I’ll say more on that later.
So I woke up at seven, and the ship was already parked at Piraeus, our not very scenic port. I like to think of it as Naples part two, except without a castle at port. It’s grimy. It’s gross looking. It’s not picturesque.
As you probably know more so than me, Greece is in a bit of a financially dilemma (then again so is Spain and Italy, but whatever.) It’s so bad that various parts of life our going on strike. You know what one of those are today? It’s the Metro (which has been the most awesome thing in any city.) That set the tone for the morning.
When we got out, we were immediately harassed by taxi drivers wanting to give us rides down to the Acropolis, but it would goes five euros per person, while the bus was anywhere from 1.20 to 1.40 euros. I was not going to deal with these guys, but they kept coming at my face. I got really really angry and I flipped out on one of them. Hang calmed me down though, or at least tried to, so I had to be careful not to flip out on her as well. She eventually found a place for us to buy tickets, and we jumped on what might as well have been a random bus at the time, and we headed off.
While on the way, we met a nice woman from Copenhagen, who had been travelling in Greece for about ten days prior. She told us about an island called Aegina, where they have nice beaches, and where she spends most of her time vacationing. Hang and I were enthusiastic to here that it is really cheap to go to- we might even go on Wendesday. We’ll see what happens.
When we got to the end of the line, which was very close to the Acropolis, we walked through this street which, while certainly not the flea market, was pretty darn cheap. There were Lionel Messi jerseys for ten euros. Get at us. Brianna bought a nice frilly hat for one euro. Que linda.
After walking through a square and traversing a few neighborhoods, we ended up at the Acropolis. We paid the student price of six euros to enter, which is pretty cheap, in relation to the full price of twelve euros. We passed by a few ampitheatres, went through the front gate, and next thing you know, we can see the Parthenon, except it had a crane in it. It’s pretty majestic despite wholesale damage. I’ll admit, it didn’t phase me as much as it did others, because I see the Lincoln memorial maybe every other month. But it’s still cool, and something that needs to be on everyone’s international bucket list.
Afterward, we ate lunch, and we all had kebap for three euro. It was genius, meat, fries, tomatoes, onions, and taziki sauce in a pita. How can you go wrong?
Afterward, we tried to go to the Temple of Zeus but it was closed. Someone told us it was because Sarkozy and Clinton were in town. I was very confused at the point, but I took the man’s word. We then took a picture in front of Hadrian’s arch. Why isn’t my name Hadrian? I would own so much stuff here in Greece and in Rome if I did. It sucks to be one letter away from being awesome.
Afterward, we checked out the Zappio and the area in front of it, and did some souvenir shopping. I didn’t buy anything yet.
Then we went to the new Acropolis Museum. It’s a museum dedicated to the Acropolis, with artifacts from the ancient city scattered throughout three floors. We ran into other people from Semester at Sea and found out Hillary Clinton was in town, and she was actually coming there. After meeting some friends on the top floor, and waiting just a little bit, next thing you know, there were a bunch of security guards guarding an isle. Then suddenly you see a really old blonde woman heavily guarded. Oh my god! A lot of people from Semester at Sea shook her hand, but my first priority was to take her picture. Unfortunately, the first picture I took went out of focus. I was so angry. Defeated, and bored by a press conference, we went back to the first floor. But then came the convoy into the gift shop. Victoria and a few other girls from Semester At Sea had their picture taken with her. But when she got out, I got the shot of my life. Yeah, that’s right. I’ll upload it later.
After exploring the Greek and Roman agoras, we did some more shopping, and then we looked for somewhere to eat. Following Hang, I got uneasy when the road looked more and more ghetto, with graffiti on all the walls as well as the buildings looking more run down. But next thing you know, we come by this nice, almost new looking restaurant with dance music playing, and the owner standing in front. I don’t know what Hang said to him, but next thing you know, he’s giving us a tour of his kitchen to show us how clean it is, and showing us how our food would be cooked if we ate there. He even let us taste his very lemony potatoes. Pretty much everyone was convinced that we should eat there.
For dinner, I had Souvlaki, with a side of fries, served with lemon, tomatoes, onions, pita, and taziki sauce. I think I love Greek food now, but I’m not gonna just settle for Marathon Deli anymore. The chicken was grilled, with peppers, like shish kebab. You can’t beat that already. But then you take the chicken off in bits, put them on a pita, put taziki on top, next thing you know, you’ve died and gone to heaven. God bless Hang.
Muhammad is playing Halo.
Tomorrow, we’ll hit the streets of Athens again.
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