When I wrote about my experiences in Lisbon a few months back, I was taken to task for spending too much time describing the hotel, so this time, things are going to be a little different.

With a distinct sense of trepidation I'm going to write about a hotel as a stand-alone item for the first time ever, quaking at the thought of my opinion being compared to one by Ciao's very own 'unpaid hotel inspector', Uncle Bill's nephew himself, Richada!

I've just got back from 5 very enjoyable nights in Athens (and the days weren't bad either!).

Part of what made it enjoyable was our stay at The Art Hotel, Marni Street 27, Athens.

To be honest, it would be difficult to describe how to get there from the airport as we'd pre-booked a taxi, which ended up stuck in horrendous Monday night traffic, made worse by an obliging perfectly-timed cloud-burst.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Once at the door, which is on a street corner, you are confronted by a half of a flight of steps, there being no other obvious way in (I could see no sign of a wheelchair ramp). However, after heaving our first bag in through the automatic plate-glass doors, and before I could turn to help my wife with the other, I was overtaken by a strapping young lass of Olympian proportions (Shot putt, I shouldn't wonder), who whisked the offending dead-weight out of Ruth's hands and up the stairs.

Once inside away from the nearly incessant Athens traffic, all is calm.

The cool (in more senses than one) décor and welcoming receptionist really sooth the admittedly not-very fevered brow quickly. Would we like a welcome drink now, or after we unpack? Would we like a quiet room at the back? If it's not to our liking, we can easily have it changed - that's the way they do things here, falling over backwards in a very informal laid-back way.

A gaze around the lobby is immediately favourable. Next to the ornate restored staircase is a perfectly proficient lift (well I assume it is, although we only ever used it to ferry our luggage)

This is a 'boutique hotel' whatever that's supposed to mean. I really ought to know since I've been to them before; The Mansfield on New York's West 44th Street and Madrid's Hotel de las Lettras just off The Gran Via being two that spring to mind in the past couple of years.

What they all have in common is an eclectic taste in decoration, with modern colour schemes and wall hangings, much use of expensive materials and up-to-date facilities merged tastefully with traditional comforts……...

………and yet STILL this place managed to get my wife's back up by having no hook on the back of the bathroom door, which is one of her pet hates, and she has even gone to the trouble to document this in her own opinion posted on www.tripadvisor.com. They do however have an excuse - the door is frosted glass, and much fun was had by me in pressing an array of body parts against it, daring her to take a photo from the other side, or at least to guess which bit it was!

I know they say that women like a man who can make them laugh, but why does it have to be when I'm taking my clothes off?

FACILITIES & PRICES

True to their word, our room really was at the back, and since it was as far from the street as possible, the prospect of the two blank walls opposite our shuttered window was actually quite welcome, and afforded cast-iron privacy for the aforementioned guess-the-body-part games. Why, what else did you think I'd get up to? I'm FIFTY SEVEN y'know!

The room itself wasn't large but nicely kitted out all the same, in pale woods, modern wall hangings and beech-block floors. The cable TV despite being Sony kit wasn't up to much unless you speak Greek that is. Even the English-speaking channels weren't that useful, CNN and BBC World being the entire crop. Still, who comes on a break to a foreign city to watch TV?

For those who really can't 'leave it alone' the rooms were wired for LAN access, but I suspect that wi-fi was also available, if the laptop in the lounge was anything to go by. OK, I admit it; I did use this just to keep my e-mail down a bit.

Rooms had 'climate control' leaving you to decide a temperature, and let the system do the rest. Being late October, ours was more into heating than aircon!

The bathroom contained good and bad news. Yes, it was nicely decorated with expensive fittings, including a captive hairdryer, full-sized bath and shower. Toiletries were of a high quality too. Unfortunately, whoever screwed the shower fitments to the wall must have been vertically-challenged since neither of us could stoop low enough to get our hair wet. Having already vented our collective spleens on the lack of clothes peg, the only other oddity was the fact that being quite long-legged I had to sit sideways when, ahem, enthroned as my knees wouldn't fit between the toilet seat and the tiled riser that stuck out from the wall. A little more attention to ergonomics wouldn't have gone amiss guys - after all you invented the bloody word.

The Art Hotel only really has two tariffs; a room rate with or without breakfast. Of course, some of its 30-odd rooms cost more than others and suites are available. Our room was a typical twin-bedded affair, and we had booked breakfasts for a total of 105€/night, via the hotel's own website which given the very central location in a capital city is pretty good for the level of comfort supplied.

