Introduction
Hola again, amigos!
This is part 2 of my trip to Athens via Rome, back in summer 2022.
You can may visit the first flight here:
Flight routing
- 1
And without further ado…
Transiting in Rome
Back then FCO was undergoing some serious renovations. So, the vibe was like everything was a WIP (ITA, the airport, etc). But we were lucky to try the "new" pier…which is a pretty neat airport building
I love the signage at FCO
And this blue lineup…just sexy
Unfortunately, ITA's VIP lounge was not there, and we had to cross the terminal to another pier to reach it.
As you may see, as told, it was WIP.
At the ITA lounge - Piazza Venezia
The lounge was basically a quick refurb from the previous Alitalia one (that is why I place my marks on the Alitalia lounge)
The place was cramped and felt dated…
…and while I expected something "hearthy" for lunch… there was only some antipasti, which were delicious, nonetheless
And decent Aperol Spritz
Boarding!
After a couple of drinks it was time to head back to our gate (as told, the lounge was inconveniently located)…
But there is this nice corridor with the art and the planes, lovely.
And so it was time to board, this time a real ITA plane
The Alitalia plane that brought us from Madrid was besides
Inside…was basically the same as the Alitalia one, but it felt a bit less cramped.
Enroute to Athens
Boarding was a little bit less chaotic than in Madrid… but it still took its time. I was amazed to see how full the flight was (remember these were still covid days).
And so, we were enroute to Greece (new country to tick off the list!)
We passed by a gorgeous ITA A350 (probably the sexiest plane around)
We took off from RWY 25 towards the sea, and then we turned left to head to the west.
The seat probably hadn't been cleaned since the Alitalia days…
We then cruised over Calabria, Puglia and then…Greece.
Service consisted of drinks (and probaly a snack but somewhy I didn't take a pic of it)…
We eventually were near Athens…its massive sprawl visible through the haze and smog
As a Olympic Airways fan…it was exciting to see Helinikon with my own eyes
We landed on RWY 03L
And parked besides the Air Europa 787 that came direct from Madrid
καλώς ήρθες στην Ελλάδα!
We were dropped straight to the Schengen gates, and then we had to walk some while to the bag claim. Our bags took some while to come out…not ideal after a fairly long trip.
We then had to cross the road to the Metro Station (I wonder why they didn't plan a direct (step free) route to the station….)
And we had the almost 1 hour long ride on the metro to hour hotel
