July 04, 2012

Trip 28: Athens, Greece

Trip date: Friday May 11 - Tuesday May 15, 2012

Athens, Greece / Αθήνα, Ελλάδα! Ancient Greece is the keystone to all modern mathematics, philosophy and the creation of an incredibly strong empire. Known for everything from Olympics to olives. Modern Greece is unfortunately more known by its current degrading financial system and despite all the warning of protest, riots and potential defaults, two Canadian friends set off here in adventure.

All in attendance: Kristen and David

David and I dated for 2 years and broke up before I left for my year abroad with a promise to take an unforgettable trip together. This 16 day Greece/Turkey trip was the big trip that I saved most of my holidays for. I overlapped 2 Swiss bank holidays in the process too. The trip began with a long solo train ride to Milan (for maybe the last time!) and a metro ride to Scream Hostel (15€/night). Here I met a few Korean-Canadians and a group of friends from the Czech Republic and ate more than my share of breakfast cake.

I went to the Milan Malpensa airport for the first time for my flight out the next morning. 45.50€ one-way to Athens! I arrived just after 2 o'clock and took the metro down to Hostel Zorbas (11€/night).


That night I did little more than walk past a few government buildings near Syntagma Square, walk up to the chapel of St George on Mount Lycabettus and eat my first plate of delicious greek salad. I hung out my the Monastery metro station which was booming with people. I attracted way to much attention being alone so I went to a sister hotel of our hostel and met some great people. They wouldn't allow me to walk the sketchy Athens streets back to my hostel at 3 am so I just crashed with them.

The next day David arrived! I had a little time to check a few ferry schedules down by the port before I met him at the airport. He brought everything you can imagine with him: tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad and a shiny fancy camera. That night we went back to the Monastery metro station area for a midnight walk that included lots of pictures of graffiti and ended on the roof-top patio of that same hotel from the previous night. We made a great friend and called it a night.

The next day was a marathon around town. You could definitely do "Athens in a day". We started early and went to the The Parthenon at the Acropolis where we took strategic photos so you couldn't tell there were in fact hoards of tourist groups crowded around. We chilled out on Areopagus Rock and soon off we went on long walks through Athens' parks and to various Greek ruins all day including: The Temple of Olympian Zeus, Hadrian's Gate, Ancient Agora and a museum in Stoa of Attalos.




We walked through the shopping street Ermou Street, saw the Byzantine Church of Panaghia Kapnikarea,went to the beautiful National Gardens and saw a lot of turtles and stunning trees and even were lucky enough to see the extremely awkward changing of the guards. We went back up  Mount Lycabettus to watch the sunset and eat a few kebabs or two. Then it was off to bed because next stop was an early morning ferry ride to the islands.

We heard a loud demonstration near our hostel on our last night but besides this and a high volume of police and swat team presence, there seemed to be no signs of all those "dangers" that are hyped up on the news




Things I learned:
  • Athens is full of stray dogs who are usually snoozing 23/24 hours in a day
  • Athens is full of awesome graffiti
  • The oranges that grow on Athens' trees are not tasty
  • Athens changing of the guards is just awkward
  • Police presence and swat team presence is at an all time high right now
  • A real Greek salad is exactly like the Greek Salads in Canada only the cheese is infinitely better
Things I loved:
  • Greek Salad and Tzatziki all the time!
Things to do next time:
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