Athens Rocks

Okay, Fall Break round 2.

I now understand the importance of blogging every day-ish. So much happened during my 9 day trip but I can't share it all. Basically can only give the big picture, which leaves out some annecdotes, etc. Those tend to be the most entertaining for me to share, but oh well.

Anyway, Athens, Greece was awesome. I heard a lot of people say how it wasn't that cool, it was dirty, etc, but man, I loved it. They supposedly cleaned it up for the Olympics, I guess, and they seem to have done a good job. The airport and metro was very nice. We got to our hostel and set out to find this Islamic museum that was free on that day (every Wed). Along the way we found this little look out point that was basically under the Acropolis. It over saw the city and was a cool view. We went back there each night. Here's a night picture of Athens. It's a massive city. During the day, from the Acropolis (which is on a hill in the center-ish of the city) you can see all of Athens. It goes as far as the eye can see (or as far as the smog allows the eye to see) in all directions. I read it's around 6 million people. Huge.

Ah, and I also read that locals like tourists who at least take a stab at their language. I knew they used the Greek alphabet, but I never really thought about it. But when you get in the Athens airport and see pi, sigma, alpha, omega, etc used for words, it hits ya a little harder. Here are the three words I learned and used often. They really did seem to like it when I used them.

Ενχαριστω (ef-khah-ree-STO) = Thank You

Ναι (neh) = Yes

Γειά σας (YAH-sas) = Hello

This symbol ι is called iota. Does this have anything to do with the saying, "Don't give one iota?"

A lot of the Greeks we ran into knew English (if not other languages too). Overall, very friendly people. Of course, it's a very touristy area, so you have to be careful you're not getting ripped off, but overall, they were great.

So anyway, after the Islamic museum, we went to this restaurant near our hostel. It was good and I had this lamb dish that was amazing. Oh the food is so good there. Generally cheaper and has meat. Mmm mmm. Greek salads are great too. Feta cheese is great. Gyros (Yee-ros), moussaka, souvlaki, etc. They know how to eat in Athens. Ah, and worth noting, the government charges restaurants to have tables so getting things to go is much cheaper. An example, we got 1.60€ gyros to go. To stay there it would be 7€.

We went to bed at our crazy hostel (they had a bar and some kind of party each night. We didn't partake, really. We're here to see Athens, not party in a hostel!) and woke up to see the Acropolis. Here's a picture of the main temple dedicated to the goddess Athena. There were a handful of temples up there.
Here's a view from the Acropolis.We then went off the the Agora. This was kind of the main area of the city. Paul, Aristottle, Socrates, and others preached and talked here.We saw all kinds of ruins. Very interesting. I would suggest doing a little research beforehand, though.

Here's a random picture of a bathroom. I just thought it was interesting seeing the Greek language.
And here's the Acropolis from the Temple of Zeus. That was a big temple, too.
And yeah, whoops. Did I do that?
And we saw the Olympic stadium for the 1896 Olympics, the first modern day one.
From there we went to the Parliment building and where the tomb of the unknown soldier is.
There are guards there that change every hour. We happened to get there at 5:00pm, so it was great timing. Interesting to see, too. Here are some pictures of them.
And here's the picture of the guy who "watched" over the crowd.

During the changing of the guards, he paced back and forth and yelled, "Get down!" "Move aside!" and others.

After the changing of the guards, people could resume taking pictures with the guards. Here's mine.And this Japanese woman, maybe 5 foot, stood next to the guard and did the stereotypical Japanese pose of holding up a peace sign. The guard yelled, "Don't do that," but I don't think she understood. She did it again and he loomed over her, all 6'3"+ of his massive, Greek body, and yelled again, "Don't do that!" She then scampered away.

That night we went to this bar that my Let's Go book pointed out (that guide book is amazing. Has all kinds of great tips, ideas, places to see, etc). This is also where I finally tried some ouzo, a Greek drink. Everyone told me I'd love it because I like black licorice. It's made from anise and tastes just like black licorice. No joke. It's like liquefied Crows or something. You mix it with water (or put ice in it) and it turns cloudy. You're suppose to just sip and it was tasty. Basically like candy. Often they'll drink it before the meal or afterwards.
Wow, that's such a terrible smile. Regardless, the drink did make for a nice dessert.

The next day we bummed around Athens and also saw the new Olympic stadium, walked around some markets, and saw a few more ruins.

Basically, that was Athens. It was great. Some other points about it. There are lots of stray dogs. The vendors are not nearly as pushy as in other parts of Europe. Also, and I'll end my Athens thing on this, I saw my first true European drinking fountain. It was a beautiful sight.
If you want to know anything else. Let me know. I got school tomorrow, so I gotta get ready for that. I also register for my classes at SCU tomorrow.

Have a great week, everyone. I hope you enjoyed some of my stories of my Fall Break to Italy and Greece.