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Published: February 2nd 2007
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We arrived at the ferry with a little bit of hesitation. We had heard a few horror stories about the 30 hour voyage that we were about to embark. The first was the accomodation, there was none.... the open deck would have to do.
We made sure to arrive 2 hours before the planned departure time to ensure we scored a good possie. But, the place was packed by the time we arrived, & the last spot free from the savage midday sun was next to the stinky bins. Beggars can't be choosers so we grabbed it while we could & set up camp. The metal decking wasn't made for comfort & we were very jealous of the people who had air mattresses. Our best find was a small platic table & two chairs which we had to guard with our lives.
The ferry was full of young uni students. They were already in fine form with the drinks flowing freely. We decided to join the action & finished off the last of the Johnnie before buying a bottle of vods, duty free luckily. The problem was our lack of mixers, so we had to settle for over priced
cans of softdrink from the upstairs bar. The mixer was therefore only used to add a bit of colour. We played a stack load of cards to pass the time.
I can't say it was the best sleep I ever had.... but the alcohol helped to numb the pain. We were awoken early by the sun, but it was nice to be on the open water. The next day dragged by...more cards...more alcohol. I was pretty trashed by the time we arrived in Patras at 8pm & wasn't looking forward to the immediate 3hour bus ride to Athens. It wasn't pretty but I managed to cut a few zeds. Di wasn't so lucky, as the girl behind her tried her best to cough up her lung.
We arrived late in the night in Athens & were SO over public transport that we hailed a cab to cover the final leg to our hostel. It was middnight when we arrived & we couldn't wait to sleep in a bed. Our simple hope was crushed when the reception guy advised us that our reservation had been cancelled & our beds given away. They mis-read our 11:30 PM arrival for AM
& hence thought we were no shows. We had two options; 1. find another hostel or 2. sleep on the roof for 8 euro each. It was a busy time of year & the likelyhood of finding other accomodation was slim, so we went with the roof. Surprisingly we weren't the only ones up there, there was around 10 of us ! We were so tired that we set up camp on auto pilot & crashed.
The sun woke us early & we enjoyed a long overdue shower. Our backpacks were wet due to their position under a drain pipe that we had failed to see the night before ! After hanging our clothes out to dry, I had the task of sorting out a bed for the following 4 nights. The guy on reception was pretty useless & advised us to check for vacancies after lunch. I happened to get speaking to one of the others on the roof. When they heard that we had another 4 nights in Athens they laughed. Their advice was to leave ASAP. They had just spent a month on the islands & were raving about them. They spoke very highly of Milos
Island. We took there advice, cut our Athens stay short & placed Milos on our itineary.
When planning our trip, Athens was set to be one of the main highlights...I guess that's why we allowed so many days to explore it. We found out however, that one full day was quite sufficient. We signed up for a walking tour through the hostel & took off early one morning. Our guide was a late 20's local uni student who started off by ranting about the false rumours about Athens...that is wasn't a place full of homeless dogs, as portrayed before the Olympics. The streets were in fact littered with them, maybe he needed to check his glasses. It was a stinking hot day & the dogs seemed to have taken over all of the best shady positions in which they slept.
We started at the temple of olympian zeus, the largest in Greece. The corinthian columns were 17 metres high & nearly two metres wide. From there we headed to the roman stadium where the 1st olympic games took place way back in 1896. Our timing was spot on as we saw the changing of the guard a little
further up the road. The guards may have looked funny in their skirts & pom pom shoes but in fact they well hardened. The pom poms hide metal spikes which can be used to inflict harm on anyone looking to cause trouble. We then headed to the dionysos theatre where we saw the remains of a theatre which held 17000 peole. About a third of the tiered seating remains today & we were able to see the names of vip's etched into the backs of the marble chairs. After a long walk up-hill we arrived at the Acropolis where we had great views of the whole of Athens. The Partheon was next & definitely the highlight of the day. It was completed in 438BC.
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