernmost end of the island.  When making reservation, I had a very hard time deciding whether to stay at Oia or Firostefani.  The only reason I think people would prefer Oia would be that some of the views are better. But for me, I think the best part about this vacation is enjoying the view right outside from our room with a glass of wine.  Also, I feel like Oia is more crowded with tourists.  
Map of Santorini Island
Our stay in Efterpi hotel was perfect.  We stayed in the traditional cave suite, which has 3 double beds, and 2 long wooden sofa, which can easily be used as 2 additional beds.  The room itself has 2 bathrooms, kitchen, plates and glasses.  The room can easily accommodate up to 6 adults and maybe additional 1 or 2 person.  For 2 nights, we paid 660 euros, which came out 132 euro per person for the entire stay.   The room itself is very cold and they provided with additional blankets in the room.
View from the personal balcony in front of our room, where we have breakfast everyday
For the first day, we decided that we wanted to get a boat to go out into the sea.  Fortunately, there are a couple of agencies right outside the hotel and we booked a private speedboat.  The rate was 150 euro per hour with a maximum of 3 hours.   There are other sailing options such as half day boat trips which goes to the Volcano and the Hot Spring s for about 15 euros.  Also, there is a sunset dinner, volcano and hot springs cruise on a traditional wooden sailing boats four 55 euro per person.   I am sure that there are other agencies out there as well, but Sun Marine is the one we ended up booking with, and we were really impressed with the service and the tour.  


Getting to our boat for the cruise
The tour picked us up from the hotel around 4.30pm and drove us to the famous Amoudi Bay.   From Amoudi Bay, we cruises along the caldera and stop at Hot Springs for a swim.  Then after that we went to Thirasia island where we snorkled and had dinner.  The dinner was seafood pasta with greek salad and wines.  After the dinner, we came back to Amoudi Bay where our boat anchors with other boats and enjoy the famous Oia sunset.   
Amoudi Bay - there are a few seafood restaurants there, but we didn't try any
Volcano and Hot Springs
Dad and the Captain
The Famous Oia Sunset
For the second day in Santorini, we rented a car.  I've asked Kostas, our hotel owner, to arrange a car for us.   Ideally, I would have loved to try an ATV, as it is plenty on the island.  But we are a group of 5, so it does not make sense.  Our car rental place is called Atlantic Car Rental, and it is actually located in the town of Imerovigli.  For one day rental, the rate is 50 euro including insurance.   There is a public parking space right outside of our hotel, so parking was not really a problem.  But I have read reviews somewhere that if you stay in Fira or Oia, parking space is not that easy to find.  

From he southernmost part where the lighthouse is to the northernmost part of the island, Oia, the drive took about 45 mins.   Our first stop on this adventure was the famous Red Beach.  I find Red Beach to be a bit overrated.  First off, getting to the beach itself was a little bit challenging as it involves one to climb through the rocks.  The beach got its name due to the fact that its sand is red.
Red Beach
Since we are in Santorini, not going Oia will be huge mistake.  I find that Oia seems to be more famous because there are more buildings with blue domes.  And it is one of the most photographed places on earth.   

Oia - Cathedral View
In terms of food in Santorini, there are a lot of restaurants, but most of them are catered to tourists.  During our stay, we tried 2 restaurants near the hotel and we are not impressed with either.  There seems to be more food options in the town of Fira.  My most favorite meal during the stay will be ordering take out from nearby Gyro place and buying two bottles of wines and just sitting and eating in front of the room.  If your lodging have a nice view, I definitely recommend ordering a take-out and just enjoying the view right in front of your room.

Itineraries:
Day 1 - Arrival, Sunset Cruise or Hike to Oia and enjoy sunset from Oia
Day 2 - Rent a car and drive along the island.  Sites to see includes: lighthouse, Red Beach, White Beach.  There is also an ancient excavation site in Akrotiri.

