Acropolyptic
- Sep 11, 2017
- 6 min read
Let’s see...what did we do in Athens? Honestly it was pretty chill. We were there for 5 days, but we were pretty worn out from Rome, so we just kind of took it easy. Our Airbnb was located quite centrally, so when you went out on the balcony you could see the acropolis in the distance. (!!!) Our first full day we went to the ruins of the Temple of Zeus. It was free admission for students (yeah, yeah, technically we had already graduated from Capernwray so we weren’t students anymore, bet you’re fun at parties). Anyway, it was good that it was free because honestly it wasn’t worth paying for. I think 5 days exploring excavated ancient Rome gets you to a point where you’re just like, “Oh, neat. More ruins.” I know, I am an undeserving, uncultured swine.
Next we discovered a cute market where some traditional Greek dancers were performing, and we walked around there for a bit. We then found our way to the center of town near the Acropolis, where some break dancers were putting on a terrific show in the street. We also had a lunch of souvlaki, which is basically like a gyro. By far the best thing about Athens was how cheap everything was. You could get souvlaki and kebabs for around 2 euro a piece, which our souls needed greatly after Italy. Also, you get in pretty much all the tourist attractions free if you’re a student, AND even though you’re technically supposed to pay for the metro, there is nothing to stop you from just walking in (no barriers, turnstiles, etc.) so we got transportation for free too. Yeah, I know, technically it’s dishonest, but sometimes moral ambiguity pays, and anyway, if you don’t want people not paying for the metro get yourself some turnstiles. This is why your economy is in the toilet, Greece.
After lunch, we ascended the hill to the acropolis (wait, is the hill itself the acropolis or do the buildings on the hill make up the acropolis? Whatever, it was free). There were a bunch of cats running around for no discernible reason. I don’t know if they belonged to people or if Greece just has a lot of cat bushes and they grow wild. Anyway, that’s an interesting factoid. Another interesting factoid is that like all the rock is this smooth marble type stuff, even the sidewalks. It’s really pretty, but also kind of slick, so every step is an adventure that could end in face-planting and shame. At the very top of the acropolis hill is the Parthenon, which is very majestic, and not at all disappointing, even for someone who is beginning to think they’ve seen all the ruins, the way you can get to a point where you think you’ve seen all the memes, and then a new one comes along and saves you. I think my favorite thing in all of Athens though, is this giant rock a little bit lower down, because not only do I love climbing on big rocks, but you can sit on it and look out over the entire city, but also look across at the acropolis sitting there all white and gleaming and crumbly, nestled in the greenery of the hillside, and IT IS EVERYTHING. I could stare at it forever. Also, the rock is constituted of the same marbley, slippy substance as the rest of the ground, so on our way down we found a steep bit which made a good slide.
We went back down into town, where we discovered a fun yogurt and coffee bar. I got an iced coffee and boy do the Greeks know how to do coffee. It was so strong that it almost killed me, but what a way to go. I could see new colors after drinking that stuff.
That evening, we took the tram down to the beach. It hadn’t been a particularly warm day, and by the time we got to the beach it was downright chilly, but Harrison and I were determined to swim in the Mediterranean just so that we could say we had, so we waded out to around waist deep and then did one of those jump-sidecurl-fully-submerge-yourself-without-cracking-your-head-on-the-ocean-floor-cause-the-water’s-too-shallow things, and then got out of the water before the cold could send us into cardiac arrest. I then had wet hair on the tram and metro rides home and got a lot of judgemental looks from the locals. Stop acting like you’re better than me, Athenians, I know all about the time you got tricked by a giant wooden horse.
(Update, my dad just told me the Athenians had nothing to do with that story, so clearly I’m a noob and it looks like the locals were right to sneer.)
Dinner that night was more souvlaki and kebabs, paired with a viewing of Mamma Mia, because if you don’t watch Mamma Mia while in Greece, did you really even go? Harrison works at a resort frequented by middle aged women, which means he spends his days hearing more Abba than is healthy for any one person, and even he was down for watching it. (Although he did ask that we never play anything by Abba until we arrived in Greece, which is understandable.)
The next day we explored more downtown, and found winding streets full of fun shops and pastel buildings and strings of lights. We went back to the yogurt place, and this time I got yogurt with honey and pecans and it was the best yogurt I’ve ever had and nothing will ever again come close, and don’t say that you can buy Greek yogurt in America because I do and it’s not the same. I would literally go back just to get another taste of that yogurt. Sometimes I think about how it’s not in my life anymore and I fall into a slough of despond. We found some more ruins too that day. I think we saw the aeropagus where Paul preached, but it was closed so we couldn’t go in. The day finished with more souvlaki and a viewing of Meet the Robinsons (hardly in keeping with the Grecian theme, but can we talk about what a beautiful movie it is? It makes me weep every time. Anything to do with adoption turns me into a puddle.)
The next day was Harrison’s last day before he flew home to Canada. We went out on a short expedition, finding a cool market, and also obtaining more yogurt, which had now become our daily bread. We went to the grocery store and got stuff to cook a Greek dinner (chicken, feta, balsamic vinegar and olive oil for dipping bread in, tzatziki, pita, that kind of stuff). I went to get baklava from the local bakery while Josie and Harrison cooked the meal, which was a somewhat harrowing experiencing as the proprietor didn’t really speak English, and I ended up coming back with this huge pie tin full of the stuff which by the end of our time there we had still only made a dent in, so we just left it in the fridge to stew in its honeyed juices. At some point that day we also watched August Rush, because I guess I hadn’t cried enough the day before. We then took Harrison to the metro so he could get the train to the airport. (Btw, they have this total gimmick to ensnare tourist where they say a ticket for the trainline to the airport is 10 euro, whereas a normal one is like 1.50. It’s a total scam so if you ever go, don’t be fooled, they never check people’s tickets, and you can always play the dumb tourist card. If it gives you peace of mind, you can get a 1.50 normal ticket and act like you didn’t realize it wasn’t the right one in the rare event that you get caught.) Anyway, Harrison left and it was very sad, so the next day we just stayed in the apartment so Josie could feel despair to the full, except for a brief excursion to obtain yogurt and also wander around the acropolis one last time. We walked through small forested patches full of wildflowers and found our way back to the giant rock for one last time of sitting and admiring the view. We then returned home to pack, and headed to the airport early the next morning for our flight. Smooth travelling, mostly, except that on our plane was an entire class of youths on some kind of school trip, I guess, and they were incredibly loud and obnoxious, and screamed theatrically every time the plane experienced turbulence. Fortunately it was a short flight, and soon we had arrived at our next destination: Vienna.
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