Athens (Greece) - Hotel Grande Bretagne

Our mid-tour snack took us to Hotel Grande Bretagne.  I was surprised to see the elegance but shouldn't have been because Princess has selected grand places for our lunches and snacks on all tours so far.  This post is fairly long because I have a lot of photographs from inside the hotel that I want to show you and I didn't want to break this into multiple posts.  

As we entered the lobby, a staff person greeted us and directed us to our meeting place.

As we wandered, wide-eyed, through the lobby and adjacent “happy hour area”, I was able to keep up with the flow of the crowd and snap a few photos of interesting items.  This sugar bowl caught my eye. I like the long tubes of sugar better than the flat packets.

This is the lounge area (the word that I was searching for when I wrote “happy hour area” above). Groupings of tables, small personal lamps.  The center piece looks interesting.  We will have to stop back at this area and take a few more photos.

We walked down a long sparkly hallway, looking up, looking down, looking at the walls and the light sconces.

We entered our dining room and, wow, the set up of the service area and the room was stunning.  This woman provided hot water for a large variety of teas.

This man was serving fresh brewed coffee.

The room was bright and lit with chandeliers.  Mirrors on all of the walls bounced the light around and the result was a bright and cheerful room. 

We found a table with seats for three.  We had to make sure that it was the correct table with our tour number on it as several ship groups were stopping here too.

The cookies and breads were very good.  I was delighted that there were some picky people at the table that didn’t see anything that they wanted to try.  Really?  Scooped up on those leftovers.  I noticed that I saw more use of pistachios here than I see at home.

The napkins were fancy and I’m glad that I took this photo with the name of the hotel. 

After we sipped our drinks and nibbled on our snacks, we had a little time to look around the room and bring back memories.  I would not have remembered all of these beautiful details if I hadn’t taken photos.  This has helped all of us recall what we saw.

The ceiling was detailed and recessed.   Here is a close-up on a chandelier.

The colors were red and gold. No wonder I liked this room.  Even the corner connections between the wall and the ceiling were ornate.

Here is a close-up of the corners.  I like the colors. Red and gold (which is why I bought a can of gold spray paint when I returned home and have made gold accents throughout my house.  Simple reminders of my travels).

The detail in the ceiling.

Mom pointed out that the chairs were also fancy.  The backs were curvy with gold highlights.

The seat covers were embroidered with the hotel emblem.

I like the wall sconces.  They gave off a very nice warm color.  Perhaps it is the color of the wall and the shades.  Good to recall when I decide to repaint my walls at home.

Our coffee is gone, and the cookies and breads are all gone, so one last look at the flower centerpiece and off we go to continue the city tour.

I had to show those warm wall sconces again. 

As we walked through the lounge area again, I saw another sugar holder.  I need to buy one of these for home and get the sugar out of the packaging. 

Antiques made nice seating areas in the hall way.

The arm of the chair was carved.

I stepped down in to the lounge area so that I could get a little closer to the center table and colorful decorations.  The flowers were beautiful and the containers held snacks and fruit for guests. I actually like the way that the apples were displayed.

As we made our way through the lobby, we looked around, trying to spot the restroom.

We asked someone and were directed to a bank of elevators. We had to go down a few levels to get to the Ladies’ Room.  Hurry…we don’t want to be left behind.

There was a line, of course, so we waited.  The fortunate part about being at the end of the line is that you can snap a few quick pics.

Floor shot inside the restroom.

I had to put my camera away, do my business, and then get moving to keep up with the group…and not be left behind.

And now that you have read this posting, click here to see a video of the hotel and surrounding area.