And Now on Facebook!

Just in time for the New Year, I have added a Villa Ralfa page on Facebook, you can view it by clicking on the link to the left. So now you can become a fan of Villa Ralfa the first gay and lesbian accommodation, hotel, guesthouse (yes even I do not know what to call it!), on Crete, Greece.

Not only that but you can of course share this blog with all your friends on Facebook too!

During the next month we will be closed for guests as I have to go back to England for a while to deal with my Uncle's affairs following his death in November (it was a nice funeral, small, but then he was 83 so there are not too many of his age group still about). I am also hoping to get into hospital to get my hernia fixed!

Of course I cannot leave Isla, the new dog, on her own so there are friends from Holland staying instead

We have a few new things happening in the New Year 2010, amongst this is the possible opening of a new gay club in Hersonissos, and also during the winter we will be, hopefully, revamping the web site just to please the several hundred who visit it every month. Naturally we will be answering your emails while we are away and if you want to make booking you can use the sexy new 'online booking' system to book the apartment ONLY.

Hoping that you had a good Christmas, and that 2010 will be everything you could wish for!

A Winter Weekend in Athens, Greece Part 3

Some suggestions of where to go and what to do during a short ‘city break’ in Athens.

Part 3 – More eating out, yet another bar, and Kolonaki.

Continuing the saga of a four day ‘city break’ in Athens finds us in need of a little rest and as many of the gay bars/clubs are closed on Monday we can do this without feeling guilty!

After the customary early evening sleep I head off to Goody’s in the middle of the city. Goody’s is the Greeks answer to MacDonalds, the system of ordering at one desk and walking to another to collect your food is confusing, none of the staff speak English but you can always point can’t you? The food is good though and there is enough of it but it is not cheap. But if you want a good burger then you have to pay for it.

Monday is a much quieter night around Monastiraki and Psirri, I find the bar called Inoteka in the Platia Avisinias that houses the flea market. This bar is listed as ‘gay friendly’ but I cannot tell for sure as I am the only person in there. I can say that is interestingly decorated and warm and cosy, maybe if someone else goes there they can let me know. I can imagine spending the evening there though.

Moving on I find a seat in a bar restaurant in Miaouli Street near Platia Iroon, called Rebekka. Normally you cannot get into these places as they are packed but it is Monday. As I sit with a large bottle of beer (€3) and start to write up my notes there is the brightest flash of lightning I have ever seen, followed by a magnificent roll of thunder and torrential rain and hail stones for the next twenty minutes. Never mind it is warm and dry under this canvas awning.

Tomorrow is my last full day and I want to make the most of it, so I take an early night.

Tuesday comes and another bright sunny day, apart from the odd shower of rain I have had pleasant weather but I do need a coat and a sweater especially at night.

My plan is to visit Kerameikos, which is on Ermou Street near Thissio station. This area used to be very run down but is now a pleasant pedestrian area, but beware of scooters. The archaeological site is actually old graveyards where the good and the great of ancient Athens were buried. I expected it would only take me thirty minutes to go round the site, by the time I had been round the museum I had stayed three hours!

Grabbing a spinach pie on the way through Monastiraki, I head up Ermou towards Parliament House. The streets are packed with shoppers as the January sales started today. Reaching Syntagma Square I look in the post office to see if it is still as busy and chaotic as ever. It is. (There are other post offices less busy near Omonia Square and opposite the National Bank in the square off Athinas Street).

Pausing to take a picture of one of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier I carry on to Kolonaki, which is the most expensive area of Athens and is home to many of the foreign Embassies and Government Buildings. Here you will find all the well-known designer shops and most have sales on. There is also the usual number of street cafes where the rich, famous, beautiful and not so beautiful of Athens come to play.

It is the place to take a coffee and so I do. In my chosen cafe the menu is new and wonderfully produced on heavy glossy paper. The price of a cup of coffee is so close to €5 that it is not worth taking your change, and if you also have something to eat then the prices are cleverly worked out to be enough over €9 that it is not worth taking the change from a €10 note! My coffee is called something like a ‘espressocaccia’ and I choose it because it has more ingredients than anything else! When I leave I take the menu with me but leave it behind in my hotel.

