Travelin' Man

I woke up this morning and shaved (those that know me know that this is worth mentioning because it is a super big chore for me, I hate it). I had a pineapple creme pastry from a bakery at Syntagma Square (picture 1). My mouth is watering just thinking about it. I sat in the square and read from my guidebooks some more. I can't believe I am leaving Greece today! I came back to the hostel and finished up yesterday's post. I was basically waiting for 10 am to rolll around so that I could go to the Museum of Cycladic Art (it opened at 10 am). I walked over to the museum and went inside. Part of the museum is in a refurbished 19th century mansion (picture 2). That was really cool. The main part is in the adjacent building though. The floor with the Cycladic Art had a tour group so I went up a floor to the Cypriot Art (Cyprus). That said it was closed until 1 pm. Bummer. The next floor had Ancient Greek Art which was closed for refurbishing. Bigggg bummer. The top and last floor was open. It was a display of Ancient Greek Art but in a new way. They organized the artifacts into categories like marriage, war, burial, children, etc. It was realllllly interesting and there was a video showing actors acting out how the Ancients used the artifacts. One of the best displays I have ever seen in a museum. I went back down the stairs to discover that the Cypriot Art gallery was actually open. That was eye-opening as well. I had no idea that Cyprus had that much history and stuff. I hit up the Cycladic Art last. Loads of those very modern looking guys. Pictures were allowed but I didn't take any. It didn't feel right somehow. I really liked seeing all the statues though. They were carved 2000 years ago... Jeez. I ate at Everest again. It is just too good and cheap to not (picture 3). I went back to the hostel and grabbed my backpack (garden I sat in last night picture 4).

I rode the Metro to the airport and then hopped on the plane to Milan. While waiting for the flight, I met a few girls from Indianapolis who had been studying in Milan and were on their way back so that they could go home. They were cute and nice. The plan ride was pretty uneventful. I ate some crackers and read more of Zorba the Greek. Ever since Heraklion I had not really felt like pleasure reading. I listened to music or read guidebooks instead before I went to bed or rode a bus. But I was tired of reading guidebooks and was back in the mood of pleasure reading so I hit Zorba the Greek hard and was pretty far along by the time the plane landed.

I talked to a woman from Wales on the bus ride from the airport into Milan. She does yoga classes for a living and gives advice about nutrition. I did not ever tell her what my diet had been since I came to England (loads of carbs). She was really nice and in great shape for her age. She was taking the train to Venice to visit a friend that evening. The bus dropped me off at the train station (picture 5). It took a while to find the city bus I needed to get to my hostel because he bus ahd a different place to stop. The directions I got online were "take the #9 bus to Piazza Susa, the hostel is two blocks away". Um, thanks. Once off the bus, I had to ask three different people to help me find the street it was on. I had a kebab sandwich (in foccacia bread, not a pita) for dinner. I loved the different spices and the different bread. I ate it on the balcony that came off my dorm room. I read more Zorba for a while and then went to bed. Milan did not impress me on the first day because it was cloudy, rainy, and confusing. But first impressions are quite often wrong. I liked being in Italy again.

Ciao!

As Awesome As Advertised

A few observations that I have been meaning to share for a long time.

1. Greeks and Turks are short, especially Turks. In all my travels so far, I cannot remember one person from either Greece of Turkey that was as tall or taller than me.
2. Lots of poor people in Athens. I have seen more gypsys selling incense, guys sleeping on benches, and African guys selling purses and sunglasses than anywhere else I have been.
3. There are lots of Canadians in Greece. Turkey was dominated by Australia and New Zealand. Greece has been dominated by Canada (with some US as well).
4. The times that places close in Athens is dumb. All the museums close at 3 pm and all the ruins close at 5 pm. That is ridiculous!
5. Greek middle schoolers and high schoolers have terrible hair, especially in Athens. In 5 years, they are going to look back and be very embarassed I think.

