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Day 1: Welcome to Greece

We left Larnaca airport early Friday morning. The flight to Athens was only 1 ½ hours so it wasn’t so bad. Once we arrived, we had to haul our luggage around a few small alleys to get to our hotel, which was really nice, very modern. The best part was the view: we could see the Acropolis from our room!!! So, I could lay in bed and just stare at the Parthenon…pretty cool.

My first day in Athens was awesome. After checking into the hotel a group of us went exploring. We went to the main shopping district since it was only one street over. It was not only very expensive, but weird as well. There were street performers and vendors all over the place. There were some American Indians dancing and singing, which was odd, a robot dude, clowns, and the usual traveling musicians.

After that got to be too much for us to handle we went in search of lunch. We ate at a small Italian place (we were all sick of Greek food) which was really good. We got to see the changing of the guards in front of the Parliament building, which was unique.

We headed to a museum to see a Salvador Dali exhibit, but by the time we got there it was closed. No good. So we decided to walk toward (in the rain) the Temple of Zeus and Hadrian’s Arch. There was a gate around the Temple and we couldn’t get in, but it was still really impressive.

We then went wandering around the back streets and found some really cool shops. We met up with some of the others for a coffee break before heading home.

That night we went to a restaurant called JK for dinner. It was 11 p.m. until we got there, and everyone was really exhausted. I had a salad, though, and it was really excellent.

Day 2 in Athens: Amazing!

Everyone in Cyprus told me that Athens was a dirty city and they didn’t like it. Well, I loved it. (It was sort of dirty though.) It is definitely a crazy place, and I could never live anywhere like it, but still, it’s awesome to see at least once.

We woke up and went straight to the Athens Museum. The tour was kind of boring, but then again I don’t ever really like museum tours. We got to see a lot of what we learned about in art history though, which was kind of cool.

Next we went to the Acropolis. The walk up the hill wasn’t too bad, and the view from the top was amazing! You could see the whole city and all the way to the Sea, even to the first island in the distance. They were renovating the Temple of Athena Nike, and we walked through that to see the Erectheion and the Parthenon. Both were really awesome sights…very large and crumbling, but impressive. We spent a good while up there hanging out and taking pictures, basically being the tourists that we are.

A group of us went back down the hill and looked around the marketplaces and little shops. We stopped at an outdoor café for lunch. I ordered tomato & cucumber salad because, well, I wanted salad, not more souvlaki. Well, what I got was a tomato sliced up. Hmm. Okay, so I never ordered such a salad again. BUT – we did count the number of barterers who came up to us trying to sell stuff: 25. Yeah.

We continued shopping for a good amount of time. We checked out the Athens flea market, which isn’t what I would call a flea market at all but just shops really. We (Alex, Nicole, & I were left at this point) found the famous Greek poet guy who makes sandals for celebrities now. I can’t remember his name right now, and even if I could I wouldn’t be able to read Greek. Anyways, he made sandals, and now I have some awesome handmade footwear.

That night we went to Hard Rock for dinner. I GOT NACHOS! That is all I need to say about that experience.

Day 3 in Athens: WooHoo

We had the last day in Athens free to do whatever we wanted. I woke up and got some coffee before meeting up with Alex & Nicole. We went out to see a few last sights and wander around some of the areas we hadn’t seen yet. The day wasn’t too eventful, except for just getting to know the city a little better.

Andddd….guess where I went to dinner that night? Hard Rock Café. In my defense, American food kicks the crap out of Greek food, which I had been eating for the last 2 months anyway. So, Lauren, Ashley, and Angela wanted to eat there, so I went along. It was a good time. They wouldn’t let me get nachos again though.

On the way home we passed by a huge student protest. It was peaceful, just a giant concert in the square where tons of people were gathered. It was interesting to see though. We were warned coming into the city because they had trashed a lot two nights before during protests. (Greeks go to college for free and they’re making them start to pay now = not very happy kids)

So…this is all I have time to write now, but I promise I’ll write about the rest of the trip as soon as I have time!