If you are looking for a true Greek island life, Santorini might not be the best place to experience it.  The island is really really beautiful.  Yet, at the same time, I feel like everyone on the island is working to serve the tourists.  The island's main source of income is tourism.  There are other greek island nearby where I'm sure that it's much less crowded with tourists.  But this Catherdral view with all those white washed houses..., that's a view you can get only in Santorini.  

I really really hope that I get to visit Santorini soon again..









Saturday, July 19, 2014

Athens - Love it or Hate it?

My main focus in Greece was Santorini.  The plan was to spend 2 nights in Athens, 2 nights in Santorini, 2 nights in Mykonos and 1 night in Athens.  I didn't spend too many times on planning a trip around Athens.  I figured since Athens is a big city, and I would know what to do and where to go once I got there.  In hindsight, I wished that I had prepared a little bit more.

We arrived in Athens on a Sunday.  Athens' airport was an average airport.  Going to TAXI stand, I saw signs about flat taxi rate - 35 euro from the airport to anywhere in the city center, which is relatively inexpensive.  And the taxi ride to the city center was long - almost 45 mins.  35 euro flat rate was applicable only during day time.   We found out the next day that the flat rate is 50 euro during night time and early morning.  We also found out later that the taxi driver in Athens drove like crazy, asked for tips and not that different from NYC cab driver.  Also after the third cab ride, we realized that most cab drivers tend to avoid toll road, which would have made the trip much shorter, in order to save money.  

Renting car in front of the hotel in Athens
During our 2 nights in Athens, we had one full day to do all the touristy things.  And we planned to stay at Hotel Illisos for the first 2 nights and Hotel Areos in a different part of town on the last night after Mykonos.    I was not impressed at all by Hotel Illisos.  The hotel was run down and it was situated in a different part of city center, which I was not impressed of.  The room rate was 162 euro for 2 rooms for one night.  Hotel Areos is slightly more expensive (about 10 euros more), but the rooms are more modern and the breakfast was much better.  The two hotels are located in opposite sides of Acropolis.  Hotel Areos is in a much better location as it was closer to tourist attractions. The only good thing about Hotel Illisos was the roof top view, where you can see the main attraction of Athen, the Parthenon.  

Our first day in Athens, we spent walking a good 15 minutes near the hotel looking for food.  Surprisingly, that part of the town was very quiet.  As we came to know later, this side of the town was not the tourist center.  Not knowing what to do, as it was pretty late in the day and too early to rest, I impulsively decided to rent a car ( as we saw the car rental brochure in the hotel lobby) and drove by Athens' coastline.  Car rental experience was great.  All we had to do was called the rental agency and tell them when we want the car.   A person come and drop the car off at the lobby and pick up the next day.  Also, it was 90 euro for 24 days including insurance with 1000 euro deductible.  My family was excited to sit in the car with A/C on as the weather in Athens was pretty hot. 
Beach along Athen's Aegean Coast
So, we got out of Athens.  The rental guy recommended us to drive along the coast to Glyfada and to Sounion, where the temple of Poseidon is.  The drive to Glyfada was very pleasant and the view was good.  Since my phone battery was pretty low, we were not able to get to Temple of Poseidon, as we drove past Sounion without knowing.    And even on the way back, we were lost, and had to stop and asked around as to how to get back to the hotel.  Also, in this trip, I learned that I should always take an iphone car charger on every trip, as it turned out I needed a GPS and did not want to rent a GPS.   This caused as some inconvenience during the trip as my phone battery ran pretty low. Oh, and one other surprising thing I found out was that T-Mobile has this great plan where I can use unlimited text and data in 50 countries, and most EU countries are included.

Beach club
If I ever plan a trip to Athens again, I would love to stay in one of those beachside town instead of Athens.  They are not that far from city center, so you can rent a car and drive. Also some towns are really pretty and seem to have a lot going on.

