One of the most awkward things about hostel life is the alarm you sometimes need to set at 5:00 in the morning. I do my best to warn roommates the night before, but sometimes I don't see them or they're just dicks, in which case, I don't. But after you've woken everyone in the room up along with you, they get to listen to you clumsily and chaotically bumble around in the dark, getting dressed and getting your backpack together. Of course I pack up as much as I can the night before, but things like pajamas, toiletries, etc. obviously can't go in until the morning of. You never quite realize exactly how loud a backpack zipper or clip is, until you're hearing it at 5:30 in the morning. On my trip, I encountered the full gamut of reactions to this unfortunate but unavoidable set of circumstances, from snoring right through it to huffily tossing and turning like a princess on a pea.
Such was the awesome start to my day, the morning I said farewell to Bella Roma and boarded the airport shuttle bus to the airport. I was flying EasyJet, and unfortunately due to a strange noise whilst taking off, we had to land
back down in Rome while they checked the plane. Naturally, safety first. But I couldn't help thinking... since we had to land
anyway, couldn't we just have landed in
Athens?
Overall, the flight was delayed about four hours, but nothing ended up being wrong at all, and we did eventually get there all in one piece. I was annoyed mainly because one thing I did not want to do was try to navigate my way to my Athens hostel in the dark. For some reason it's always just so much more confusing. Plus I was really kind of nervous about visiting Greece. After Georgia, I know how exponentially harder it is to feel your way around in a country that does not use the Roman alphabet. And there were those protests and riots happening here and there that had my mother positively freaking out back in the States. By far, Greece was the furthest from home and the most exotic place I would visit on my trip. I was happy to have saved the best for last, and I had been dying to see Greece for as long as I could remember. Hell, the idea of visiting Santorini was kind of the entire inspiration for my trip in the first place. There was utterly no way I was
not going to Greece. But I left Italy feeling
extremely unprepared.
But I was able to find the bus I needed with little difficulty, hooray! Except that no one told me the bus from the airport to Syntagma Square would take over an
hour!! Then I had to figure out the metro fare machine and ride one stop to Akropoli. Exhausting! Thank goodness my hostel was literally about three minutes from the metro. I was so relieved to not have to deal with getting lost. It had been a long day.
I stayed at Athens Backpackers, and it was just fine. The staff were great and the location could not have been better. We were right next to the Acropolis and the view was amazing! I asked at the front desk where I could go for my first meal in Greece -- somewhere close, delicious, and cheap! I was directed to God's Restaurant around the corner, and it did not disappoint Once again, I found myself spending way too much on dinner. Greek beer, spanakopita, Greek potato salad, and ouzo for dessert. They also gave me this little slice of something almost like set cream of wheat, flavored with honey and cinnamon. The texture was definitely weird but it was pretty tasty anyway.
I ate slowly, wrote in my journal, sipped my drink and stared up at the freaking
Parthenon. I couldn't help grinning like an idiot. I had made it to Greece! Right away I could tell my uncertainties had been an utter stupid waste of time. So far, the Greeks I'd encountered had spoken the best English of any country I'd visited! It wasn't difficult to get around at all! Everyone was crazy nice, and so visibly over the moon to have an American tourist visiting in the off-season, and during their economic troubles no less. So far, I felt more welcome in Greece than any place I'd visited -- Even Rome!
After dinner, I retreated back to my hostel for what was probably another night of blogging. :)
My first day in Athens, I got off to a slow start. Even with the trip almost over, I still had more planning to do, and researched where to stay in Santorini, as well as how to get there, and how to get around the island itself! The downside to winging it is that sometimes you do spend a significant amount of time
not seeing the city you are in, because you are busy planning for the next city or series of cities.
Eventually I got out and had my first souvlaki in Greece! Damn it was good. And cheap! I ended up eating a ton of gyros and souvlakis in Greece because you could get a whole big filling sandwich for under three euro. Definitely the cheapest meal around, and bonus points for also being delicious.
And then I headed out with a big smile and a bounce in my step, because I was going to visit something I have wanted to see for my whole life.
THIS:
But first, to get there I had to make my way up the Acropolis Hill. I can't even tell you how amazing it felt to be wandering around these incredibly ancient places that made
Rome look brand new.
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| Theatre of Dionysus |
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| Altars for shrines |
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| Inside the Cave of Pan |
Whenever I visit ancient sites like this, I always can't help but think how much fun it would be to scuff the ground with my shoe and see the glint of a 3,000 year old coin or bit of pottery. Something that has lain undiscovered for millenia, a connection to the people who lived and prayed (and died) here so many centuries ago. Of course, that did not happen this afternoon. But it's fun to imagine, nonetheless. :)
Eventually I made my way to the top of the hill, looking down at the Agora and the ancient outdoor theatre still in use today!
