It's All Greek To Me - A Weekend in Athens, Greece

This past weekend, I went to Athens, Greece with Casey, Bliss, and Tynisha.  I was disappointed that some of my roommates couldn't make it, but that's life.  Our weekend started on Thursday night with us not sure if we were going to be able to make the trip.  We read news alerts online that talked of a planned 24 hour strike by Greek air traffic controllers on Sunday.  We weren't sure if we would want to take the risk of being stuck in Greece with midterms this week.  Later on in the evening, we read news reports saying that the strike had been deemed illegal and air traffic should be normal.  Awesome!  Let's go to Greece!  Opa!

Friday morning, the four of us met outside the apartment at 8:50 AM.  We hopped on the FM1 Train to Fiumicino Airport at the station right down the block from our apartment.  When we got to the airport at 10:00 AM, there was quite a line for check in, and our flight left at 11:00 AM!  There was this young Italian woman and her mother who kept trying to skip us in line.  The lady would yell at her mother for walking too slow and eventually just took her bag and carried both of them so she would move faster.  I love people watching!  After we got our tickets, we rushed to security, which was a total breeze!  Not very intimidating like American security at the airport at all.  Very casual, laid back, and the security guards talk to you and ask you about your trip.  Very fun!  We flew Easyjet Airlines and got to the gate right when boarding started.  We stood in line and got on the plane very quickly.  Our flight had open seating, so I sat by Casey in the row right behind Tynisha and Bliss.  I forgot gum on this trip, so my ears  had trouble popping on the plane.  The plane ride was very smooth and short, and I studies for my History of Modern Europe Midterm most of the way.  Our flight took off late, but landed earlier than expected in Athens.  Once we collected ourselves after getting off the plane, we prepared ourselves to go through customs.  Well, customs was just a door.  No passport stamp or anything!  We were so disappointed because we all wanted a stamp from Greece.  Oh well!  There is always a next time!!!

After customs, we walked to buy tram tickets to get into town.  The lady who sold them to us spoke broken English and could tell we were like lost puppies in the airport.  Her and I talked back and forth and she smiled at my attempts to understand her.  We eventually made it down to the correct platform and got on the tram.  I immediately began looking for our stop on the route map and found it.  It was called Monastiraki.  Once I found that, I knew we were one the correct train!  There was this gross couple who had a lot of PDA going on during our crowded hour long tram ride into the city!  They were sitting across the aisle from us and we were happy to get off at our stop when the time came!  We all quickly walked up into Monastiraki Square and were in awe of the city!  It was so awesome to just stand there and think, "I'm in Greece right now!"  The square was so cool with a bunch of little shops, restaurants, and vendors.  Our hostel was right down the main street (Ermou Street) from the square.  We arrived at AthenStyle Hostel and right away were greeted with a plaque that said, "Voted #1 Hostel in Athens" - needless to say, we were pretty excited!  The woman at the desk was very nice and spoke really good English.  We walked up to our room and realized we got a room all to ourselves.  We were expecting to have to share it with two other people, but we had four beds, four lockers, and a bathroom with a shower just to the four of us!  How awesome!

By the time we checked into the hostel, we were all starving because it was close to 4:00 PM (3:00 PM Rome time) so we walked up and down Ermou Street looking for a restaurant.  We found a little one down a side street and decided to try it.  Our waiter was a very funny young Greek guy and he spoke pretty good English.  He made a lot of menu suggestions and helped us decide what to get.  Before he took our order he asked, "Where you from?"
We answered, "The United States".
He then asked me, "You like United Sates"
I said, "Yes very much!"
He replied, "Is it normal to have one man with three pretty girls out to eat there?  Maybe I should move there!"
I replied with a laugh, "Yes, it's totally normal and fun.  You should try it!"

The food at the restaurant was soooooo good!  To start out we got Feta Cheese with olive oil and spices, Greek Salad, and Spicy Cheese Salad with pita bread.  I got Moussaka (ground beef, potatoes, baked with eggplant and feta cheese on top) for my main dish and it was excellent!  I thought I had died and gone to heaven!  Our first taste of Greek food was amazing!    After eating, we walked around to check out some of the shops, explore the city and see some of the Greek Orthodox Churches in town.  There were churches all over the place - just like Rome- and street band/entertainers everywhere performing for money.  The Acropolis is lit up every night and we had an amazing view of it from Monastiraki Square and the rooftop bar at our hostel.  Casey and I each got a gyro in the square before we went to bed and they were awesome!  Traditional Greek gyro in the town square while gazing at the lit up Acropolis - what more could you ask for? We were all exhausted from the day and wanted to get up early the next morning, so we hit the hay around 11:00 PM.  The beds were very comfortable and the hostel was pretty clean.  We picked a good hostel to stay in!

