I’m visiting, or at least I’m hopefully visiting, the Acropolis tomorrow. Nonetheless it’s quite exciting to see it in advance from afar, although it hadn’t occurred to me just how high a hill I’ll have to climb up to get up there….
Author: admin
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Athens – Gourmet Burger Kitchen
I’ve been to many GBK outlets in the UK and this wasn’t really a chain that I had expected to see in Greece. Actually, most people in Greece will probably be surprised to find GBK as there appears to be only one in the country. It is though an official outlet and has the same branding as the UK restaurant.
I find the whole concept of this just a little strange as looking at photos of the food, they appear to be operating with effectively a different menu. Or at least, there are so many changes to the UK menu that it might as well be a different menu. I’m not sure I see the point of bringing over one restaurant as a franchise to then change it, perhaps it’d have just been easier to start a new restaurant…. And then they could use the delightful food that it is feta cheese which I couldn’t see on the menu. And I’m not sure they’re looking for UK visitors, as it’s located in an area of Athens which doesn’t get that many tourists compared to the city centre.
But, perhaps it’s the start of great new things and soon there will be hundreds of GBKs across Greece. Although since the official GBK Greece Twitter account had its last post in March 2018 and the one before that was in July 2017, I’m not entirely convinced of that.
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Athens – Kindness of Strangers
A five-day public transport in Athens costs €9 to use the metro, bus, trolleybuses and tram in the city. Which is excellent value. So I wanted one.
This morning, I walked to the nearest metro station and excitedly got ready to buy my first public transport pass in the city. Perhaps excited is an exaggeration, but I was pleased to see a ticket machine. I queued up to use a machine and was again pleased to discover that it was available in numerous languages, including English. Not wishing to practice my Greek, which to be fair isn’t substantial, I opted for the English instructions.
I went for the five-day pass and opt to pay by card, as I don’t have many euros with me and want to save the ones that I have. Other than the card just doesn’t register and the ticket machine produces an error before I’ve tried to insert the card. So, I swear inwardly and decide to abandon this project.
However, a Greek man (I assume he was Greek) asked me something in a foreign language (I guess it was Greek). I tell him I’m English, at which point he seemed sympathetic. He assumes I’m an idiot and helpfully takes me back to the machine to show me how to use it. It wasn’t an entirely useful lesson for me to be able to repeat as he used the machine in Greek, but it was a very nice thought. He managed to produce the same error as me, so he tries another machine instead and the other people in the growing queue behind me seemed remarkably tolerant of this situation. This second machine doesn’t even pretend to take cards, the option is greyed out.
At this point he asks another local person why the machine isn’t working. This was a slightly pay it forwards scenario as before long we have four local people on the case. At which point they collectively decide that the machines are broken, which I had actually established earlier. But, it’s the thought that counts and it was very kind of everyone to help.
The kind man then asks me if I’m stuck and offers to buy me a ticket to get to the city centre to go to a station with a ticket desk. I’m very glad that he did this, not because I accepted or because it gave me something to write about, but because it was just a generous gesture. In reality I just walked the ten minutes to another metro station, and the machines there were working, but as this was one of the my first experiences of Greece it gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling towards the country.
And so I felt very welcome in Greece 🙂
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Athens – Street Oranges
I’ve been to many places where there have been orange trees growing, but never to a city where they grow freely along some streets.
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Athens – Guinness Crisps
Irritatingly (in the sense that I’m jealous), Guinness crisps seem to be easily obtainable in Athens, but rarely available in the UK….
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Ireland – Kinvara – Merriman Restaurant
We were staying in the Merriman hotel in Kinvara and so we thought that it would be convenient to eat our evening meal there. We weren’t entirely sure how good the food would be, but the reviews were reassuringly content and the restaurant was relatively busy which seemed a positive sign.
I opted for the special main course of chicken kiev and it was better than I had anticipated. It was served at the appropriate hot temperature and the chicken was tender and moist, with plenty of flavour. The chips were fluffy inside and the salad added some texture and extra taste.
The French style lemon tart was also on the specials menu and I deliberately avoided the desserts selection that were on the main menu. I think that I made the right decision, as those ordering the blueberry cheesecake seemed a little disappointed with their choice. The lemon had a refreshing and sharp flavour and the pastry was slightly firm and had a pleasant taste.
I noticed this when paying and it reminded me that I haven’t seen blue Aftershock on a pub’s back bar for some time. I must have been going to the wrong pubs and I suppose it’s not really very compatible with craft beer.
The service during the meal was efficient and engaging, although the staff member made a bit of a mess of explaining to Susanna what the Irish stew was like. He ended up saying it was watery and putting her off to the extent that she ordered something else. I think some people enjoyed their meals more than others, but I was suitably impressed and it all exceeded my initial slightly limited expectations for the restaurant.
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Flights – London Luton to Athens (Wizzair)
My early morning flight to Athens from London Luton Airport which cost me the grand sum of around £8, which is less than the air passenger duty that Wizzair paid. It’s the first time that I’ve visited Greece and it’s hard to imagine getting a flight that would have been cheaper.
The staff at the Wizzair desk were friendly and helpful, as long that is that you had a bag which was compliant with the airline’s rules. My bag is entirely compliant, but the airline staff were stopping customer after customer and charging them to place their bags into the hold. There were some rather displeased customers, but if airlines are going to have rules it seems sensible that they’re properly enforced, something that British Airlines doesn’t do very well.
