Blogs from Attica, Greece, Europe - page 124

Hello all, arrived in Athens at about 10.35 and got to the hostel at midnight. We are staying in a dorm with 2 rooms (2 beds in each) our room is the crap one and there isnt anywhere to lock our stuff so we chained it to the bed. The girls that were in the other room liked to talk a lot and sing early in the morning but unfortunately they left this morning (I was deeply saddened). We are a bit knackered but managed to make it to the Acropolis, olympic zeus columns, and took a bus tour. It is really nice and warm here and still really busy but will be glad to get to Seriphos tomorrow and lie on a beach! I think it takes about 5 hours by ferry to get there ... read more

Ode to The Food Company… I spent Sunday recovering from Saturday night, by both sleeping and making phone calls to secure the contents of my stolen wallet. In the afternoon, Gina, Amanda, and I ventured to the Food Company, a restaurant written up in Lonely Planet as the only inexpensive restaurant in Kolonaki. The Food Company did not disappoint. It exceeded my highest expectations of any restaurant. The food was both delicious and inexpensive. With UB40 playing on the speakers and tables of hipster Greeks we hadn’t yet seen in Athens, the atmosphere was welcoming and relaxed. The three of us savored the best food we had yet eaten in Greece—a lentil and feta salad, meatballs with mashed potatoes, pasta with feta cheese and tomato sauce, and chocolate mousse cake that tasted like uncooked brownie mix. ... read more

Tonight is my last night in Athens. Tomorrow I start the journey to Florence (train to Patras, ferry to Ancona, train to Florence). Yesterday I met a man who took a ferry from Turkey to Greece and had a miserable time. Hopefully my trip will be much more enjoyable. I've done quite a bit the last few days. Went to the Byzantine and Christian Museum, which M would love. Also went to the Museum of Cycladic Art which was new to me and really interesting. Went to the Cape of Sounion which was a fantastic trip and today did a tour of three nearby islands (Poros, Hydra, Aegina). So far language hasn't been much of a problem. I've learned how to say a few things in Greek, hello, thankyou, goodmorning but not much beyond that. Most ... read more

Had a four hour plane delay leaving JFK, so by the time I got to my hotel on Monday it was about 430ish. Athens... WOW! Everytime you turn around you're looking at some relic of different times... Roman, Ottoman, Byzantine. It's amazing. During my first two days I went up the Acropolis twice, went to the Olympic Stadium, the Temple of Zeus, Hadrian's Arch, the Roman Forum, the ancient Agora, the National Gardens and a bunch of other sites. I've also spent hours wandering (sort of intentionally lost) through the different sections of Athens... Monastraki, Plaka, Pysiri. Today I had a piece of real cocunut and watermelon juice. That's enough writing, here are some pictures... (hopefully, we'll see how well this works) ... read more

Had to get up at some ungodly hour to do a city tour. We went to the Acropolis first (which literally means the highest point) where we had a local guide. She explained that the Pantheon was naturally fortified by its location. It was built in the 5th century BC. It took 9 years to build, which they did using marble blocks from the mountain 45km away, it would have been a mammoth task! They have been restoring it for the past 500 years. In the restoring process many years ago they made a terrible mistake and instead of using steel in between the marble slabs which form the pillars as the original builders had done, they decided to use iron, which is turn ruined the marble surface and they had to start the restoration process ... read more