Athens

I never expected this part of the trip to be one of my favorites, but the city of Athens certainly surprised me.  There are many reasons that I thought the city of Athens would not appeal to me- I already visited Greece (in March), it seemed over-visited and much more developed than Istanbul, and even though I don’t buy into the whole “Macedonia vs. Greece” dispute, I have heard enough negative things about Greece while living in Macedonia that my excitement had been tempered.  But I repeat- this may have been my favorite part of my vacation with my brother.

After flying on an airplane for the first time in almost a year, we landed smoothly in the Athens airport, and we were able to catch the public bus from the airport to the historic center.  Riding through the city, I no longer felt like I was in the Balkans.  Compared to Thessaloniki, Athens reminded more of South Florida than it did of Southeast Europe.  This was one reason why I enjoyed Athens so much- I finally felt like I was escaping the “Balkan” atmosphere and I felt like I was in the Western world again.  Don’t get me wrong, I have adapted well to living in the Balkans.  But it is refreshing to experience a Western atmosphere after lacking it for about a year.

My brother and I were staying in a hostel in between the National Gardens and the Acropolis.  My brother was initially reluctant to stay in a hostel, but I forced him to take the gamble since he had never lodged in a hostel before.  In my opinion, it is always best to stay in a hostel at least once when one is young, so he took the dive despite his desire to lodge comfortably throughout the whole vacation. 

The view from the room of our hostel

The view from the rooftop bar of the hostel

The atmosphere of the hostel was another reason why Athens was my favorite part of the trip.  Backpackers (the hostel) was very close to the historic sites, and it was comfortable and secure enough that I felt at home right away.  We arrived at about 7PM, which was just in time for the hostel Happy Hour on the roof.  From the roof, we could see the Acropolis and all of the surrounding area.  Additionally, the energy of all of the guests was great.  At first my brother and I were too introverted to talk to people.  But as space became limited on the roof and people were forced to sit near us, we chatted up young folk from all around the world.  We met people from Australia, the UK, Portugal, Canada, Brazil, Russia, and many other places.  Some were students taking a break, others were freelance workers on vacation, while another had recently quit his job as an aerospace engineer to travel.  We talked and drank all night, and even though it was great to bond with my brother one-on-one in Istanbul, listening to interesting stories from people from around the world added a nice twist to our vacation.  Since we were exhausted from sightseeing so much in Istanbul, we spent the night at the hostel, and we hung out with these people until we could no longer stay awake.

Meeting new friends at the hostel

Monday was our only full day in the city, so we were insistent on seeing all we could in Athens.  We started the day with a run through the National Gardens.  We were not in the best state to run at full capacity, due to the drinking the night before, but our sedentary days (read: days without any high-intensity activities) that we experienced in Istanbul prompted us to continue with our plans to jog in the park.  The National Gardens were absolutely beautiful, and the run was one of the most pleasant I had ever experience, even if I was more dehydrated than usual.  After our run, my brother and I bought our tickets for the ancient sites (15 Euros to see all of the ancient sites in Athens) and headed straight for the Parthenon.  The weather was absolutely sunny and hot, just as I imagined it would be in Athens.  After navigating through the crowds of Spanish tourists, we reached the Parthenon.  Unfortunately, it was undergoing renovations, but it was still breathtaking.

In the amphitheater

Entering the Parthenon

View of Athens from the Acropolis

From there, we descended back into town to meet with my friend, Christian.  She and her mother were also visiting Athens at the same time, so we decided to meet at the Agora (technically, there are two agoras in Athens, but the Roman and Ancient agoras are very close to each other).  We arrived at the Agora about 15 minutes late, and I worried that we made her wait and that she wandered without us.  We decided to explore the Ancient Agora and hope that we would run into my friend. 

As we were aimlessly walking through the Agora, there were times when my brother and I were walking alone.  This is what probably attributed most to my enjoyment of Athens.  Athens was much emptier than I thought it would be.  Even though it was September 1, which is Labor Day in the US and only a day after holidays end in Europe, Athens was much less busy than I thought it would be.  I could only imagine how crowded it would be in July, but the amount of tourists present when we were visiting was ideal for me.  I felt like I could experience Athens more and breathe it in during periods of silence (especially during the quiet times of Athen’s siesta).

