ATHENS

Athens = olive trees, democracy, Greek salad, gyro, wine, sandals, Olympic Games, and history. It was an amazing city but one that is experiencing economic and political woes. It is dirty, scary, and sad in many parts, but the history and the people make up for this. I <3 ΑΘήνΑ.

Day 1: Chelsea, Keenan, Tyler and I disembarked the ship at 8:00 to take a bus from Piraeus to go on our “Athens by Bike” trip. Driving through Piraeus reminded me of Napoli. It had a beautiful coast line, but you could tell that the city had seen better days. We arrived in Athens, just by the Temple of Zeus, at 9ish and started our tour. We went through Plaka (the center of Athens), the Acropolis, and around some old Greek and Roman ruins. It was a nice tour and we learned a lot about how Athens was founded and the building of the Acropolis. After the ride, Keenan, Chelsea and I went around the shops looking for souvenirs before grabbing Gyros and beers for lunch. Surprisingly you don’t get a lamb gyro in Athens; instead you get pork which was ten times better than any lamb gyro I got in the States.

After lunch we headed to the Acropolis, only to find out it closed an hour ago due to the unbearably heat that had stricken the city (was around 45 degrees Celsius the entire day…just awful). Unable to see the Acropolis, which was supposed to be the highlight of our day, we just bummed around Athens the rest of the day. I took the Metro back to the port around 16:00 to give myself enough time to go for a run and then to meet my Mom, Charlie, and Maddy, who made the trip to visit me, for a nice dinner. We ate on top of the Electra Hotel which they were staying at and had a fantastic/elegant dinner with a marvelous view of the Acropolis. It was a good time and really nice to see them. Afterwards I took the metro back to the port, was attacked my stray dogs (nipped at but lucky wasn’t bit), and then passed out in my cool AC cabin.

Day 2: Today started early. Chelsea Kennan and I were walking off the ship at 7:00 to get to the Acropolis right when it opened at 8:00. It was a much cooler day with hurricane gusts! The sand on top of the Acropolis was flying into our eyes and stinging our skin. It was a challenge just taking a photo with the wind being so strong it would throw me off balance causing the camera to go out of focus. Still though, the Acropolis was beautiful and amazing. Afterwards we went to the Acropolis Museum which was pretty cool, grabbed a small bite to eat, and headed back to the ship as Keenan and Chelsea had a SAS trip to attend. We got back to the ship just before noon. I went for a run, rested, and then rushed back to the city to meet my family as we were heading off to go swimming and then Poseidon’s Temple to watch the sunset. Both were a lot of fun. The water at the beach was cool and clear, the sunset was beautiful and breathtaking.

Day 3: Another early morning. I met the family at their hotel at about 7:30 for our journey to Delphi. It was a long but worthwhile drive. We had the same driver who took us to the beach and Poseidon’s Temple. He was a nice man, very knowledgeable, and very proud to be Greek…too proud when you’re in a car with him for 6 hours “you know”. Anyways halfway through the 3 hour journey to Delphi we stopped in a small village that suffered a massacre during the Nazi occupation. Our driver, Marcus I believe, was took us to this nice little bakery in the center of the village that has been around for around 100 years. He bought us spinach pie, a flaky pastry filled with spinach. It was delicious. ***I’m tired writing this post write now and need to finish it before a meeting I have to go to so the rest of this will be short and to the point. We then sat down in the village square for a few minutes, talked a retired Chicago Godfather, and then got back in the car to finish our journey to Delphi. Delphi was gorgeous, so historic and so beautiful. Saw the Temple of Apollo, the Treasuries, and the stadium. We then went to the Museum and grabbed a nice lunch that had bread, olive oil, greek salad, stuffed grape leaves, lamb, and an eggplant dish. We then made the long journey back to Athens. I went back to the ship to run and then met the folks again for dinner (donuts with greek honey for dessert = amazing) and to say goodbye. It was a long but wonderful day.

Day 4: Slept in, took the Metro to Athens, saw the Parliament building, the Presidential residence, walked through a nice park, and saw the Panathenaic Stadium. The stadium was beautiful. I sat wear the founder of the Modern Olympics sat, walked through the tunnel that past athletes walked, and ran a lap of the track that so many great athletes ran before. My heart was racing haha. Afterwards I met Keenan in the Plaka to grab a quick bite to eat, and then we took the metro to the sad 2004 Olympic complex. The games were held their only 8 years ago but today the stadiums are in disrepair and to be blunt are disgusting. It’s sad and is a disgrace. We both agree through it was worth the 30minute metro ride to see.  We then went back to the Plaka to spend a few euros. Keenan got a traditional Greek string instrument, and I got some greek olive oil and honey. We also each got a nice pair of Athenian sandals.

                Athens was awesome. Istanbul tomorrow