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| They still hold summer festivals here! |
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| Agora, with the Temple of Hephaestus |
And finally I passed through the Propylaea, and came in sight of The Parthenon itself.
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| Propylaea |
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| The Parthenon |
It was one of those moments that just turns out exactly as you always hoped it would. The wind was whipping around the barren hilltop like crazy and it was blessedly uncrowded. I walked slowly around the temple and just took my time. The Parthenon was undergoing heavy restoration work and there was a detailed exhibit explaining the history of the building and the reasons for its present state, as well as exactly what they were doing and why. Sat on a bench, rested my heels, and stared at this a while. Yet one more time, I felt like simply the luckiest person in the world.
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| The Erechtheion, with the famous Caryatid pillars |
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| Restoration scaffolds |
Finally I had to go back down and join the present again. I have had so many incredible experiences on this trip, all back to back and mushed together, that sometimes it is easy to forget just how singularly remarkable each experience is. But my afternoon on the Acropolis is something I'm confident I will never forget.
I went into the old part of town and spent an hour or two doing something I hadn't really been focusing on so far -- buying Christmas gifts! I'd bought a few in Italy but most were going to come from Greece. Dinner was a gyro chicken platter with flatbread, hummus, salad, and olives. Delish!
In the evening I met up with Beth, the girl I'd met at the Rome hostel. We had a few beers and complimentary shot of ouzo at a nearby bar, and agreed to meet tomorrow morning to tour the sights. It's great when I get the chance to sightsee with other people -- for one thing, it's one sure way to get me out of the hostel at a reasonable hour of the morning!
That night, I had the weirdest thing happen to me. I woke up in the middle of the night and it was like my entire body just decided to give a big FUCK YOU all at once. My nose was completely stopped up (I'm sure I was snoring), my head was killing me, and worst of all the crummy flat hostel pillow had given me a terrible crick in my neck that was radiating pain all the way down my arm. I got up and took advil, which only then made my stomach start to hurt like crazy. If I hadn't been so wretchedly uncomfortable I would have been cracking up because it was almost hilarious. I just couldn't believe so many things had spontaneously decided to not work properly all at once.
After a long time, I did eventually fall back asleep. Because I am a fearsome solider, I got up and met Beth at our appointed time all the same. We headed off to check out the Roman Agora.
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| Roman Agora |
As you can see there is not much left. The highlight for us here was discovering a 2,500 year old public toilet! Next we walked through the ruins of Hadrian's Library, where the highlight was seeing the remains of tiled floor mosaics that were incredibly beautiful.
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| Hadrian's Library |
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| Floor mosaics! |
We kept right on motoring through our list. The Acropolis ticket also includes entrance into six other sites and we wanted to hit them all. Next up was the Ancient Agora and Temple of Hephaestus.
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| Temple of Hephaestus |
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| Ancient Agora |
The Temple of Hephaestus is apparently the best-preserved ancient temple in Greece. Which is slightly ironic because the rest of the Agora is practically rubble. It was hard to imagine this place as a bustling market and town center three thousand years ago or so.
Quick stop for (another!) gyro for lunch, and then we headed up to see the Kerameikos, an ancient ceramics factory and cemetery. Here, the highlight was watching one tortoise headbutt another tortoise.
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| Kerameikos |
And
finally... we trekked across town and paid a visit to the Temple of Zeus Olympiad. On our way there, we passed Parliament where there was a march/demonstration happening. It all looked very peaceable but we were relieved when we parted ways. :)
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| Protesters |
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| Temple of Zeus Olympiad |
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| Me and Beth |
Whew. We were freaking exhausted at the end of all that. But Beth still had to hike up and see the Acropolis itself, which thankfully I had seen the day before. I headed back to the hostel and took a
nap, because I'd not had the most restful of sleeps. In the evening, we headed off into Athens' Old Town for dinner. The waiter suggested I try this dish of stewed lamb with potatoes and feta cheese. It was very different but I liked it a lot! And it wasn't a souvlaki, so bonus. After dinner, it was time for a few beers at our local bar and some excellent conversation. I liked hanging out with Beth a lot; she was good people. It was actually sad when we hugged and parted ways for the evening and likely forever. Both of us were strapping on our packs again the next morning (5:00 AM again for me!) to head to our next destinations.
I'd saved the very best for last, you see. I was going to
Santorini.
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