Tonight is my last night and I am staying in the city at Hotel Euripides to reduce the travelling time to the airport the following day. I am intending to get another early night, without alcohol, as I don’t travel as well as I used to.

I am warned by the owner that they have the workman in doing some refurbishment but I don’t mind as I want to be up quite early.

For food I head to Monastiraki and the street by the railway line where a burly Greek ‘komaki’ has tried to get me in three times already, (sorry folks I lost the card and do not know the name!). Having ordered and got as far as the Greek salad I realise I have left my money in the hotel and take a fast walk back to get it. The Greek salad is big enough for three, there is half a loaf of bread, and when they arrive the meatballs are enormous with rice on the side. Another case of two eating as cheaply as one! I am serenaded by two Greek musicians as I am the only person in the place, I buy them a jug of raki and a bottle of beer. They ask me where I am from and laugh when I say ‘Krhth’ as I am obviously English. But of course they have relatives on Crete. I pay the bill €23 all up, a bargain considering I couldn’t finish all the food but did manage to drink the half litre of wine!

Strolling back to the hotel I pass Aleko’s hoping it would be open for a nightcap, it is closed so I determine to get back to the hotel for an early night.

Now I don’t know about you, but when I pass a bar that is playing Boney M which segues into Village People my interest is aroused. Well it is early still and one Metaxa and Cola will be OK. The bar is called Cosmopolis and it stand on the corner of Agatharchou and an un-named street quite close to the hotel. I enter and sit at the bar, it’s busy and the barman is in the middle of pouring a large round. For a Greek he appears to be tall and I think maybe the floor behind the bar is raised, standing up I check, but no he really is that tall, and he is an absolute dream, to watch working that is, what else did you think I could mean? He is now pouring a round of Tequila shots, I look around the bar while I wait, the barman taps me on the shoulder and pushes a shot towards me and then points to a crowd of late 20’s Greek males behind me. Obviously this is a celebration of some kind and being a person that never refuses I drink I clink glasses with them all before downing it in one.

I order my Metaxa and Coke, the barman looks slightly bemused and has to open three fridge doors before he finds the Coke, the Metaxa is enormous! I am handed the drink along with a large glass of water, strange? It is warm in here, the music and the mood of the place are infectious and one thing is for sure it is NOT a gay bar, but then I can drink anywhere.

As I sip my drink and enjoy the music I watch the barman and realise that none of the spirits, which seems to be the only thing they sell, has a mixer. Even the enormous glasses of gin go out straight! But why not? Everybody has a large glass of water which gets topped up frequently, no wonder the barman looked bemused when I asked for Coke, he couldn’t remember where it was! Of course after another drink the rot had set in and it was 3am before I got to bed, but with drinks that size and only €5 each who am I to complain? As ever, it is the unplanned events that are often the best!

I am woken the next day at 9am by the sound of hammering and drilling, it seems the workmen started at 7am and they are amazed that I could still manage to sleep.
Breakfast is included in the price of my room, €25 per night, and I am need of something solid. I make my way up to the 7th floor and the first thing I do is turn the thermostat up on the water boiler. (Remember I have stayed here before!). The breakfast here is a ‘Dutch’ breakfast with juice, cereal, cold meats, cheeses, croissants, dried and fresh fruit, jam and bread. A new addition is a toaster, which is very welcome as Greek bread is often very dry and toasting it makes it edible. While I am making toast, the water boiler is now up to speed and I can make a decent cup of tea, don’t even think of trying the coffee here!

I get back to my room, to find the builders have already removed the doors, lucky I packed my suitcase before I went out last night!