I didn’t pay for a seat reservation, so I was automatically allocated a seat and I was fortunate enough to get an aisle seat. It was the aisle seat at the very rear of the aircraft, an ideal location as far as I was concerned. The flight was nearly full, but there was no-one else on my row, so I had plenty of space.
All was well with the flight and the pilot came across as warm and helpful, giving some updates during the course of the journey. He warned about heavy winds on the approach to Athens and it did get a little bumpy just before landing. Some customers applauded when we landed, something which I think should be made a criminal offence, but that’s just my view….
The aircraft in Athens, attached to the jet bridge. I was pleased that I had a seat on the rear row as it meant that I would have been able to disembark first. However, for the first time in ages on my budget airline travels, there was a jet bridge so customers could only depart from the front. Which meant that I was the last to disembark…. Fortunately, I wasn’t in any rush.
The queue of passengers at the airport in Athens, although the immigration staff were efficient and I only had a fifteen minute wait. All in all, another comfortable flight from Wizzair with an exceptionally cheap fare. Wizzair have certainly become my favourite budget airline.
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Ireland – Galway – JFK Visit to Eyre Square
Located in Eyre Square, which is also known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Park, is this monument to where the former President once gave an address to the people of Galway. Kennedy had spoken here on 29 June 1963 and the park was renamed in 1965 following his assassination in November 1963. The name hasn’t entirely stuck though and nearly every mention I’ve seen refers to the park as Eyre Square.
Kennedy came to Ireland in 1963 as part of a visit to his ancestral home and he was very well received, with large turnouts at the locations which he visited. Kennedy said:
“I must say that though other days may not be so bright, as we look toward the future, that the brightest days will continue to be those we spent with you here in Ireland.”
The audio of Kennedy’s speech in the park is available here at the web-site of the JFK Presidential Library and Museum.
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Ireland – Galway – Browne Doorway
Located on the edge of Eyre Square is this quirky remnant of a doorway and upper window. It was once the entrance to Browne House and was built in 1627, remaining in situ until 1905. At this point the arch was moved to its current location and it’s designed to be “a reminder of Galway’s civic opulence”.
The information panel beneath the doorway. The doorway does feel a bit lost in its current location and it’s not really entirely clear to me why the city decided to move it there in the first place. However, it’s a part of Galway’s history and an interesting reminder of the buildings which once stood.
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Ireland – Fanore
Fanore is a small village which is located on the west coast of Ireland on the Wild Atlantic Way, a few miles south of Ballyvaughan and a few miles north of Doolin, which were two other places that we stayed on the trip.
Above is Annaly House, a B&B located in the centre of Fanore. Three of us stayed here for three nights and the lovely landlady was always helpful and friendly. Fortunately, as mentioned elsewhere, Sarah had obtained herself a lovely self-catering unit at the end of the property which Steve and I decided we’d take over. Especially since there was no kettle in our rooms….
The pub of O’Donohues which was closed during the day when we were in Fanore and apparently it only opens all day and serves food in the summer months. I’m sure it’s lovely, but we were disappointed that we were so near to a pub that wasn’t open….
There was also a cafe opposite, Vasco Cafe and Restaurant, and the food there looked really nice, with a bistro feel to it. That was though also shut and was also for sale, so it’s not entirely clear if it’ll re-open again in its current form.
There’s a shop in the village, and this pretty much completes the selection of eateries and they sold a predominantly canned and frozen selection of meals. The owner does though make sandwiches and the service was friendly and helpful on the times when we went in.
The infamous red gate. Actually, it probably isn’t infamous at all, it’s just that it’s mentioned on the information board in the village. The information provided on the board is that:
“This gate has been known as the ‘Red gate’ for several generations. The gate was kept locked by the landlord to ensure tenants paid one load of the seaweed they collected.”
I’m not entirely sure how the gate ensured that, but I can’t find anything else on-line which gives further information about the whole process.
This is the former Fanore National School, which now appears to be a private residence and the new and larger school is located opposite. There was some excitement caused here in 1914 when the principal teacher, Michael O’Shea, asked permission from the church to get married to the woman he loved, Katie McDonagh.
It might be thought that Fr. Patrick Keran, who was responsible for the operation of the school, would have been delighted at this. Instead he decided that O’Shea wouldn’t marry Katie but that he would instead marry a female teacher in the school. This seemed a marvellous idea to the church, as that meant that there was a couple running the school and they only had to provide one residence. Unfortunately O’Shea didn’t want to marry the other teacher, he wanted to marry Katie. So the church dismissed the teacher from his job.
Some recent reports say that it created a national scandal, although I’m slightly doubtful of that as I can’t find any mention of it in the national Irish press of the time or in the years that followed. Most of the information about the case seems to have come later on and there’s a 2004 book about the incident.
Fanore Beach, a relatively large expanse of sand and the dunes here are protected because of their environmental importance.
The village also has the ruins of Killonaghan Church which dates back to the eleventh century, although I didn’t get chance to go and see these. There are also some stone forts, or cahers, built from the Iron Age, although these are on private land and can’t be easily visited.
Fanore was a charming village, very welcoming and it did feel quite remote even though it was on a major tourist road. It’s clear that it’s much more active in the summer months when the pub and cafe will no doubt be open and the beach is full of visitors seeking some sun and relaxation. Personally, I’m rather glad that I visited in March, it just felt like a more authentic experience.
