DocDivaTraveller: August 2015

A meet on a weekday. As if Saturdays were off for me. I mean taking a leave on a Saturday is still okay but to take an off on Tuesday requires guts! The only reason why I did so was that I was interested in the FitBit gadgets! Too bad that they did not give out anything!

It was a meet in the first half. We arrived at the Oberoi Hotel at around half past ten and the ballroom was bustling with fellow bloggers and fitness experts! We had coffee and chatted for a while when the programme began. Entered the gadget guru Rajiv Makhni and the fitness expert of India, the editor of men's health magazine..Jamal Shaikh! We all gathered to take pictures with them. After that the stage was taken over by Archana Vijay. She was looking very beautiful in person.

With gadget guru Rajiv Makhni

Then began the Fitness saga. The Fitbit offers a range of wearable fitness gadgets from simple clip ons to elaborate ones like watches and weighing scales. They are pretty expensive...starting from around 4000 for the basic ones to 20 k for the watches (Fitbit surge). These gadgets can measure your heart beats, steps taken, calories burnt etc etc all round the clock! These things are the greatest motivators to become fit! Usually even during phone launches, they give out phones for contests. But they did not give even a clip on to the contest winners! Good that I was not one of the winners!

Archana Vijay hosting the show..

Fitness expert Jamal Shaikh

Anyways for the lunch the spread was pretty different. Nothing was Indian...I mean no naan or rice or chicken curry! It was a spread of multi grain sandwiches and rolls! I have to say I am not too fond of health conscious food! I love deep fried food ha ha ha :D

The afternoon ended rather abruptly as we had to rush back to work. I had promised to be back at my clinic by 2 30 but it was almost quarter past three when I reached there! Overall it was a nice break at the starting of the week!

A selfie with Jamal Shaikh

The yummiest dessert!

Trying on the fitness cycle in high heels!!

Booties: Zara
Dress: Globus
Clutch: HnM

August 26, 2015 14 comments

The hike from our hotel Carol continued. WE crossed the port of Pireus and proceeded further. It had been just a couple of hours in Athens and it was too much to absorb for me. The romantically decorated line of bistros and cafes and taverns left me clicking pictures more than required. And the menus offered in all of them tempted me to try at every place. I was still jet lagged; it had been just three hours but that did not stop us from walking further.

The rocky Votsalaki beach....

After we escaped the lively cafe area of Mikrolimano, we reached a secluded place. It had the Votsalaki beach. The beach was rocky and the water was cold. I really did not have the courage to take a dip. Such kind of thing rarely happens that me not jumping into the water the moment I see it! Maybe it was the jet lag! Well I enjoyed in sipping coffee and absorbing the natural beauty around.

A gorgeous stone house

There were lots of couples on the beach. It seemed like a hot lover's spot. It was around quarter to nine at night and we were surprised that there was still daylight. We asked a couple nearby to take our picture. It was that time I realised that love indeed has no boundaries!

The Egyptio Romanian couple took this picture...

Coffee in the sea!

The guy was from Egypt and the girl was from Romania They both were expats living in Greece for around four years. Both had been together since then. The girl did not know even an alphabet of English while the guy spoke good English. I really wondered how they communicate love to each other. They were not talking. They were simply holding hands and staring at the sea. It straightaway reminded me of the movie Zindagi Milegi Na dobara where Farhan Akhtar falls in love with the Italian girl. Or more recently Queen, where Kangana speaks in Hindi and that Japanese guy speaks Japanese. But the brother sister love between them was so obvious! Maybe love indeed does not need any language to express itself! .

As it got darker, we decided to go further from the sea. I spotted a huge H n M and a Stradiarius building and it arose the shopaholic in me. But sadly when we reached there, they were closed! We went to a grocery store to buy bread and other knick knacks for the vegetarian hubs. We were carrying ready made vegetarian food from India and he just required bread. There we met a lovely lady Louisa who was surprisingly a big fan of Bollywood movies...especially the dancing and singing! She got at least twenty pictures of herself clicked by my husband!

With Louisa..we bought bread from her shop...

Then it got really late and we needed to go back to our hotel in Mikrolimano. All the shops were closed and people were walking with their dogs and making merry. After all it was a Saturday night. I was hungry and I wanted to eat in one of those beautiful places. We had a long day ahead the next day and we were dead tired and jet lagged. There was no cab and we had walk all the way back.

Deserted road at night...