Manhandling my luggage back to Monastiraki Metro station about 600 metres away is a challenge with a thick head but I cope and am soon speeding on my way to the airport. Thirty-five minutes and €6 one-way fare gets me back to the airport in plenty of time for my homeward flight to Crete and as the aircraft takes off I ponder on whether I could actually live in Athens and remain sane.

For relevant links, travel and booking information, and a photo gallery visit
http://www.villaralfa.com/athens.html.

A Winter Weekend in Athens Part 2

Some suggestions of where to go and what to do during a short ‘city break’ in Athens. A series of three articles to help you make the most of your stay.

Part 2 – Eating out, another bar, museums and their opening hours.

Having arrived back in Monastiraki it was time to join everyone else at one of the many cafes, which line the street beside the suburban railway line. This may sound odd, but as the line is ‘sunk’ below street level and there are fewer trains on Sunday, it is actually very pleasant particularly on a sunny day when during the afternoon the sun shines directly on you.

This is a place ‘to see and be seen’ as every man and a few dogs are here sitting somewhere or another. For a change the cafes are so busy they do not approach you to come in, it is more a case of find a space and sit before someone else takes it! Here you will find illegal street traders whose stall is a white sheet, which can be lifted, goods and all, and taken away before the local police move them on or fine them.

You will be serenaded by small children playing the bouzouki or accordion with varying degrees of failure, you will have gypsy flower sellers palming you off with roses that last for about two hours, and lottery ticket sellers trying to sell you tickets!

If you are really lucky you will get a cup of coffee within a few minutes, but you will have to wait an hour to try and pay!

I take my coffee at leisure, an hour and a half, and then decide to head back to the Agora to take some more pictures as background and decoration for a web site I am designing. At the Temple of Haphaestos I am accosted by two ladies from Sapporo in Japan. They are on a European Tour and have managed most of the UK and Italy but need directions to the Temple of Olympian Zeus. They have chosen me because I look as though I can speak an English that they will understand. We chat for a while and I explain that it is easier to walk around the Acropolis than climb up it again and then down the other side. They also want to look at the stadium. ‘Is it old?’ ‘Yes 1936 for the Olympics (I think)’.

Finally I return to base for a well earned afternoon nap ready for the rigours of the evening!

Finding a restaurant in the middle of Athens should be easy, in fact there are dozens around the Psirri/Monastiraki area, but this article is supposed to help you so I will send you to Mitropoleos Street, which starts at the square opposite Monastiraki station and heads towards Platia Syntagma. At present the square is surrounded by corrugated iron fence so find the Everest cafe on Ermou and take the alleyway beside it. The first place you come to is good and normally has tables on the other side of the alley, or continue round the corner in Mitropoleos where you will find about ten restaurants! In summer this street is full of tables serving mainly tourists in the early evening and Greeks later on. In January there are still tables outside but you want to be warm and cosy don’t you? Most of these places are ‘souvlaki’ shops selling mainly skewered meats cooked on the barbecue, other are ‘gyros’ shops which is a similar idea but the meat is in bulk cooked vertically. All have other items on the menu if you ask to see it, but don’t expect them to have everything, particularly things like ‘moussaka’!

After a little wander up and down I selected ‘Sabbas’ as my eating place on this particular Sunday night, mainly because I happened to notice, on the way past, that one of the grill chefs had the most beautiful eyes. (OK if you can think of a better way of choosing a restaurant then let me know). Having ordered chicken souvlaki, with tzatziki to start and a quarter litre of house plonk, I proceeded to knock the ashtray off the table and spill a drink on the table behind me as I took my coat off. There is nothing like making an impression! At first glance the price looks expensive as the souvlaki is €9. So in total my meal is going to cost just over €14, but consider this, if there had been two of me and we had ordered a bowl of salad as well then the two of us could have eaten for €17 all up (well maybe €20 because we would have needed more wine!). As it was there was so much chicken on the souvlaki I had a problem eating it all, I found out afterwards that it was meant to be shared between two. Further up the street you can get a chicken or pork ‘gyros’ in pitta bread with a salad for €6.50 and you will get enough to eat!

