Blogs from Attica, Greece, Europe - page 10

Herete! (Hello) Today I had my first Greek lesson! I'm glad I finally learned some manners because I felt very ignorant walking around speaking in English and asking for things...the Greeks are much more helpful when one at least tries to use their language. Here is a short list of manners/phrases which are necessary: KalimEra: good day KalispAra: good afternoon KalinIKHta: good night (sounds kind of German...) HeREte: hi, hello, good bye Yia sou: hello (familiar) Yia sas: hello (formal) AdiO sas: good bye Ti kanEte: How are you? (formal) POli kAla: very well Eucaristw (ef-kal-ri-STOL) thank you Ke sas: And you? Pos sas lanEy: What's your name? Me lanEy: My name is... Para kalO: please/you're welcome Oxi: no nE :yes * Don't quote my spelling...most of it is phonetic, with the capital letter being the ... read more

ACROPOLIS Today we left our Hotel early and headed for the Acropolis. We need to be there as early as possible because they attract massive crowds every day. Also Greece appears to be heading for a meltdown – today all taxis and public transport were on strike which would mean more cars on the road. Our local guide explained a bit about Greece’s economic woes on the way to the Acropolis –they are pretty much a basket case! The entry to the Acropolis is by way of the Propylaea a building that was erected in the years 437-432 BC –it set the scene perfectly. As usual our local guide was a fountain of knowledge and explained in great detail about all the buildings. Walking around the site is awe inspiring. The small iconic temple of Athena ... read more

Hello! After a day of flying, I was finally able to land in Athens at approximately 9 am. It was crazy to leave at 4 pm one day and show up somewhere else at 9 am the next day, with a loss of 7 hours. Also, jet lag is terrible. Every time I sit for more than 10 minutes, I start to doze off...that's not very polite to do during an instructional lecture in a foreign city whose native language sounds like gibberish. My survival Greek classes are later this week, but hopefully I pick up some manners beforehand, so I can at least be polite about my American ignorance. The sights, sounds, and smells of Athens are typical of any major city--some are pleasant, some are questionable, and others make you want to walk with ... read more

Wednesday (14-09-'11) This morning Didier and Sigrid brought me to the airport, they stayed with me until the last possible moment. Saying goodbye wasn’t easy, I was glad I wasn’t going on the planeride all alone. Past security I met up with Lora, Helena and Tanais. Our arrival in Athens was very pleasant, the weather was hot and we were greeted by my Greek buddy Akis who even got me a welcoming present. It was so nice of Akis to come get us at the airport! We didn’t have to worry about how to get to the center, he knew his way to all the places we needed to be:). We met up with Lora’s Greek buddy and went to stayinathens to get the keys to our apartment. Our apartment (mine and Tanais, our Spanish roommate ... read more

After a few hours in business class on our ferry from Naxos, we arrived at the port of Piraeus, the central harbour of Athens! We got off the ferry and found out way to the taxi rank to get to our hotel. After explaining where we wanted to go and having several drivers simply walk away, we had a man tell us we could walk there in 5 minutes. I think they must have walked off because they didn't want the crappy fare but no need to be rude about it! So with that we grabbed our bags and kicked my phones GPS into gear and set off up the street. About 25 minutes and 10 streets later we arrived at our hotel, Faros II. This hotel was great, and the staff were really friendly. We ... read more

So next we spent one night in Athens, and honestly there’s really not a great deal to talk about . Other than the Acropolis and the Parthenon (which I’ll get to in a minute), Athens itself is kind of a dive, practically 3rd world, and not at all what I expected. You hear stories of Greece and you picture the cute little white houses and little Greek restaurants everywhere, and sun-tanned Greeks all over the place. Athens just wasn’t this. It was rundown, dirty, and all round just a shitty place, I guess with the state of the economy in near collapse it’s to be expected, but yeah, it certainly hit me by surprise. Ok, so in spite of my previous comments the Acropolis really is worth a visit. High above the city of Athens, it ... read more

Today we were regretably up at 6am to get the 6.30am bus but after waiting for 40mins we realised obviously the bus wasnt coming and then further found out that it was a public holiday so the bus was running on a Sunday timetable not monday! So back to the hotel we went and got made breakfast - which was a bonus! We then got on the 8.30 bus and it only took 4 and a bit hours this time to get back to Athens. We had lunch and then planned our afternoon as we wanted to see the first modern olympic stadium and the acropolis with not much time. So we headed to the stadium intially and it was AMAZING!! Fully made out of marble and just beautiful. We paid 3 euros to go in ... read more