“Tourists don’t know where they’ve been, travelers don’t know where they’re going.”
– Paul Theroux
We arrived in Athens, Greece on May, 7th and when we arrived at our hotel we were amazed. After spending over a week in our hotel in Beirut full of plugged toilets, plumbing problems and pubic hair, we were surprised at the exceptionally clean room in Athens. I guess this is Europe and the room cost us $50 but it could’ve been worth thousands of dollars compared to hotel Valery in Beirut.
The owner seemed confused when we asked to see the room before staying the night. He looked at us with a dumbfounded expression and I was tempted to describe to him that our last room was a blanket covered, stench box with a toilet hole under the bed, so a close inspection of this room was not an insult, just a new forza dell’abitudine. The room, of course, met our standards and was far a lot more than we expected, so we took it and headed out on the town.
Flying into Greece from Lebanon
Our first day we took a walk down to Monistraki Square which is a really funky, cobble stone, hangout spot for both locals and tourists. On the way we stopped in a really lively outdoor market with fish hawkers yelling out their products in Greek and butcher shops using complimentary samples of sausage.
We need to be back in the first world, some things here are actually FREE! We were still pretty worn out from our early morning flight and travel day so we headed home just as the sun was setting. This is when we first realized that we were staying in the east Hastings of Athens. Prostitutes swarmed around every corner calling out to any passing male with loud kissing sounds. We enjoyed plenty get picked up and even a lot more get turned down.
See Also: Our massive guide To travelling in Greece
There were drunks and junkies everywhere. Dariece was a little concerned but I thought it was some of the best people enjoying of my life. That night we slept like babies, it could have been because the bed sheets were clean, it may have been that the mattress was a lot more than an inch thick, or that there was no mosque blaring prayers at dawn through distorted loud speakers, or that there was no drainage pipe under our bed, whatever the case I don’t think we’ve slept so well this entire trip.
vibrant fruit available at the market in Athens, Greece
Funky Monistraki Square, Athens, Greece
The next day we got up early (around 9:30) and went downstairs to take pleasure in the complimentary breakfast that our hotel offered. It comprised of hard boiled eggs, bread, cheese, Greek yogurt, OJ, fruit, ham and coffee. È stato delizioso. After breakfast we headed out on a walking excursion of Athens, loosely following the suggested sights in our guide book.
Because it was Sunday there was a special, changing of the guards ceremony at the parliament buildings. We missed the changing of the guards in England so it was really cool to enjoy this one. They were dressed to the nines and a whole marching band blocked of the street for about 10 minutes while groups of generally clad soldiers stomped in rows diligently showcasing their extraordinary balance.
Well their balance was extraordinary until one of the soldiers slipped on the marble ground and slammed hard on his ass. He may have seriously injured his tailbone to a chorus of gasps from the thousand or so tourists who were watching. The severity of the fall may have been why a silence befell the crowd, but that silence was swiftly broken by Dariece and I laughing. We were the only ones to find the situation humorous and as the soldier slowly made it back to his feet we gained our composure and continued filming the fantastic spectacle.
Changing Of The Guards Ceremony, Athens, Greece
Changing Of The Guards ceremony in Athens, Greece
Mid-way through the show the crowd of a thousand or so tourists were ambushed by school children. Their teachers prodding and pushing there way through the mob of tourists trying to get the kids a front row seat. A couple of other tourists yelled at them saying that they must have come earlier. Dariece and I just laughed as the drama unfolded, although I may have thrown an elbow or two for good measure. After we had seen enough of the guards we hastily left the agitated mob, giving up our much wanted front row seats to a group of aggressive tourists.
After the show we continued on our walking excursion which took us by some excellent roman ruins in downtown Athens and finally led us up to the top of The Acropolis to its crown, and the most popular and crucial ancient site in Europe, The Parthenon. The Acropolis was beautiful and its Pentelic marble columns Bagliore positivamente nel sole del pomeriggio, tuttavia, dopo i siti in Egitto e il Medio Oriente, il Partenone stesso era leggermente sotto di piedi.
Forse ora siamo snob per antiche meraviglie. Dopo aver tortuoso lungo la collina dell’Acropoli attraverso parchi e cobble coacche in pietra ci siamo trovati di nuovo a Piazza Monistraki, eravamo sistemati per un delizioso pranzo greco di pita calda con Tzatziki, spiedini di agnello e un blocco di formaggio feta scozzese con oliva olio e origano. È stato stupefacente. Potrebbe essere il mio sangue greco o il mio amore per l’agnello, ma trovo il cibo in Grecia per essere alcuni dei miei preferiti.
Camminando fino all’Acropoli, Atene, Grecia
Antiche rovine ad Atene, in Grecia
Capre sulla strada al Partenone, Atene, Grecia
Fantastico cibo greco: Gyro di agnello, tuffo Tzatziki e formaggio feta
L’ultimo giorno ad Atene non abbiamo finito per fare molto. Abbiamo avuto un sacco di commissioni da correre, sì i backpackers hanno commissioni. Abbiamo cercato di spedire a casa e fare il bucato ma non ha funzionato. Ma siamo riusciti a ottenere nuove foto del passaporto, ottenere generi alimentari e il tepolo ha ottenuto un taglio di capelli. È una vita dura qui, tonnellate di cose da fare nei nostri giorni di riposo … ma gestiamo.
Alla fine della giornata ci stiamo fermando per ottenere un caffè espresso quando abbiamo osservato alcuni skateboarder nella piazza principale. Godendo dal caffè, abbiamo osservato rapidamente che non erano solo pattinatori regolari. Devono essere professionali. Stavano tentando kickflip al naso macinino su un ferrovia in marmo di circa 10 piedi di altezza. E lo stavano filtrò con tonnellate di attrezzature di fascia alta che sono state allestite intorno alla piazza. Ho ricevuto alcuni filmati fantastici dei salti e delle buone foto. Non potevamo distogliere gli occhi e probabilmente finirono per divertirsi per un paio d’ore. Non esattamente quello che mi aspettavo di fare in Grecia, ma è stato comunque bello.
Skateboard ad Atene, Grecia
Il giorno dopo abbiamo salito a bordo del traghetto diretto per l’isola di Santorini. Il viaggio di 8 ore era roccioso, piovoso, ventoso e molto freddo. Fino a quando non ci rese conto (intorno all’ultima ora o giù di lì) che c’era una grande area calda interna completa di sedie morbide e plug-in per il laptop. L’abbiamo visto sulla strada fino al ponte ma non sembrava essere una stanza in modo che veniamo appena bloccati sul ponte finché non ci siamo resi conto che la gente era scesa su isole diverse e lasciato sedili vuoti. Così siamo andati laggiù, collegati il laptop e ci siamo goduti qualche famiglia moderna mentre abbiamo girato verso la nostra prima isola greca. Santorini, eccoci!
Blog di viaggio Grecia.
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