Taking my time and writing up my notes for the day took two hours and nobody glares at you for taking the table for so long!

By now it is gone 10pm so I decide it is time to investigate another gay bar, this time ‘The Big Bar’ which is supposed to be a ‘bear bar’. One of the great things about this area is that you can walk places!

The ‘Big Bar’ is located beyond Gazi, which is home to many nightclubs including several gay ones. Personally many of these are not to my taste, the crowd tends to be too young and clucky, the drinks are often expensive, and the music is very often Greek ‘popular’ which is not me either! Having said that if you have the time then by all means go and try one or more, I am only trying to send you somewhere ‘reliable’ after all.

Big Bar is located in a side street just over the railway lines as you head out of the city on Iera Street, (on the way out you pass two very fancy nightclubs, one of which asks you to wear a tie, that’s me off the guest list then). I arrive after about 25 minutes (time for the food to settle) walk, shortly after it opens. It is empty, but I realise this is still early and anyway it gives me time to chat to the owner, Christos. One of the best things about smaller bars is you get information and in this case a free beer as well. Christos is interested in the fact that I live on Crete, and tells me what the Cretan men are like (I already know), apologises for the price of the beer which is €5 a bottle (not really that bad considering I have just come from the UK where they charge €9 for the same thing), and tells me how expensive Greek taxes are. I get a slight suspicion that maybe he would prefer to live somewhere other than Athens, but then many Athenians seem slightly jealous of us ‘islanders’ and one of the main topics of conversation in Athens is whether Crete will split away from Greece. This seems a bit odd as it is barely 100 years since Crete became part of Greece, but then they point out that Crete is ‘rich’ with agriculture and tourism and maybe it could survive on its own.

But back to the Big Bar, Christos tells me that the busy nights are Friday and Saturday when they play rock music, and that Tuesday night is Greek music night and he reels off a list of Greek singers many of whom are pop singers from the 1980’s. The place is closed on Monday as are many other places in Athens.

Atmosphere-wise the Big Bar is a comfortable mix of wood grain, dark colours and vinyl with a big screen for showing pop video clips and a glitter ball (a little unexpected for a Bear bar but actually quite a nice feature and it does add a bit of glitz). All in it is quite ‘cosy and cuddly’ just as you would expect a bear’s lair to be! It is not a big place about six people can sit at the bar with ease, which of course makes it a friendly place to be. By the time I leave at 12.30am there are a few more customers including a chatty couple (one Greek the other American I think) at the bar who know Brighton!

Monday is museum day and come hell or high water I am going to get to see the National Archaeological Museum!

One thing you get used to in Greece is wrong information for opening times and the museum is no exception, everything says that it opens at 10.30am on Mondays. It doesn’t, it opens at 1.00pm. Being optimistic I arrive there at midday. Not a problem there is a nice cafe in the forecourt complete with gas patio heaters. The tactile strip on the paving to help the partially sighted runs straight through the middle of the cafe, just to make life even easier at one end are swing doors and the other end sliding doors! Only in Greece. The large Greek coffee comes with a glass of water of course, and also a small dish of cherry ‘spoon sweet’, two small croissants, and a couple of small almond biscuits. All for €4!

The number of exhibits in the museum seems much smaller than it did in 1969 when I was last here and I think that maybe during the refurbishment in 2001/2003 they have deliberately gone for quality rather than quantity. The museum is well laid out and is not so big that you can get bored if you are not that interested in Greek history. I am there for some hours! Those of us who are advancing in years (22 in my case) with not so good eyesight, always have a problem in museums and this one is no exception. The cards they use for the printed text use a ‘serif’ typeface a couple of points too small to be easily read and even if you have varifocals, the angle of the card at the bottom of the case is such that you end up on your knees (a not unknown position), so that you can see through the reading bit of your lenses. The gold leaf work and jewellery I think are the best exhibits.

So what happens on Monday night? Well that will be investigated in Part 3 along with some links to relevant sites and some pictures

Note: This article was originally published by me in 2008, it has been updated slightly for republication here!

