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Having already spent two months in Greece we had intended moving to pastures new in November but after much discussion, we eventually agreed to stay in Athens a little longer.  One of the main reasons we left Manchester was that we had convinced ourselves that we’d had enough of city life for a while.  We’d lived there for 13 years and the noise, pollution and general speed of life were beginning to take their toll.  Knowing this, we both have surprised ourselves as to how much we have enjoyed living in Athens and exploring what it has to offer.  Maybe we are city boys after all and it was just a change of scenery that we were really craving?

As Karyo is working during the week we only have the weekend to explore our new surroundings and felt that we had only scratched the surface of discovering what Athens has to offer.  We decided, as a good compromise, we would stay for one more month but change our accommodation, A- because we love the initial novelty of moving into new accommodation and B- because it would allow us to experience living in a different part of the city.

Another main benefit of staying in the same city for an extra month is that moving day is a much simpler and less stressful experience.  So, on Saturday 31st October 2020 we waved a fond farewell to our Airbnb listing in Kypseli, hailed a taxi and took the 5 kilometres, 6 euro journey to our new accommodation in the area of Metz. 

Our Accommodation.

We spent quite a long time searching for this months accommodation, As before there was a lot of choices to suit all budgets.  This always instigates a battle of wills!  I am, let’s say, the more ‘careful’ member of this relationship and tend to look for the ‘value’ options, Karyo however, gets carried away with the all-singing, all-dancing listings. After much discussion and deliberation which usually consists of him rolling his eyes and dismissing all my ideas and me begrudgingly agreeing to some of his lower-priced-point fantasies, we eventually end up with a shortlist.  This time we whittled our ( his!) choice down to three, all of which were over-budget so we had to put our negotiating hats back on.  We made the mistake last time of sending offers to three hosts at once – all three took us by surprise by accepting the offers which then put us in the embarrassing position of having to turn two down even though they had been really kind to agree to lower their prices for us.  Having learnt from that mistake we sent an offer to our favourite first, it was advertised at a total price of €1450 (£1310) for the month.  We put in our £1000 offer with our usual explanation that this was our top budget, it was a long booking from excellent guests ( you have to big yourselves up!) and it was only 3 days to our arrival date and they still had a full month empty – within a minute we had a reply accepting our offer, the conversion rate was slightly miscalculated but we managed, in the end, to secure the booking for £1020 – a great deal 

The Apartment

We have stayed in many Airbnb listings over the years and all are usually very easy to rate, Amazing, Good or, on the very rare occasion, bad. This one, however, is really difficult to score.  As I write this we have been here for two days and I am still not sure what mark out of 5 I would give if recommending it to others?  The problem is that it is an average apartment in a lovely location with amazing views.  After leaving Airbnb accommodation, guests are asked to give it a 1 to 5 ‘overall’ star rating to give future guests an idea of what to expect. For this accommodation, it really depends on what is most important to you.  For us, the outside space is paramount as that’s where we spend most of our time but, as the cooler weather will be drawing in soon on this occasion we may find ourselves using inside the apartment more.

The apartment itself has two bedrooms and is on the fifth of six floors.  Karyo insists on two bedrooms as he says I snore ( I’m not convinced ) and he feels less guilty sending me to another bedroom in the middle of the night than he does sending me to the settee.  After 17 years together I still can’t work out why I get woken to be sent rather than him going himself seeing as he’s awake already? It’s a married couple conundrum!  Anyway, I digress –

 The apartment could really do with two or three thousand euros spending on it to bring it up to a good standard.  The bathroom, kitchen and flooring throughout are old and tired need replacing. I spotted some wiring sticking out of the bathroom wall with a bit of insulation tape around its end, the electrics trip if everything is on at the same time so we were asked to switch the oven and hot water on and off at the mainboard when we need to use them and the whole decoration feels like its been done in a hurry.  As ex-hosts ourselves we are very forgiving of the odd issue but once those negative issues start to add up we then start to notice those small things that normally we would let pass  As examples, there is not a single sharp knife in the kitchen (We bought one), No battery in wall clock (we bought one),  I found hairs on the floor etc  The end result of this is finding ourselves making the place seem worse than it probably really is.  Another thing we noticed is that the apartment is listed as ‘sleeps six’, but in reality that would be too many people for such a small space,  there are two sofa beds in the living area which I don’t think there is even enough space to open both at once – plus, when used as general seating as we are doing, are really uncomfortable. 

Damaged flooring

Poor maintenance

Shoddy Paintwork

I hope that wire into the bathroom is not live!

Kitchen showing its age

All in all its fair to say that we are a little disappointed with the accommodation.  However, and it’s a big, however! – The beds are super comfortable and come with a view, through large patio windows.

View from bed

…..and then there is the veranda, and more importantly the views from the veranda which can only be described as amazing!  From here we have a clear view of The Acropolis, The National Gardens, Lycabettus Hill, The temple of Zeus and a beautiful panoramic vista of the city of Athens and mountains beyond. If you should ever get tired of that view or if the sun travels around the building you simply move to the second veranda on the back of the building that has similar views, just from a different angle!  

View from the veranda – The Parthenon

View from the veranda – Lycabettus Hill

View from the veranda – Mountains beyond the city

 

 To say Karyo is delighted with his November office is an understatement!

So there is our quandary, does the more than fantastic views negate the very average interior?  All things considered, my opinion is that as long as you are in a group of four maximum, are visiting at a time of the year when you will make good use of the veranda and are looking for a comfortable bed but not for five-star accommodation then I would definitely recommend this apartment as a place to stay when visiting  Athens.  Sitting here as I am now, on the veranda, with a coffee in one hand and freshly made baklava in the other, in all honesty, all the negatives of the interior simply pale into insignificance. As Phil and Kirsty delight in telling us – Location, location, location.

Accommodation  – 3/5 ( Could do better )

Outside space     –  5/5  (exceeded expectations)

Overall  Total         ?/5

                                    www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/34455329

 

 

Metz, Athens

The area of Metz was named when a Bavarian, Charles Fix, founded a beerhouse on the Ardittos slopes in this area and named his beerhouse after a battle that took place during the French-German war in The French city of  Metz.  At the time, in 1870,  this was the only building in the area and so, as the area started to grow it took the name of the beerhouse.  The Fix brewery continues to brew beer in Athens to this day.  

 

Metz is a residential neighbourhood that sits just a stone’s throw away from the tourist area of Acropolis and is one of the most expensive areas of Athens.  Much of the area is said still to reflect the look and ambience of old Athens. Amongst the ’60’s apartment blocks, there are still many examples of beautiful neoclassical buildings have been restored and maintained looking as if built yesterday.  The area is primarily residential and has a prime location just a few minutes walk to many of Athens most popular tourist areas including the district of Acropolis and Syntagma square. It is a real surprise that this area seems to have been totally bypassed by tourists.  If you feel the need to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life, The beautiful National Gardens are just a five minutes stroll away making this a perfect location to use as a base during a visit to Athens. 

 

Still plenty of old buildings waiting for restoration

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