Today was Day One of the Pokemon event in Athens. Pokemon Go has a couple big events every year, and as it’s a location-based game, it pays to play them in large urban areas, so once this one was on the calendar, we made plans to spend the weekend.
The best way to keep moving is to hop on one of the tourist busses that generally circulate in these cities. We did this in NYC last summer and it was a very successful strategy, so we planned to do the same for this one. I bought the tickets a few days ago — all we had to do was pick up the bus in Monastiraki Square at the first pick-up at 10am.
Figuring we had a little time, we grabbed breakfast at Dope Coffee, a favorite from last trip that happens to be about a hundred steps from the hotel front door. They have great cold brew and a really good cardamom bun — even though it’s not afternoon, it’s perfect fika, and that is a treat in any country.
Buuuuuut even though we turned up five minutes before the bus was supposed to arrive, we actually missed the first bus, so we didn’t get rolling around town until almost 10:30.
We spent the day riding the bus, staring at our phones as the wonders of the city passed us by again and again on the 90-minute circular tour. Funnily enough, we had a German family sit near us and the mother and daughter both also played Pokemon Go, so we picked up a couple new friends for our friends lists!
Unfortunately, though, the focus on the game made us forget (or decline) to get lunch, so by the time the event ended and we were kicked off the bus, we realized we were starving. We had walked past a taco shop last night, and H drove us on a beeline for it. After tacos and nachos and a margarita, we picked up some sodas for the hotel room and turned in for the night, resolving to be better prepared for Sunday’s part of the event.