A Winter Weekend in Athens Greece Part 1

Some suggestions of where to go and what to do during a short ‘city break’ in Athens.

Part 1 – The theatre, a bar, a flea market, and a long Sunday walk.

Athens is not a city that many people would think of visiting for a short break, but with airfares and hotel prices at their lowest levels during the winter months this is a good time to think about a short break, but with only a limited time to find your way around how do you make the most of it?

I am lucky enough to have friends living in Athens, but on previous visits (and for part of this visit) I have stayed in the Hotel Euripides, which is in the Psirri district near to Monastiraki. To look at, this is not the most pre-possessing area, however this goes for many areas of Athens, and a lot of other cities! The area was given a facelift before the 2004 Olympics, as was the Hotel Euripides (new bathrooms!) but if you want to stay in a central location with plentiful nightlife at a reasonable price then this, or one of many similar hotels in the area, then you must look past the facade. This area is very crowded at night so for the nervous amongst you I think I can assure you that you will be safe! The area, judging by many of the old fashioned shops, was once the centre of the ‘Rag Trade’ and the remnants of this still exist in the form of many shops, with Chinese looking names over the door, selling wholesale clothing and accessories. There are also a number of wholesale jewellery and craft shops (ardent Ebayers take note!)

On this visit I arrived on a Saturday lunchtime after a very early departure from London Gatwick, so there was plenty of time to pick up a bottle of water and some snacky odds and ends from one of the many local shops, before having a couple of hours sleep. The Hotel Euripides is on a very busy commercial street and can be noisy, so it is wise to ask for a room on one of the upper floors, the 6th floor is particularly pleasant as these rooms face out on to quite large terraces overlooking the rooftops. During the winter months you will be given the remote control to the aircon, which you will need to use as a heater as the nights can be cold!

There are three theatres within five minutes walk, and never having been to a theatre in Greece, I decided that it might be a good idea to give it a try! In spite of it being Saturday night I was able to get a ticket to a show called ‘The Aunt From Chicago’ which has been running for some time, and although, with my limited Greek, I lost the dialogue several times, the show was sufficiently ‘visual’ and similar to a British ‘comedy musical farce’ that I found it hilarious, and if all else failed I could watch the Greeks enjoying the whole affair.

Theatre turn out time is around 11.30pm and to say that the surrounding area was now ‘heaving’ with people would be an understatement. Greek nightlife traditionally starts very late and you can walk through this area, centred on Platia Iroon at 10.00pm with hardly a soul in sight, but by midnight there is not a seat to be had anywhere with still more people arriving!

Further down Sarri Street from the theatre is a small gay bar called Aleko’s Island, which I had tried to visit on previous trip, but as this was on a Monday night it was closed. This time being a Saturday it was open although when I arrived there were only three other customers. Well what can I say about this bar? The owner has obviously been part of the local scene for some time, and arrivals after me were all greeted personally and chatted to as old friends, (this makes the service a bit slow at times, but Heigh Ho, this is Greece), my request for a Metaxa and Coke without ice was met without objection, (some places will hate you for the ‘no ice’ bit as they don’t use any official measure for the spirits and without ice they have to give you more of the spirit!) and resulted in a ten ounce glass about one third full of Metaxa before the Coke was added!

I tried to classify the decor, but couldn’t, although the word ‘kitsch’ did spring to mind. I had trouble deciding whether the fairy lights were left from Christmas or remained all year round. I tried to classify the amateur paintings around the place without success. I tried to classify the music but could only come up with ‘eclectic’, when I arrived it was Tamla Motown, but following a blast of the 20th Century Fox theme it turned into what seemed to be the Andrews Sisters singing ‘I Will Survive’, (I have found at since that was The Puppini Sisters, of course!), and the strangest version I have ever heard of ‘Tainted Love’!