Roman Agora

Ancient Agora

Temple of Hephaestus

We were never able to find my friend, so we decided to explore the rest of the city.  We walked past the other sites to which we had passes, but many of these sites were just remnants of libraries or temples, so columns and foundations of walls began to bore us.  We stopped for a quick coffee at a neat café near the flea market (the café was called The Art Foundation), and then we continued along the busy street to Technopolis.  Technopolis is an old steam plant that was converted into cafes, bars, and a concert/ venue space.  It was pretty empty when we visited in the late afternoon, later during our trip we learned that it was much more bopping during the night.  Finally, we staggered back to the hostel under the heat, and climbed the larger hill near the Acropolis (Filopappou Hill) just as the sun was beginning to set.  After exploring a neat church and some secret caves, we returned to the hostel.

Technopolis

Walking through the Athenian streets

View of the Acropolis from a nearby hill

Secret caves

Upon returning to the hostel, I learned that my Christian had gotten into a car accident on her way to the center, and thus she was unable to meet with us earlier.  Luckily she and her mother were ok, and we decided to meet near our hostel for drinks.  Christian and her mother met me a café near the Acropolis metro stop.  After talking for some time, we decided to take a walk through the National Gardens.  As we were strolling, we noticed that there was a large crowd in front of the museum.  We stopped by to learn that they were commemorating the anniversary of a Greek politician who was assassinated decades ago.  I am not sure, but I think that the politician’s name was Pavlos Bakoyannis, a politician who was outspoken against the military dictatorship (then ruling Greece) and was assassinated by a terrorist organization. 

Even though the opening of the exhibit was a peaceful event, there were police officers everywhere near the park.  We did a full loop around the park, and we may have seen six or seven trucks filled with the Greek SWAT teams, all stationed around the perimeter.  As far as I know, nothing happened, but this may be the “risk of riots” that people talk about when visiting Greece these days.  Upon returning to my hostel, I bid my farewell to Christian and her mother, and my brother and I returned to an interesting restaurant that was suggested by Rick Steves.

Arch of Hadrian 

National Gardens

Parliament Building near Syntagma Square

Recommended by Rick Steves

With our stomachs full, my brother and I decided that we would find a nice place to drink wine and relax for our final night in Athens.  However, as we were passing our hostel, one of the people we had met the night before on the roof asked us where we had been all day.  According to her, “everybody was looking for us”, and they wanted us to join them for Pub Trivia.  My brother and I were surprised and elated to know that we were “missed,” and we assured her that we would join them for trivia.  Thus, we enjoyed a less quiet night playing trivia, and we came very close to winning.  Our large team tied with another team (also from our hostel), and both teams were pitted against each other in a sudden-death match.  Our team chose my brother as its representative, and he and a member of the opposite team were required to listen t0o a song and name as quickly as they could the artist and title of the song.  Neither were able to guess the first (Bon Jovi’s “Wanted Dead or Alive, I think).  But when the bar played Guns and Roses’ “Sweet Child of Mine”, my brother was just a bit to slow to respond before the opposition.

Competing for Pub Night

We returned to the hostel, still with our heads high, and we went to bed early since both my brother and had a six-hour bus ride to Thessaloniki in our travel plans.  We woke up early to run again in the National Gardens, enjoyed some Greek Yogurt, packed our bags, and took the subway to a random part of town where the buses for Thessaloniki were located.  We just only barely missed the 11:30 bus, so we were forced to wait for the 13:00 bus.  As we were waiting, the sunny Athenian sky gave in to clouds and rain, and by the time we arrived in Thessaloniki, the downpour was in full force.  Unable to do much, my brother and I enjoyed our last extravagant Greek meal, and after ordering more food than we could force into our bellies, we gave into the exhaustion of the six-hour bus ride and put a cap on an otherwise uneventful day of traveling.

Enjoying our last day in Greece, strolling down the seaside in Thessaloniki