Opa!

“Opa!” – A Greek woman shouted while grabbing her three or four-year-old (cute) kid as he almost ran into me on the sidewalk.

Greetings from Greece! 🇬🇷

You know, us Midwesterners have a similar word for Opa (meaning: Oops/Sorry). We say “Ope.” It means a variety of things beyond oops or sorry (click the link and scroll) but you get the point.

Surprisingly, I have never been to Greece. I know, I know, with all the traveling and even living I’ve done in Europe, for some reason I’ve never stepped foot in this beautiful and historical country. It will forever be known in my heart as #58.💙

Winter is probably not the best time to experience Greece but hey, that’s life. I just have to suck it up buttercup, put on a coat, and roll with it. I’ll come back in the summertime to island hop. For now, I came to Athens to ring in the New Year (yes, these posts are behind real-time, I’ve been busy) because I heard from not one but two other travelers that I “just had to see the fireworks show above the Acropolis.” They set some very big expectations.

I arrived in Athens on Christmas Day from Cyprus and not surprisingly, most things were closed except for a few restaurants and cafes. After walking around for a bit and looking at the holiday decorations, I found a cute cafe/bookstore, bought a book and enjoyed my holiday with a cup of tea and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.

I spent the week between Christmas and NYE (and the week after) touring the sites which I’ll tell you about later in some other blog posts. Today, I want to share with you my funny story about ringing in the New Year in Athens.

I’ve been lucky enough to see beautiful New Year’s Eve fireworks shows in Sydney, Australia, Florence, Italy, and even witnessed the ball drop a time or two in Times Square in New York City, so I was pumped to see a show over such iconic landmarks as the Acropolis and Parthenon.

I started asking around to find out where the best spot would be to see the show. Most of the locals pointed me in the direction of Syntagma Square where there was a big celebration scheduled with a band and some fireworks near the Christmas tree. Sounds fun but there is no view of the Acropolis from the square which made me wonder why all the locals wanted to send me there. It should have been my first clue. Anyhoo, I was eating dinner at a sushi restaurant around 6 pm on NYE and met two lovely women at the table next to me. We struck up a conversation and along with having mutual acquaintances in common (the world is so connected, it is unreal) one of the women recommended that I watch the grand event from the rooftop of the Herodion Hotel. She said it had a beautiful view of the Parthenon. She suggested I call the hotel and make sure it wasn’t rented out for a private party and such. Solid advice.

Later in the evening, I called and spoke to a lovely gentleman at reception. I explained my situation as only a PR person can do…”single female traveler looking for a safe place to watch the fireworks show…yada, yada, yada…I promise I won’t bother anyone, blah, blah, blah.” He said, “Of course you can come. It is usually only for our guests but I’ll let you in as long as you don’t arrive before 11 pm.” Perfect.

I showed up in the lobby at 11:30 pm and asked the doorman for the guy who I spoke to in reception. “Oh, he’s left for the day,” he replied.

Ugh.

I explained the situation and the doorman said that the guy I spoke with was the manager (oh good, I sounded legit) of the hotel so if he said it was okay, then it’s okay and up to the rooftop I went. Easy peasy.

There was a long line for the tiny elevator so I walked up the five flights instead of waiting around…I could use the exercise.

My sushi table mate was right. Great view!

There were only a few guests atop when I arrived (due to the elevator situation) and an open bar with rows and rows of champagne. Hmmm, don’t mind if I do. (I was starting to feel like Frank Abagnale Jr. from Catch Me If You Can)

With my free champagne in hand and a front row view, I was ready for the show.

More and more people started to arrive. I heard American accents everywhere with a few German and Italian languages sprinkled in the middle. Turns out that a group of students getting their masters in international studies from a University in Dallas, TX were staying at the hotel and wanted to see the festivities as well. Small world.

Shortly before midnight, everyone on the rooftop started counting down from 10…9…8…7…. … … 3…..2….we all got to “one” and (drumroll) nothing. A collective sigh of disappointment broke the silence. Then all of a sudden a few seconds later we heard the first couple of pops. I quickly turned on the phone video to catch some of the action. Thank goodness I did because the entire show lasted a whopping 25 seconds. 💥 TWENTY-FIVE SECONDS.💥

And….End Scene.

It was hilarious! I could not stop laughing. Maybe it was the champagne.

I had envisioned this moment for at least the last two months…since I first heard about it. I made all these arrangements and smooth-talked my way to a rooftop for 25 seconds of fire in the sky and a free glass (and a refill) of champagne. Ha! This might be one of the funniest stories from my travels which is worth it’s weight in gold to a writer. Epic.

With all the chaos happening in the world, I hope this is a sign that 2025 is going to be a dud of a year and a little (okay, a lot) less dramatic globally than the previous ones. What do ya say?

Happy New Year! 🧨🥂 Cheers to a happy, healthy, and peaceful 2025.

I ended up staying and chatting with the people from Dallas and made it back to my hostel around 2:30 am. When I walked in the front door, the guy at reception asked me where I went to celebrate. As I told him the entire story he rolled his eyes and said laughing, “Yeah, fireworks aren’t really a Greek thing.”

Opa! 😂 Ope!

Good Things List

1. A New Year!

2. Fireworks – even when it is a bust

3. Free champagne

4. A hilarious story to tell and memory to keep

Much love & gratitude. Namaste 🙏

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The final sunset of 2024.

I grabbed a late coffee to stay awake for the “big” show. I loved the decorations on this chandelier at Melina Mercouri Café.

I ate a bagel with lox and cream cheese on New Years Day…it reminded me of a tradition I shared with friends in NYC.

Even the metro stations are decorated for the holidays.

If you love Christmas decorations, be sure to stop by Little Kook patisserie during the holiday season. It is wild. As if the Elves have been working all year long on it.