Athina (Day One)

Our time in Greece is almost over (I'm posting about day one a little late), and I am equally sad and excited to be moving on to Italy tomorrow. Athens has seemed almost more Middle Eastern than western European (which is more how I pictured it). There are definitely characteristics of the city and the people that make it stand out from the States. I will just give you a few descriptions to help paint the picture:

-          - There seem to be virtually no traffic laws for mopeds. They drive on the sidewalk, they drive in between cars on the road, they own this place. I thought mopeds would be more of a stereotype than a reality, but probably about ¼ of the vehicles on the road are one type of scooter or another. Dad and I even enjoyed a little scooter time: 

-          - We have done a lot of people watching, and one thing we have noticed is that very few people walk alone. The culture seems very social and relaxed. It doesn’t seem like anyone is in a rush. At restaurants, the waiter does not bring the bill when you are done eating (because people will just sit and socialize for hours), he usually waits to bring it until we ask for it.

-          - Usually the nicest people that we converse with (or try to converse with) are those who speak English. Most everyone else gets obviously frustrated or annoyed with us.

-          - The city of Athens is a lot more run down than I pictured. Due to the economic downturn, many of the houses and other buildings are falling apart or are in poor condition, there are a lot of beggars or people performing music to try and earn money, and graffiti litters almost every inch of concrete once you get away from the city center.

-          - There are loose cats and dogs all over. I have probably seen 30 dogs over the past 4 days, and only one of them has been on a leash.

Now for some highlights from the first day:

Tuesday

I arrived at the hotel around 4:00 am on Tuesday and slept for about five hours.

Our hotel is pretty close to the city center, so we are close to the acropolis area. Here is a picture from of the acropolis from the roof of our hotel:

We’ve had breakfast everyday this week from this little bakery next to our hotel. I’m not sure what I keep ordering, but it tastes pretty good! It is called a “Kourou Pie” and it is filled with some type of filling…maybe some kind of cheese mixture?

I did not realize Athens would be so full of ruins. I knew the acropolis was here, but there are ruins all over the place. Here are some we found across the street from out hotel:

Next, we made our way to the acropolis:

We also visited the acropolis museum. Most of it was pretty interesting, but I was so tired from my thirty hour journey here and only five hours of sleep, that a museum was not stimulating enough to keep my very awake. There was a restaurant at the museum with a view of the Parthenon, and of course I had to order a Gyro!

After the museum we walked down around the Agora, where they have a sort of market and shopping area set up:

We explored the city a little more, and then I had a Greek salad for dinner. It was so delicious, but it had no lettuce!

And that rounded up day one!