I chose Captain John's to have dinner. The windows offered a beautiful view of the sea at night. I ordered grilled sardines. They were served in olive oil and were a bit too much sour for my taste. I had forgotten how to eat such small fish (vegetarian's wife) and a bone got stuck in my throat. I was helpless so I finished the rest of my dinner with my sore throat. I wish I got Bengali style rice to go with this sour fish. Anyways I enjoyed the meal. Hubby slept while I chewed away. When we reached the hotel, he was too tired to eat 'the packed vegetarian food' and we snoozed!

Hungry at Captain John's!

Grilled sardines for dinner!

View of the sea at night...

End to one big day! ( 24 hours plus two and a half hours).

In love with the doors of this place!

Top: Only Play

Skirt: Voi

Bag: Furla Candy

Lips: MAC Lady Danger

Sandals from Philippines

August 21, 2015 10 comments

The first stop of our Greek Odyssey was of course Athens. Athens is not only the capital of Greece but also the capital of archaeology! I will come to the Acropolis and other historical wonders later. Right now I want to show where we stayed!

Our room 404

We always try to book hotel in the city center which is Syntagma in Athens. But this time, we booked our hotel far from Syntagma but on the port of Pireaus. This was because firstly we had a ferry to catch early in the morning. Secondly what is the use of vacationing on an island if the sea is not nearby? So this hotel of ours was a perfect choice by our travel planner ie my partner. Also this place was bustling with quaint cafes and nightlife!

Speedboats ancored just in front of our hotel....

A narrow strip of the Aegean Sea was right in front of our hotel. All sorts of speedboats and yachts were anchored there. Since I have spent my life in the hopelessly land locked city of Delhi, the yachts and the sea gulls infuse a new life in me! I simply can't express my joy enough when I was woken by the chirping of sea gulls!

Coming to our Hotel carol, it was a lovely stay. It did not have any swimming pool (my main criteria for choosing any hotel) but it was beautiful nonetheless. It had a very romantic ambiance with twinkling lights on the ceiling. The window opened to a very beautiful balcony of the neighboring building. I just kept on thinking taking its picture but was too late anyway :(

Our decision indeed proved very fruitful when we got late for our ferry. Our booking was on Blue Star Ferries and its docking station was really far. After running for about a kilometer with heavy luggage on our backs ( blogger problems), we managed to catch the bus to the port. Even though it was a single stop away, it was helpful. We could have taken the metro but we were unable to confirm at what time it operated in the morning. Long story short, we reached the port just in time lest we would have missed the ferry!

I wish I would stayed there longer and savoured the flavours of the life there more peacefully.

Our beautiful room...

tHE LOBBY....

Did you notice the twinkling lights on the roof? They were so romantic!

Dress, Sunnies, Bracelet: Globus
Purse: Furla Candy
Sandals: From Philippines

August 19, 2015 13 comments

August 18, 2015 12 comments

I have been a regular at the Zenfone launches. But this time it was not just a phone launch..it was Zen Festival! An afternoon that promised celebrity dose with gadget launch. We had too much expectations!

The venue was Jawahar Lal Nehru stadium. Whoa! That's huge! Usually blogger meets are at five star hotels. A stadium for a phone launch! That meant something was really going to be epic!

I took off from my clinic before half day. I was supposed to reach there with my partner in crime but at around half past twelve he declared that I would have to go alone. He was really busy in the hospital. What? I was supposed to reach at one to avail Zentastic powers! Oh No!

Crestfallen, I took the metro and reached there at around two. I met two fellow bloggers on the way and when we reached the entry, we were shocked!

The crowd was maddening! Not only bloggers but there were loads of students for the festival! The sky was overcast and it was very humid. We all were sweating like pigs. So by being late we had to brave the never ending queues and worse we missed the goody bag! Anyways we made it inside and the ambiance was very festive!

All set to walk the red carpet...ha ha ha...

The festival started with the hilarious jokes of funny man Cyrus Sahukar. Then there was an awesome drummer performance. After that Zenfone unveiled many products!

Zenfone 2 deluxe

Zenfone 2 Crystal

Zenfone 2 Laser

Funny man Cyrus Sahukar engaging the audience...

An incredible performance by the drummers...

Zenfone Selfie!

Not only phones but tablets too! The zenfone selfie was launched by none other than Bollywood star Sonakshi Sinha! She was fabulous! I wish I could take a picture with her!

Bollywood superstar Sonakshi Sinha unravelling the Zenfone Selfie!! Flanked by the CEO of ASUS and the head of Asus India

After that we proceeded for lunch. Since the crowd was enormous, we really struggled for food! Anyways we had a pretty good time bonding with fellow bloggers. The best part of the afternoon? We all got Asus Lolli Flash as return gifts!