As promised, here’s the first installment in my travel logs from our trip to Greece. I enjoy reading other people’s accounts of their trips abroad… it’s such a better way to get a feel for the experience than reading any map or guide book. Hopefully someone out there will get something out of this and decide to plan their own trip to Greece (or anywhere else for that matter).

One of the hardest parts about travelling overseas is the flying. I am not a big fan of airplanes — it’s not that they scare me or make me uneasy, it’s just that I can’t stand sitting still in one place for such an extended period of time in close quarters with so many strangers. Maybe the real problem is that I just need to start flying first class. The flight into Athens was not overly long by some people’s standards (Japan is like 14 hours I believe?) but the killer part was a 5 hour layover in Heathrow. What are you supposed to do in an airport for 5 hours? We were able to kill some time exporing the multitude of overpriced stores before attempting to sleep for a couple hours. If you think it’s hard sleeping on a plane, try sleeping at an airport on a lounge chair beside a kids’ play area. Not to mention the announcements that come at 5 minute intervals reminding you not to leave your luggage unattended lest it be “removed and destroyed” (I’d be interested to know how exactly they “destroy” people’s luggage. Dynamite? Garbage compactor? I wonder.).

By the time we finally got to Athens and took a train into Monastiraki it was 6:30 pm or so, but to our bodies it was about 3 am. We still managed to stroll up to the Acropolis (our hotel was less than 10 minutes away) and have dinner at a vegetarian restaurant called Eden. Being vegetarian turned out to be not a big problem for us, despite the whole “Big Fat Greek Wedding” stereotype (”You don’t eat meat? We’ll make lamb!”).

One thing we noticed in Athens and then everywhere else we went in Greece is that there are a lot of stray dogs here. They’re generally pretty friendly, often dead to the world, although there was one in Crete that was snapping at anyone who came near him. They definitely have no qualms about unfolding a fresh load of poop anywhere and everywhere — which is a bit of a problem because if there’s no owner, there’s no one cleaning up after it either. I guess that’s one of many contributors to the belief that Athens is a dirty city. Truth be told, it is dirty, but no more so than any other heavily-populated metropolis. There was a lot of graffiti on buildings as well, but hey, not every capital city can be as sterile as Ottawa!

Another thing we kept seeing everywhere was people on the street corner selling these weird metal beads that made a whirring/clicking noise when they rub together. Confident street vendors would smile and demonstrate as we walked by, insistent that every visitor needed one of these to enhance their authentic Greek experience.

Our hotel (Hotel Attalos) was not necessarily the lap of luxury but it was clean and most importantly it was in a great location. Most of the hotels we stayed at had these tiny showers with no doors or curtains — just a small barrier along the ground, a few inches high to confine the water to a corner of the bathroom. Keeping floors dry was pretty much impossible for me.

Athens was extremely hot, which seems to be a recurring theme for us when travelling. Our first full day of exploring the city was a very exhausting and sweaty affair. Similar to Rome, it’s strange how the congestion and amenities of modern life have developed alongside these amazing monuments of ancient times.

The Acropolis and the Parthenon are extremely impressive, although all the scaffolding, construction and huge crowds kind of take away from it a bit. I suppose most major landmarks leftover from ancient times have this problem though. One of the most breathtaking things about the climb up to it is the view of Athens from up on the hill. The city just looks like a tightly packed urban spawl that stretches out to infinity.

After the Acropolis we checked out the Theatre of Dionysus, Hadrian’s Arch, and the Temple of Olympian Zeus (the largest temple in Greece). All this took us only the morning and a couple hours, then we had lunch at an outdoor cafe and came back to the hotel and crashed. I guess it’s true that you can see most of the major stuff in Athens in under a day.

In the evening we went back out exploring and found a movie theatre fairly close by that was showing The Da Vinci Code in English (with Greek subtitles). We wandered a bit more, saw Athens University and Library, ate some spaghetti at Goody’s (Greece’s very own fast food chain — you can’t say we weren’t taking in the culture!) and then caught the movie. The theatre was really cool with these fake marble floors and big pillars in the lobby area, and then plush comfortable seats inside. It was assigned seating, which was weird for a fairly empty theatre, and there was also an intermission (ie. smoke break) about halfway through the movie. Tons of cigarette commercials before the movie started too. I guess there’s a reason why Greece has the highest percentage of smokers in Europe.

Our last day in Athens we had a lot of time to kill before catching a plane to Santorini. We checked our the rooftop bar on top of our hotel, then set out to see the Ancient Agora and Archaeological Museum (which, by the way, is not in the nicest area of town). At first we thought the Athens Polytechnic Institute next door was the museum itself and it just looked horribly uninviting (there was a barred gate with a padlock on it, plus lots of signs about upcoming political protests and stuff). Apparently the place has a history of violence. When we found the museum it still wasn’t open (1 pm on Mondays) so it was over to another nearby Goody’s for some food in the meantime!

The museum had a lot of cool sculptures and artifacts, but after a while they all started to look the same. We headed back to the hotel, grabbed our backpacks, and then caught the Metro to the airport. Thankfully some nice lady informed us at the last stop that the particular train we were on was not continuing on to the airport and that we would have to get off and transfer.