Weekend in Athens

Here we are on the sound deck for Snow Patrol

It was just by chance that we ended up having a weekend away in Athens, basically because it IS who you know and not what you know!  One of the three of us knows the production manager for Snow Patrol and so off we went leaving Kalamata on Friday morning to head out to the OAKA stadium on the 3rd September to attend the U2 concert!

We took the 930am coach from Kalamata station booking open return tickets @ 36 Euro and arrived safely around 1, hoping on to the waiting bus which took us near to Omonia Square (ticket 1 Euro) and using the same ticket jumped on to the tube with a change at Syntagma to get to the nearest stop to the hotel!  Very easy!  The bus ticket which also covers the underground covers a journey is valid for one and a half hours, so a very inexpensive way of travelling around town!

Since there were 3 of us in the party we decided to go for a good hotel Crowne Plaza on Michalakopoulou Street and had the use of the Club Lounge with all the complimentary refreshments and snacks plus a great buffet breakfast next morning.   We took advantage of this as soon as we had checked in including a dip the rather small roof top pool!

The journey up to the stadium was easy but since about 80,000 people where heading the same direction it was a rather crushing experience on the underground.  Nearest stop to the hotel was Megara Mousikis and then we changed twice to arrive at the Irini stop and a short walk to the stadium.

The only complaint here is that there was absolutely no signing to show anyone arriving by train where the ticket boxes were, so there was a mass of people walking (quite a way) back and forth trying to find out where the hell the box offices were!

The concert was amazing!  We missed the first act but had decided that Snow Patrol was the one we wanted to catch before U2 came on.  After tackling the box office queues and being sent from pillar to post we got in and got our passes and then were escorted to the sound deck in order to watch Snow Patrol.  The sound deck was an experience in itself  in so much as you had all the sound travelling up from your feet and rumbling around in your chest! (see photo above) and no crowds!!!

After the end of the Snow Patrol act the sound desk was packed up by their crew and we followed the huge cases out, the crowd parted (Moses like) and we followed out to the back!!!!  and round the corner to where THE band would enter.   We were ushered to the inner circle and hence Bono and The Edge where about 2m from us!  Speechless - an amazing experience and one to be remembered until such times as the grey cells deterioate and memories have all but disappeared!

We got a lift back!  Painless but another friend waiting until the very end and caught a cab which took 2 hours to get back to the hotel (30 Euro)!!!!

Athens was buzzing and I had not been in the centre for at least 17 years, but I must confess that I am not a happy camper in crowds so it was with great delight that I arrived back in Kalamata on Saturday afternoon to an empty Market area and wandering down from the coach station towards my office on Stadiou street I saw only a handful of people; picking up my car and driving back home was another delight due to the roads being empty!  It was quite surreal! The whole experience was rather surreal!

A big thank you to my friend for having connections and letting me in on the secret!

Open return Kalamata-Athens 36 Euro
Bus/Metro ticket valid for 1 1/2 hours 1 Euro
Express coach Athens-Kalamata - approximately 3,5 hours (non stop)

Bus service from Kifissou Coach Station - to the airport (around 3 Euro) 
Bus Service from Kifissou Coach Station - to Omonia 1 Euro and underground station connection.
Taxi from Michalakopoulou St to Kifissou Coach Station (not a lot of traffic on roads) 7 Euro