Athens is a very interesting city. Due to their recent economic turmoil I was a bit hesitant to go, but since things are only getting worse everywhere around there I might as well go while it is relatively safe. We took the plane from Naples to Athens. The Naples airport is surprisingly very nice and is home to many high class shops. But we were just passing through so there was no time to shop. The plane ride was short, quiet, and beautiful.
I landed in Athens, and immediately was hit with intense culture shock because half of the signs are in Greek. Luckily the other half is English, but that was foreshadowing for the rest of the stay there. We got the train as close as possible to our hotel, Hellinis Hotel. Close meaning we had to walk 25 minutes through this sort of suburban city. We checked in and crammed into the usual tiny awkward elevator. Our room was about 10×10 feet and the bed took up most of that. It was rather late so we decided to just hang out around there and plan tomorrow. The cafe/restaurant/bar at the bottom of the hotel is actually really good, but pricey.
The next day we woke up ready to conquer Athens. We had our sights set for the Acropolis. For those of you who don’t know what it is, it is just another old thing. But this is no ordinary old thing, it was not built near an abundant amount of trees or shade so if you are going there bring sun screen. It was amazing seeing these auditorium and old temples that predate our country many times over. There also wasn’t many people so I got to look at everything comfortably and casually. The climb is a bit rigorous and surprisingly the ancient Greek did not make it handicap accessible. When you finally reach the top it takes your breath away to see the expanse of Athens. Thousands of white houses and apartments cover the land like bleached grass.
After a day of walking on broken stones we had to rest our bones. As we did that we planned our next trip, London. **Rookie Mistake Alert** We did not look at tickets back from Greece. They are all almost double and it sent a daunting chill down my spine thinking we might have to spend more time here than we thought. The cheapest tickets were Tuesday and we had been planning on leaving on Saturday, so we were going to have some time to kill.
We tried going to the beach, but the sand is really just pebbles and cigarette butts. The paid beaches don’t take debit or credit cards and we didn’t have 5 Euros at the time so the beach was a bust. As the ATMs only allow you take 45 Euros out a day. We looked at the other exhibits that came with our Acropolis ticket, but they pale in existence of the Acropolis. The museum was relatively cheap, but kind of funny because a surprisingly large amount of things have been taken to the British Museum.
Great Britain was mocking me.
After my week stay in Athens I can say it is a very lively town. People are nice and speak a good amount of English. The food is good, but cats or birds are always rummaging around you whenever you eat outside. Public transportation is alright. You can get away without having to pay for a ticket if you are feeling saucy.
Overall 7/10: -10 for the birds. +7 for the cats.
Ryan Joshua Doble – World Traveler
Email: RyanDoble@Uncarvedblocktraveler.com
website: www.uncarvedblocktraveler.com