The Passion of Athens

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After 38 days on the islands I finally boarded a plane and headed back to Athens. No more boats for me. When I landed I thought I was going to hop on the airport trains and be in central Athens quick snap. However, civil arrest once again raised its stubborn head and I arrived only to find out that all trains had been cancelled. Damn. So I grabbed a taxi and headed into who knows what waited for me in the city center. Due to road blockages the taxi driver couldn’t take me all the way to the hostel, but he pointed the way and soon enough I was back in the hostel life. My two roommates that first night demonstrate life in the hostels of Europe. One was a young beautiful French girl with olive skin and a nice smile. The other was a kindly old Swedish man with white hair and rumpled trousers.

I soon became acquainted with the sports bar attached to the hostel. There I would spend my time drinking ouzo and flirting with the Russian barmaid. I also got the chance to mix and mingle with travelers from all corners. There was the ex-soldier from Holland, the Canadian kid who had saved up his money working in the dangerous oil field of the Canuck Midwest, and the Kiwi chick who was desperate for some action. Perhaps, the group that got me thinking the most was the group of American girls who were on their junior year abroad. They were so naïve and uncomplicated. Was that how I was way back in the day? How would I perceive the traveler I was if somehow our paths crossed?

Anyway one of the favorite things I did at the bar was the karaoke nights. They held it once a week and since my stay stretched so long I managed to get in two of them. I started off with an ironic edition of Pulp’s “Help the Aged, but other memorable numbers stand out like a fierce version of “Lithium” by Nirvana and a smoking duet of “Summer Nights” from Grease with a beautiful singer songwriter who was living in Athens.

I couldn’t just hangout in the hostel bar the entire time though so on a tip I headed for Gazi, which was a nightlife hot spot. My first time there I found small bar that was playing old school Greek music but frequented by the young and vibrant. A song that they liked and knew would come on and soon everybody be up dancing with their hands in the air, fingers snapping provocatively. I drank it all in and befriended a young gorgeous Greek girl who wanted to go to America. I stayed so late that the subway had closed, so of course I bought myself a gyro and waited in the park next to the station. The coolest thing started to happen as morning and first train approached the park began to fill up with late night revelers who were apparently doing the same thing. There got to be so many people that the buzz and joyous atmosphere built to a crescendo only to be let loose when the subway doors swung open and the hordes poured down the steps into the awaiting trains.

On a subsequent night I went back with a new friend. We went to this nightclub venue, only with a lot of tables on the dance floor. They were playing mostly Greek music and we were left to our own devices dancing along as best we could, but when the DJ played a set of American rock I suddenly found myself surrounded by smoking hot local girls dancing and making eyes. Funnily enough when the music turned back to Greek they vanished as quickly as they had arrived. Anyway, it was one of those what the heck just happened highlights of the trip.

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However, my stay in Athens wasn’t all drinking and carousing. One thing I really wanted to do was to attend a big time European basketball game. Lucky for me Athens has two of the biggest, Panathanaikos and Olympiakos. Even luckier for me they were playing each other in a brutal clash of rivals while I was there. After trying and failing to purchase a ticket at the Panathanaikos supporter’s shop I decided to just take a chance and hop on the train out to the stadium. As an avid fan of Olympic basketball I was pleased to learn that Panathanaikos played their home games where the 2004 Olympic basketball tournament was held. It was here that Argentina knocked out Team USA in that year’s historic semi-final. Ginobili!!

I went out there to the Olympic complex and somehow managed to find a ticket kiosk. When I entered the arena the home supporters were already in full intimidating force. It was just a wall of green and menace. Even though it was just warm up, whenever an opposing player walked on to the court the fans would start bellowing and pointing in synchronization shouting god know what in Greek. I can only imagine it had something to do with goats and mothers.

I was beginning to get worried that once the Olympiakos fans arrived, and where were they anyway, they would run into this scene and I was sure a riot would breakout. Eventually a couple more civilized local fans took up the seats next to me. I asked them where the away fans were going to sit. They told me because of previous trouble the Olympiakos fans were not only banned but forbidden to come within 5 km of the stadium on game days. Now that’s a rivalry!

When I got there I had noticed the court was ringed with high nets. What possible purpose could they be serving? As soon as the game started I had my answer. Firecrackers, bottle rockets, and other projectiles began whizzing through the air. The majority of them crashing into the strategically placed nets. Although, a few managed to get over top of them and either explode above the players heads or land on the court. The European players took this mostly in stride while the American players were shaking their heads and ducking for cover. To top it all off a giant flare bonfire was lit during the 2^nd quarter sending billows of green smoke throughout the arena. It was everything I had hoped it would be.

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I also went in search Ancient Athens while I was there. Two places stick in my mind above all the others one was the National Archeological Museum of Athens and the other was the Parthenon atop the Acropolis.

It was great to go to the museum after I had already been on the islands because so many of the artifacts were found on or offshore of them. And reading the captions I could now bring back images of the landscape and my times there. One cool exhibit they had there was they had gotten together all the statues and other items found in the Antikythera shipwreck. The whole exhibit was dark with blue light as if in an underwater world. The forms of the statues were like something out of a gothic fairy tale. There was one statue which had been perfectly preserved with realistic looking eyes. I imagined those eyes lying at the bottom of the ocean for over a thousand years. The contemplation of all that entailed was mesmerizing.

The other exhibit that caught my attention was the funereal freezes. Each freeze was a scene of the deceased surrounded by grieving family members. You could sense the heartbreak and the outpouring of emotions flowing down through the ages. There was a sense of the human condition remaining unchanged no matter what the millennium. I wandered around and my thoughts turned to that of my own family and what we were going through.

The last major site that I saw during my time in Greece was the Parthenon. I made my way up the hill along with the other tourists. What struck me was the joy in their faces. How long had they thought about this? Was this a dream fulfilled for some? When I got to the top the whole setting was magnificent. The ancient structure still standing, sturdy and imposing, with views where it could see and be seen by mighty Athens. I couldn’t help but think of all the travelers who had made their way up here themselves all the way back to classical times. Who were they? What had the journey meant to them?

And then my thoughts returned to one soul who had been up here sixteen years ago, my sister. Time all of a sudden collapsed and we were up there together once again looking at the same things and breathing in the same air. Very few instances in life can we truly grasp the true nature of time. The day I spent in Athens on top of the Acropolis was one of those times.

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