Long time no see

I love living in a place that the rest of the world comes to explore! So many people travel here for holidays or stop by during their journeys elsewhere, which means - I get to catch up with said people, sometimes friends I haven't seen in a really long time.

This week, I was actually booked to do a tour for an old guide colleague of mine from my Lefkas days, Therese, and her family. They are in Dubai for the week, but wanted to come see the museum and explore Abu Dhabi, so I helped them arrange a driver for the day and got to give them a tour.

They also went to the mosque, and did a bit of a drive around in the city center, and then Nathan and I met them for Taco Tuesday dinner down in Yas Bay before they head back to Dubai. A quick but such an enjoyable catch-up!

A big, fat Greek reunion

The evening I landed from Portugal, another plane had got in from Athens just a few hours earlier; with a dear old friend of mine and his family - Kostas!

They had come to Abu Dhabi only for a long weekend, and we were so happy that they wanted to spend one evening with us!
We invited them to Craft - of course, where else?

Kostas was my the owner of the night club I worked at in Lefkas back in the day (yes, we are talking in the nineties!) and we have kept in touch ever since, for nearly 30 years now! Last time we saw each other was as the kids and I visited Athens in 2020, on our last trip before Covid shut the world down.

It was so nice to have Kostas and his family on my home turf! Next time I hope they stay for a little bit longer!

Athens - Thank you

Just like that it was time to fly back home again. Looking back through all the photos it's clear we really made the most of our Athens-days, so many amazing experiences to put into the memory bank, what a holiday! Thank you Athens!

Athens - A Lefkas reunion

It's been 25 years since I first set foot on the beautiful Greek island of Lefkas, for the first of in total three seasons there. The first two I was a tour guide for Spies/Tjaereborg, and the last one I worked as a bartender at the local club Sail Inn. Back then it was rather small, we were only two bartenders - one for the outside bar, and me for the inside, bar together with the owner Kostas who kind of floated around just overseeing the whole place.

Kostas now has 35 employees and his club is THE thing in Lefkas; and we are still friends, 25 years later! Today he packed up his family and did the drive all the way from Lefkas to Athens, just to meet up with us for dinner - how nice!

Now he is combining being a club owner with being a family man, and he and his wife Zoe has two gorgeous little kids - Pandasis and Stella.

And as usual, my two made friends straight away. I love how they always are so good with other kids, one of their best characteristics for sure.

We had dinner at a restaurant up in the Thiseo area, so on the way back we got a last evening glimpse of the stunning Acropolis. It really looks fantastic like this at night.

After dinner it was time for a sugar rush at the Hans & Gretel house! How cute! 

Thank you so much Kostas and family for coming all the way to Athens to see us!
So enjoyed it!

Athens - The National Archeology Museum

I was a bit comprehensive about taking the kids to yet another museum, especially as I had read that the collections of this museum span 11,000 items! But on our last day in Athens we were a bit on a loose end so we still decided to give it a shot.
Of course we walked over there, it was yet another lovely day where we could now wear our summer jackets rather than the winter coats.

The National Archeology Museum is considered one of the greatest museums in the world, and I am actually really glad we went. The collection is really beautifully curated and it didn't feel overwhelming at all.
Or agreement for going had been to skim through (a bit low on energy by now) and only concentrate on the masterpieces, but it turned out there was a lot of interesting parts that caught our attention.

The Artemision Bronze statue. It represents either Zeus, or Poseidon.

The Boxing Boys fresco, dating from the Bronze Age.

The Jockey of Artemision, a rare surviving original bronze statue from Ancient Greece.

Here too there was a lovely cafe outside by a patio, which was also filled with art and sculptures.

Although we chose to have our fika break inside, cause there was too many hungry pigeons outside...

The museum shop here was very well stocked and interesting, and prices a bit more friendly so I got myself a couple of books, and also this canvas bag with the Acropolis outline on it. I really enjoy souvenirs that can be used.

The Mask of Agamemnon, dating approximately from the 16th century BCE, and one of the most famous items of the collection.

Athens - The Museum of Contemporary Art

So, for the afternoon we went to see another museum. This one is a brand new one, which only opened and the end of last year and I got it recommended by my Greek colleague at the LAD, who said it was a must-see.  It is called The Basil & Elise Goulandris, after the founders. The museum is housing their private collection which focuses on modern and contemporary art by both Greek and foreign artists.

Since we had been up and down the Lycabettus Hill and walked about for quite a while already, we  started our visit in the lovely cafe. We really enjoyed being able to now sit outside in the beautiful courtyard, as the weather the last two days had warmed up considerably; and also it was the best coffee (and cake!) I had during our stay in Athens.

The museum is introduced already in the foyer by this 1966 portrait of Elise, commissioned to be painted by Marc Chagall. Further on in the collection there is both Cézanne and Degas; Monet and Rodin; Picasson and Braque; Miró and Gauguin and many many  more.

The building has 11 floors, five of which have been dug below ground. I walked around every floor and visited the whole exhibition with the complimentary audio guide, and I listened to (almost) every single entry on it!

When I was done I retrieved the kids from the foyer where they were waiting after they had done their visit. They were really patient with me I must say! I wanted to get a few things from the souvenir shop (read: books...) but the only downside with this museum was that everything there was extortionately expensive. For example the museum catalogue was €70 - so no, nothing this time unfortunately.