Other facilities not tested were the Conference Room and the Fitness Centre, both of which were on the lower ground floor.

NOSEBAG MATTERS

They say an army (and in this case a tourist) marches on its stomach, so the chance to stoke up in advance of a hard day's rubber-necking is most welcome. Breakfast here, which lasts until a very casual 11.00 am, can be as small or as large as you see fit. Along with all the usual 'continental' items, such as fresh fruit, cheese, cooked meats and a variety of bread rolls, feel free to help yourself to a full cooked breakfast, perhaps not the 'full English', but bacon, scrambled eggs, sausages and mushrooms are near the mark.

Besides which you can also go native and help yourself to a huge dollop of thick-set yoghourt drizzled with honey.

The only downside is that the coffee was well up (?) to hotel standards, being hot and brown and not much else. My wife took to using her own Rombouts one-per-cup filters and just filching their hot water, gaining envious glances from the assembled US visitor contingent.

There is no dinner service, and thinking about it the hotel doesn't seem to have space for a full blown kitchen. However, given that eating out in Athens still only costs in Euros for what we pay £s, maybe a formal restaurant wouldn't get that much patronage. For ourselves though, B&B is just about right as the discovery of new eateries is partly why we travel to foreign cities.

GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP?

Well yes and no. Yes, we were in one of the quietest rooms, but traffic noise still invaded our sanctum partly over the roof tops and down through the light well outside our windows, and partly via the lobby which was immediately below us. Luckily, even Athenians go to bed eventually, but not after revving their mopeds needlessly or leaning on a car and setting its alarm off. My wife even claims to have heard the clinking of crockery as the night receptionist tucked into supper. I do feel that this is a common problem in all places where there is little to deaden noise, such as hotels where liberal use of marble has been made, with very little in the way of soft furnishings or carpet to damp down the echoes.

Another phenomenon beset us, and that was the unmistakable and occasional odour of smoking, which was odd in a permanently non-smoking room. I can only assume that a member of the laundry and/or kitchen staff was having a crafty fag in the open air at the bottom of the light well and that our room's forced-air ventilation was taking its feed from nearby. It certainly wasn't constant, but I'm sure we couldn't both be imagining it.

The beds were reassuringly firm, but as I always get some kind of back-ache whenever I change beds, it would be unfair of me to make a specific complaint.

THE STAFF

This is where The Art Hotel excels. Their people are truly wonderful, and the place seems to be managed, fettled and cleaned solely by ladies. They speak good English which is just as well as my Greek is 'skata' (probably won't be found in polite dictionary circles) and nothing is too much trouble for them. On seeing me sitting in an armchair waiting for our taxi on the first leg of our journey home yesterday, the receptionist came running over and offered me a room to get some shut-eye free of charge, despite the fact that we'd already checked out. They go great pains to describe how to get to various places and are keen to hear about your day as you stagger in through the door after another hard shift at the tourism coal face. The only thing that lets them down is the singular lack of documented information about Athens, although they did give us one of those very useful pocket maps of the city cetre when we arrived. Maybe they see it as their mission in life to replace this with their own knowledge.

Rooms must have been cleaned the minute we left for the day, as we never came back after lunch to an unmade-up room, which has been the case in some even classier gaffs we've been to.

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

The hotel's position on the corner of Marni Street means that by turning right three times (including exiting the hotel) gets you to the famous Omonia (Harmony) Square after only about 500 yards walk. This gives you access to much of Athens excellent public transport, although parking outside the hotel is apparently free - hazardous to the health maybe of your car but nonetheless free! It never fails to amaze me how much Athenians must love their cars to allow themsleves to get snarled in the way that they do when you can travel in relative comfort and safety on their astoundingly good Metro and their buses/trams/trolley buses for just 3 € a day

Walking back to the hotel after dark does make the area feel a bit seedy though, and after you've noticed the same young ladies on the same corners for a few consecutive evenings, you draw your own conclusions as to what they do for a living.

However, they never bothered me, walking as I was arm in arm with my wife, although I swear one did give me that 'See, I told you that you wouldn't get much for a fiver!' look.

At least, that's what I tell Ruth.

Oh well, now to buckle down to writing about Athens!

DISABLED FACILITIES

I'm no expert, but there only seems to be the one way in up a dozen or so steps. Yes, there's a lift and floors are nice and smooth, being mainly and predictably marble, but anyone trying to get a wheelchair into our room, in particular the bathroom would quickly find themselves asking for an alternative, which of course they may well have. From what I'm about to write about Athens in general, none of this surprises me.