Wednesday Jessie, Cameron, his friend Greggor and I all went to tour Athens. We saw the all the main sights there are to see in Athens: the Acropolis with the Parthenon, Agora, Temple of Athena Nike, Temple of Hephaistos; the Theatre of Dionysus; the Temple of Zeus, and Hadrian’s Arch.
It was really funny because after we put our bags in the apartment on Tuesday, it was already about 4 in the afternoon. Jessie and I wanted to go walk around and see the sights but Cameron said we could do it all Wednesday. We were skeptical about his proposal, so we got out our guide book and Jessie quizzed him. He was right though; we went on Wednesday around 2 to start our “Tour de Athens”. We finished the tour of the main sights before 5. I am sure if the Parthenon wasn’t such a steep climb, it would have taken less time.
The Theatre of Dionysus was close to the top of my favorites mainly because I just spent all last semester studying Greek myth which ended in studying three different plays that were put on in the Theatre of Dionysus. It was for the most part exactly how the books described it. The cool part was that they still hold plays in the theatre! They were putting together a set while we were there. (something with dragons..)
Another thing on my list of favorites was the Temple of Zeus. We toured the inside first and it was really nothing… just some pillers and old stones. But the reality of how huge it was came when we were up on the Acropolis by the Parthenon. The view from there was amazing and it just made the Temple look awesome!
The Parthenon was cool and I am sure the Temple of Athena would have been too, but they were both being renovated which hindered the experience a bit.
It was nice to be able to have Cameron and Greggor take us around. They had just spent their semesters on site at these places and were able to tell us some really interesting stuff like how the Parthenon was built so that it didn’t have vanishing points. Meaning it was built with the tiniest bit of an arch on the ground and the pillars slant a bit inward. They told up that some guy discovered it in the 20s because he put his top hat down and when he went to the other side, he couldn’t see his hat anymore. Pretty cool, I thought.
After we took our tour, we went shopping in the Plaka, which is basically where all the touristy stuff is. We got a few things and then returned to the apartment. Cameron wrote a paper (they are just finishing their finals week) and Jessie and I went to look for our hostel for the return trip (from Mykonos to Athens to Rome to Home). After that Jessie and I got some treats! She got a really nice looking chocolate something and I got a Crepe filled with nutella and bananas (Mike, I think you might have liked it! Haha! Probably not though…)
That night, we went back to the same Taverna because it was so good and these were their last nights in Athens. This time though we had a bigger group, like 9 people. Mmm that food was so good. I guess though that Jessie isn’t used to all the greasy food considering she has been enjoying the delectable Italian cuisine. So we might be staying away from that fried cheese and pork.
Dinner pretty much wrapped up my and Jessie’s night. We went back to the apartment and packed up our stuff. Apparently we missed an eventful night. They all went to a different apartment to play beer pong and flip cup and the like. At one point someone did a keg stand on one of those mini-kegs? I’m not sure. Anyways, they got the police called on them after their neighbor (a little old lady) knocked on their door asking “why” in Greek. When the police got there one of the guys kept saying “Singnomi, singnomi, singnomi…” which means sorry in Greek. The police kept speaking in Greek to them but then realized they didn’t understand. Finally after the guy tried to make amends and hold out his hand still saying “Sinngnomi” the police was like, “NO SINGNOMI! NO HAND!” and threatened to take him to jail. I guess it was better that Jessie and I weren’t there…
We left Athens at about 5:45 this morning (Thursday) and got to our ferry around 6:30 or so. Our ferry is really nice. We don’t have seats per se, so we are sitting in a café thing with out luggage. But so are most people. We are supposed to get into Santorini at 3 or so… so, we have about 2 hours left on the ferry. We stopped at two different islands already and they are beautiful. They have the buildings with white washed walls and blue windows.
While I have the time, there are some other things about Athens that need to be thrown out there...
1. The nose picking (I know I covered this already, but really? And I just saw someone do it about an hour ago.)
2. There are stray dogs everywhere. And they are big. They aren’t just like that little blind black dog that lives down Lafayette… they are like legit sized dogs. They go into buildings and restaurants and no one really cares. I saw two sleeping in the metro station and one in a bar.
3. Cats too...
4. The Athenian Septic System… you cannot flush ANYthing down the toilet. This is gross for a couple reasons: first, the bathrooms smell pretty bad, second, you have to throw your toilet paper in a tiny garbage can with a lid… which means you are having close encounters with other peoples’ used toilet paper. No thanks. I’ll flush mine.
5. A bunch of establishments have pet birds. The crepe place we went to had a bird and it would literally scream. The first time I heard it I jumped. But then it started speaking in Greek, which was cool, so I guess I can let it go.
6. OOO!!! While the four of us were walking up to the Acropolis, Cameron was trying to brainstorm about souvenirs. When we got up there by the Parthenon, I saw a man in the tightest, smallest, cut-off jean shorts. I told him he should invest in a pair of those.
7. Apparently the Greeks love Prison Break.
8. They aren’t used to people shot-gunning beers in the middle of the street. This is an assumption based off the looks that were given by them.
9. They have the same centipede things that I (and I’m sure other people) have in mine and Hill’s apartment. Jessie and I slept on an extra twin mattress on the floor. I saw one the last night we were there… and I got it!
10. Greek people like to repeat their yes-es. So they say “Ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne” all the time.
I really liked Athens but I am sure it is because of the people that took us under their wings. I am also glad that we didn’t stay longer than we did. It was the perfect amount of time and time well spent!
Well off to Santorini.
Ya-más!
-Vinny
p.s. mom, tell Bubs that I never got the scarves and not to be mad because they were overpriced and I didn’t find any good ones that were worth it… even for me.
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