Athens

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We arrived in Athens two days ago at about 6pm with no plan, no clue where we were and no place to stay. We hopped on the Metro and took it to Syntagma, which I read in my guide book is the center of all activity. Nate was able to get some wireless and we went to hostelworld.com only to find out there was exactly one hostel left in Athens within our price range. It was 20km away from the center of town which isn’t ideal but we didn’t have much choice. We wrote down the vague directions the website gave and found some dinner. After a chicken bacon gyro and Greek salad and 40 minutes on a bus, we made our way to Miramare Hotel. The old man behind the desk had no idea we were showing up, spoke barely any English and when I told him the price we were ready to pay (the price they offered online) he almost choked. He called a man who spoke English and put me on the phone...I told him that I booked online for a certain price and he hesitantly said ‘ok’ and instructed the old man to give us a room. Nate and I promptly went to room number 6, unpacked our stuff, showered and fell asleep...we wanted to be up early so we could see all Athens has to offer. We woke up at 9:30 the next morning, practically a miracle for the two of us, and headed out for the town. We were waiting at the bus stop and I realized I forgot my credit card at the hotel, so we walked back. It was then the old man said ‘You no go Athens. Athens closed’. Athens closed? He must be joking! We found someone that spoke better English and he said because it was May 1 everything was on strike...no buses, no metro, no museums. Fan-freaking-tastic.

We decided to walk as much as we could since we figured a taxi would be expensive. There was a little shopping and eating area just outside of the town. Nate was at a place eating a burger and I was sitting with him when a bird shat on me. I had bird dung all over me and had to use the last wet wipes I had to wipe myself off. I was not impressed. At all.

When I was cleaned off we continued on our walk. About 5 km later we were exhausted, sweating and hungry and we caved and took a taxi the last 15km to Athens. We spent the day walking around tourist shops, eating yummy Greek salad and spending too much money on donuts, ice cream and a Greek beer or two. It was quite an entertaining day. We headed back to our hotel around 8 that night and found some food on the way. This time we took a taxi the whole way and the taxi man talked to us about living in New York (we have to say we live in New York...that and California are the 2 places anyone has heard of) & he asked if everyone really does carry guns like the movies say. Of course we told him no, that's just the movies...some people have guns, most don't.

The day got even more interesting when we arrived back at the hotel. I was sitting in the lobby area using their wireless while Nate showered and some old, fat half French half Greek man came and sat and talked to me. At first it was harmless...he told me where he was from, that he was a 'doctor for animals' and asked me similar questions about myself. Warning bells started going off when he started talking about how he hates Albanians because they're 'Islamist' and bad. I went and found Nate when he started calling me a beautiful girl and moved closer to where I was sitting. The guy creeped me out big time and I was so glad to not be at that hotel alone. We went back out to the lobby together a bit later and sure enough he showed up...this time he talked to Nate about how he hates Albanians because they're 'Islamist'. The next morning we were at the bus station waiting for the bus and the guy chased us down...he said he saw us leaving the hotel and wanted to follow us to tell us something. Luck intervened and our bus pulled up at that exact moment. Nate and I both grabbed our stuff, said we had to leave and made a dash for the bus.

We spent the day at the Acropolis seeing the Parthenon, theatre and the other sites. Unfortunately most of it is being renovated so we saw a lot of scaffolding and weren't able to get close to any of it. Tickets to get in were 12 Euro per person which I think is a rip off, especially since everything is under construction. The man at the ticket place was really rude when I asked a few questions, so when I found out EU students got in for free I decided to stick it to them. I busted out my handy dandy UU card and waltzed in without paying a dime. It's one of the best things the University of Ulster has ever done for me! I split the cost of Nate's ticket with him since I'm not really an EU student, so it only cost us each 6 Euros, which is definitely more reasonable.

We took an evening train to Patras, where we are now waiting for the ferry to Italy (I'm super excited about being on a boat tonight...I'm having ocean withdrawal!). Our hostel here is the most disgusting place I've ever seen...I'm not sure it's ever been cleaned. There was dirt, hair and bugs in all of the beds. The walls have an inch of filth and the once white floors are brown and sticky. We had to rent sheets for 50 cents...basically it was a hole and I'm not sure it's legally up to code. Thank goodness we only had to spend one night there. Gross.

Greece is interesting. The coastline (where we are now) is absolutely gorgeous. Athens isn't what I expected...it's a lot more dirty and run down than I thought it would be. Graffiti is everywhere and the beauty of the place seems to be under-appreciated by the people that live there. Don't get me wrong, it's still a wonderful place, it's just not what I expected.

I have to get going because I'm paying to use this computer by the minute...my apologies for yet another blog with no pictures. I haven't had a chance to upload them to Nate's external in a few days. Hopefully when we get to Rome in 2 days I can upload a blog full of pictures! Hope everyone has a great weekend! xo

PS--Dad, I ate lots of Greek salad and I thought of you with every bite! Lots of feta cheese and olives!!

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