Classifying the clientele was easier, generally older, say ‘fortyish’ going on nineteen, probably something to do with the theatre and mainly regulars. Greek of course, although there were a couple more English guys who it turns out live in Athens, but what a nice bar! After the second drink I was getting very settled watching the ‘goings on’ and after the third I began to feel so much at home that I could have stayed until it closed, but common sense prevailed and I left at 1.30am as I had things to do on Sunday!

Sunday is a day for walking in Athens. In Monastiraki the flea market is in full swing. This takes place in the network of small streets between Monastiraki and Thissio stations, the suburban railway line and Ermou Street. (some of it is open all week, but Sunday is the main day with street traders, licensed and unlicensed lining the narrow streets). The Platia Abisinias has some interesting stalls with a wide selection of odd china, but beware, some of the ‘Tiffany’ lamps were made last month in China and it is not unusual to see someone buy something and see the stall holder replace it with another one ten minutes later! You can however buy ‘spare parts’ such as that brass handle that broke on the chest of drawers when Granny first had it, or replacement (and genuinely old!) crystal drops for chandeliers. On week days you can watch craftsmen repairing and re-polishing old furniture, and I am always amused by the sign that advertises hand polishing, although I have never seen them use anything but a machine!

From the market it is an easy walk through the ancient Agora and up to the Acropolis, entry is free to these sites on Sunday! The Acropolis has changed since my last visit two years ago, it is less complete than it was, and certainly there seems to be even less than my first visit in 1969! I suppose it will be nice when it is finished and I can’t help but think that a couple of hundred Albanian stone masons would have had it done years ago! In the middle of the Acropolis I come across a couple from Perth, Western Australia, where I used to live. By coincidence they live just round the corner from where my (deceased) partner lived back in the 1950’s, and when I mention his name they remember both him and his (infamous) father. It is such a small world sometimes!

The new Acropolis Museum was supposed to be open now, but it wasn’t, and leaving the Acropolis I take the road to the right and down towards Plaka stopping at the Church of the Metamorphosis, I light a candle and stay a few minutes but come out looking exactly the same. On the way down there is a network of narrow streets providing many opportunities for some ‘arty’ photographs and a fair collection of restaurants, but I am heading elsewhere, to the National Gardens and Parliament House.

Entering the Gardens on the southern edge opposite Hadrian’s Arch and the Temple of Olympian Zeus I begin to feel a touch of disappointment as I always do here. I had hoped that maybe with the 2004 Olympics being here, they might have done some replanting. The area itself is tidy as always, and while I can understand that the shade beneath the many mature trees will bring relief from the agonising heat of an Athenian August afternoon, I get frustrated because the network of well laid pathways and small open spaces always promise that around the next corner I will find a secret place or a surprise, but of course I never do!

Having said that there are some fine mature coniferous trees as well as Casuarinas and Saphora Japonicas, various palms, and abutilons. The ‘children’s corner’ still has a selection of ‘budgies’ and canaries along with some fancy hens, cocks, and ducks. There are also some fine looking goats. (The last time I mentioned to someone that I had seen some ‘fine looking’ goats they told me I had been living on Crete for too long!)

After stopping to photograph the fountain by the exhibition hall just to prove I had been there in daylight, I left via a wide avenue of mature jacaranda trees, which, horror of horrors, had been pruned according to Greek Rules; no lateral branch shall be less that 2.5 metres from the ground, no lateral branch shall be longer than 2 metres before it gets pruned. It would not have surprised me if they had pollarded or pleached them, there is nothing to beat a Greek gardener with a chain saw for a bit of pruning!

After several kilometres and 3 hours on foot, meandering slowly through the streets and gardens it was definitely time to think about a little late lunch and a bracing Greek coffee so I headed back to Monastiraki, but more of this in part two!

You will find some pictures on my web site at http://www.villaralfa.com/athens.html

Note: This article was originally published by me in 2008, but has been updated slightly for republication

Greece, The Perfect Gay Travel Place | Welcome to My Blog

Greece, The Perfect Gay Travel Place Welcome to My Blog: "Villa Ralfa"