The next day, we planned to visit Acropolis and Plaka.  A car is definitely not needed in Athens as they have a very good public transportation.  However, we decided to drive close enough to Acropolis, as our hotel is a mile away.  But parking as hard to find and we decided to pay for parking.  Luckily, we came across this parking inside a gas station which charges us only 8 euro for full day.   I  have read some reviews online that the rate could go from 15 euro for full day so I was happy to have found this place.   
View of Athens from Acropolis

























Parthenon
Personally, I do not find Acropolis to be that interesting.  It houses a lot of archaeologic sites, most notable one being Parthenon, a temple dedicated to Goddess Athena and is one of the must see of the world.  The entrance fee was 12 euro per person and it was full of tourists.  If you do the math, you can see that it generates massive revenue.  Yet, I find that the spot to be too touristy and very chaotic. Parthenon was pretty much close off and all we can do was walk around and get a nice view of Athens.  We spent about 3 hours walking around Acropolis and then walked to Plaka.  
After Acropolis, we headed to Carrefour.  My father wanted to go to Carrefour and I needed to look at car charger.  Carrefour is a super market chain like Walmart but based in France.    Yet, Carrefour in Greece reminds me of one of the supermarket in my home country.  Everything was so expensive and I was very surprised that they didn't even have iphone 5S chargers, and Carrefour is supposed to be Walmart equivalent.  After that futile search, we planned to stop by at a beach, but due to not having enough phone battery, that did not happen.   
Neighborhood Near Piraeus
After that, we drove to Athen's Piraeus neighborhood, where there is a big port for cruise ships.  The neighborhood is about 20 minutes drive from the city center and is dirty and dingy.   But we came across this little seafood restaurant place, which seemed to be  a local joint.   As we do not speak Greek and the owner did not seem to understand us, we walked in, and pointed at the other table and asked them to cook exact same thing. (It was funny, as the people from the other table took out their phones and took pictures of us).   The fishes were fresh, as they were picked from the next door fish market.  There was a live music and the owner was really nice.  In the end, they brought out raki and cheered with us.  I was very excited to try raki, which tasted like a more alcoholic version of Tequila.  

Seafood Restaurant
Our experience in the last day was much better.   From Hotel Areos, we walked down 28 October street to Plaka.  It was a good 25 mins walk and full of interesting sites along the way.  We stopped by at Athens' meat market, where they sell both seafood and meat.  We also got a chance to do a little bit of shopping.  I had seen all the advertisements about Honda Center, and thought it might have something to do with the Honda car.  But it was a huge cosmetic/beauty store where they have everything you can imagine for beauty related.   I scored some 'Made in Paris' perfume for 6 euro and some Olive Oil products.   

I am not really a fan of Greek food in general, but two things that I came to love; the anchovies and their feta cheese.  Greek salad is so different from what you would normally get in US.  It does not have any lettuces, just tomatoes, onions and feta cheese.  And I LOVE their feta cheese. 

In my life, I have known no more than 2 people who is from Greece.  From my personal experience, I find that Greek people are easy to be friends with.   As I was preparing to apply for my visa at the Greece Embassy, I started reading people complaining about how laid back Greek people are and how impolite they can be.  A trip to the Greece Embassy in the Upper East Side supported the statement.  (That's why I like going to embassies.  I know that visa applications are requires time and money.  And some visa are more costly than the other.  But for a person holding a passport where almost every country on this earth requires visa, I do not mind doing so.  I feel that you can always get a sense of what a country or its people will be like by going to its Embassy).  In some way, visiting Athens made me realized why Greece went bankrupt.  I couldn't help but wonder why cities like Athens and Rome, where there is a lot of culture and history, could not go as far in advance like other cities.    Athens left me with a not so great impression, but our next part of the trip, Santorini made me fall in love with Greece all over again.  

Tips:

Honda Center near Omonia station has a cafeteria at the top most floor, which has a perfect view of Parthenon.