Athens –
From Italy we caught an awesome ferry (ship!) to Patras, Greece. Had a beautiful cabin, with a REAL shower AND hot water! I stood under it for a very long time – best shower I’d had since I’d left home. Amazing how a great shower can pep you up!
Caught numerous trains and finally arrived in Athens. Met some crazy American boys – Ryan & Lars – and headed out to dinner with them. Wish I’d got their details. Oh well.
Next day I decided to go on my own and do a guided tour of Athens. Caught the CLEAN and SO efficient Metro to a youth hostel where I joined up with our fantastic tour guide. We wandered around the city all day – it was bloody hot! – and the sights really took my breath away. The Parthenon at the Acropolis in just amazing. The views onto the city below are fantastic. We also visited the Temple of Olympian Zeus, and watched the Changing of the Guards – which was hilarious.
The Evzones (presidential guards) stand outside the President’s house and won’t move at all. Then every hour, they change and do this VERY silly walk. Reminds me of Monty Python’s Ministry of Silly Walks! Anyway, there’s a police guard who is in charge of looking after them, and if they are sweating (which they were on this 35+ degree day!), he will go over to them and wipe their foreheads! Each of their shoes weighs 3kg! So imagine when they do these funny walks, how hard it’d be picking your foot up and swinging it around! Okay, you HAVE to see them to understand what I’m talking about. But the story and meaning behind why they do it is fascinating. They are very well respected for being chosen to carry out the duty.
After watching the guards, we wandered through the beautiful National Gardens to the stadium that was built for the first modern olympics in 1800 something. It’s all been restored, but they hardly ever use it! – such a waste. Still pretty kewl! Walked to the Acropolis to the slippery rock (a large marble rock shelf) and looked down onto the Ancient Agora (Market Place), where we later visited. Then to the Parthenon which is an amazing place, built high up on this hill above the city. The girls I was walking around with (2 Aussie expats) were funny. They tried taking silly photos of themselves doing the Toyota jump up near the Parthenon, and one of the guards came out, asked to look at her camera and the photo and promptly told her to delete it! We couldn’t understand why, as we weren’t touching anything. But he explained to us that the Greeks believe that it is a place of respect and we were disrespecting it! Weird. Can’t say anyone has ever told me to delete a photo I shouldn’t have taken.
Later that night, Spider and I went out for dinner and to take photos. Got some great shots!
I really liked Athens :) It’s a hustley, dirty city, full of concrete and cars, but once you get into the ancient part of it, that all seems to just disappear, and you’re overwhelmed with all the ruins, that sit right amongst modern day life. Like for example, only last year they were digging a vent for the new Metro line, and they stumbled upon a mass of ruins! They really work hard in preserving everything they find too.
Thoughtless!