Saturday morning, Bliss and I woke up at 7:30 AM and ventured to the Greek Post Office to buy stamps and send some postcards from Greece!  We had to walk about 10 minutes, and we found it very easily.  When we walked in, the lady behind the counter could tell we were American and knew that we wanted stamps.  It was very funny!  When we got back, Tynisha and Casey weren't up yet, so Bliss and I went downstairs for the free breakfast in our hostel.  They had cereal, bread and jam, juice, and coffee.  Not bad for a free breakfast to start the day off!  We got Casey and Tynisha up and left the hostel by 9:30 AM and walked to the Ancient Agora.  We saw ruins of an ancient Greek civilization - buildings, temples, statues, roads, and artwork.  It was pretty neat to see how they were similar and different from the Romans.  We also walked up to the Temple of Hephaistos who according to Greek mythology was the god of craftsmen.  He made all of the thunderbolts and weapons for Zeus and the gods to use in battle.  It is one of the most preserved temples in all of Greece.

Me with the Parthenon in the background

After we walked around the Ancient Agora, we decided that it was time to get another gyro.  The people in the shop were just mopping the floor so Casey and Tynisha got yelled at in Greek to stay off the floor!  The lady wasn't too happy, but then we all bought gyros and it was okay.  We sat in Monastiraki Square and relaxed before heading up to see the Parthenon.  On the way to the Parthenon, I stopped and bought a shirt and Casey bought a dress from this little Greek man in a shop.  We kept on going and then we got lost.  A Greek lady selling crafts on the side of the road could tell we were tourists and asked, "Parthenon?" We said yes and she pointed us in the right direction with a smile!  Once we walked up to the entrance, there was a sign on the door that said "Today, it's free" So we got in for free and saw the entire Acropolis.  It was amazing what the ancient Greeks built and with such care!  The Parthenon was awesome to see!  There are definitely amazing views from the top of the Acropolis to be seen!

The view of Athens from the top of the Acropolis

After we spent a good portion of the afternoon walking around the Acropolis, we decided to head down the hill and back into town.  On the walk back in, we saw a woman selling paintings on the side of the road and we each bought one.  I got one of the Parthenon with the the sun setting against it.  It is beautiful, hand painted in Greece, and only cost me 10 Euro!  Not bad!

After our big hike, we were all pretty hungry and just wanted another excuse to eat Greek food, so we went to a restaurant.  We were walking down the street when this waiter came up to us and said, "Sit here?  Best place in town!"  We looked at him and said, "Sounds good!  We want the best!"  The food was excellent and I ordered Chicken Souvlaki Dinner and a Greek Salad.  It was so good with all of sauces, pita bread, grilled veggies, olive oil, and Feta Cheese!  After we were all stuffed, we decided to go to the 2004 Olympic Stadium in the city and check that out.  We quickly realized the tram line we could take straight there (the green line) was under partial construction, so we had to take the blue, red, and green lines to get to the stadium.  Once we got there, it was completely quiet.  The Olympic grounds were completely abandoned.  It was really weird to see.  It was all new stuff - just built in for the 2004 games, but was so eerie.  There was graffiti all over, windows were boarded up, there were weeds everywhere, and it looks like it hadn't been used at all since the games.  It was cool to see the torch and where everyone had been a couple years ago, but sad and disappointing to see that it hadn't been kept up.  We took a bunch of pictures there and then took the three trams back to Monastiraki Square.  We walked around the Athens Flea Market which is amazing and then ate dinner at a local restaurant.  This dinner was okay.  I had Doner Pork pita dinner and another Greek Salad.  It could have been better, but still it was worth it!  We walked over to the Hard Rock Cafe so Tynisha could buy a pin for her mom and I also got a Greek newspaper.  No clue what it says, but it's still neat to have!  After our long day, we were all really really tired.  I studies for my midterms for a little while before heading to bed.  In the middle of the night, two random girls with backpacks walked into our room thinking it was theirs.  They quickly realized all the beds were full and ran out.  Not sure how they got in - weird!

Sunday morning came pretty quick and Bliss and I started with breakfast again.  We had to check out of the hostel by 10:00 AM, but could leaves our bags by the front desk for the day until we had to leave, so that's what we did. We mostly sat in Monastiraki Sqaure, took some more pictures, ate one final gyro, and went to a couple more shops before taking the train back to the airport at 11:45 AM.  We hopped on the tram right away, but then got kicked off at the end of the line before the airport.  We had to sit in the station and wait 15 minutes for the tram that went the complete route all the way to the airport.  Apparently, that one only runs every 30 minutes.  Needless to say, we got there in plenty of time for our 2:30 flight and made it through security no problem.  The security at the Athens International Airport is really neat.  They have security by the gate, not before the terminal.  One security station handles 2-5 gates and makes it go a lot quicker.  The flight back was very smooth and went fairly quickly.  I studied on the plane ride home and then came back to my apartment and crashed when we got home around 4:30 PM.  I Skyped with Mom and Dad last night to prepare for Dad's visit in 3 days!  I'm so excited for him to come and visit me in Rome!

Now, it's Midterm Week and I need to study.  I had a little Greek fun in Athens this past weekend, now it's time to hit the books and prepare for my Dad to invade Roma!  Miss you all!