So there are those observations. Today I woke up and ate breakfast in the garden of the hostel. It was four euros for my french toast breakfast but I really liked it. I hadn't had french toast for ages. The service took a while though... I went to the Acropolis. I thought that going early would help alleviated the crowds and it did, just not as much as I thought it would. When I was walking up the mountain (the Acropolis is a mountain for those that don't know), I saw quite a few people walking up too. The whole thing is under renovation ( you can see the scaffolding in the pictures). Every building has some scaffolding on it with the Parthenon having the most. The Parthenon was amazing. It is huge and super cool looking. The marble in the morning light looked pink and golden colored (picture 1). The sun later in the day was not as good. I sat on a lookout thing for over an hour watching the people and looking at the Parthenon. I think I took 7 different groups of people's picture (someone reiprocated the favor in picture 2). It was fun talking to them a little after taking the picture. The view back over the city was nice, minus the smog, as well (picture 3). It was really hot in the sun though. I got down and walked over to the Eurymedon. That's the place with the porch that has six women statues holding up the roof (picture 4). Really cool. The statues are just plaster casts though, the real ones are in the Acropolis Museum. Then I walked down and over to the Keramikos Cemetery. On the way I passed the Sunday Flea Market (picture 5). Um, wow. There were tons and tons of people sitting there literally selling junk. The children's toys were dirty and broken. There was a tv set with the screen smashed. I couldn't believe it. The cemetery was a major meeting place for roads into and out of Athens and it has the best remains of the old wall that surrounded the city. The grave stones were pretty cool as well (picture 6). Archaeologists think that Plato's Academy is somewhere near by but haven't found it yet.

My next stop was the Benaki Museum of Islamic Art. Lots of stuff from the 8th century to the 19th century. I like Islamic Art a lot so it was cool to walk around the museum. Most of the stuff was just like the items I saw at the British Museum. There was a sixteenth century room from Cairo that they transported to the museum. The tiles in it were sweet. From there I walked over to the Ancient Agora. This was where Socrates would walk and discuss stuff with his pupils. It is also where St. Paul preached to the Athenians. The ruins were ok but sort of hard to decifer (picture 7). My favorite part about the Ancient Agora had nothing to do with the ruins. It was the small Byzantine Church in it (picture 8). I walked into the Ceramics Gallery of the Museum of Greek Folk Art. The ceramics were all really nice but, honestly, I wasn't really in the mood. I did a quick peek at the Roman Agora but was kind of "ruins"ed out so it did not impress me. I had a gyro and fries from this place called Thassis. Totally and completely fantastic. They put spice and salt on the fries and the pitas and meat had different spices on them as well. I ate them in the square by the Municipal Cathedral. It was so hot out while I was walking and it really drained me so I went back to my hostel and did Friday's post. Read it if you like. I walked over to the Temple of Zeus after that. It closed at 5pm (dumb) and I just barely had time to walk around the thing and take some pictures. It was the biggest Temple in Athens when it was finished in 100 AD. Some of the columns are still standing and they are massive (picture 9). I can only imagine what it looked like when it was complete. I sat in Syntagma Square for a while and read and people watched.

I had dinner at Everest again. I had a club sandwich and french fries. The sandwich was great. Ham, bacon, mayonaise, tomato, lettuce, yum! While I was eating, a guy came over and talked to me. He said he was from Torino. He talked about his dog and showed me a picture of it. Kind of random of him to come and talk to me but whatever. I walked around for a little bit. I was kind of tired of just walking around in the evening so I went to hostel and sat in the Garden. My original intention was to read but I ended up talking to a bunch of people instead. I met two people from Baton Rogue. They were nice and were doing what I did but backwards. They were starting in Athens and working their way over to Istanbul. I also met a guy from Quebec City. We talked about how Quebec is like Europe but on North America. There was a girl there from Vancouver who had been traveling all over Europe since October (she lived in Edinburgh for three months and worked). I met a couple from Winnepeg that were really nice and ended up being on the same flight to Milan as me. Finally, I met a guy from Miami who was traveling all over the world. He started in August and had been to South America (he snuck into Bolivia), Antarctica (he swam in the water there), Africa (he had an elephant chase his safari car), and Southeast Asia. He was thirty eight and unmarried so he could afford this trip. It was a great time meeting all those extremely interesting and cool people. Then I called my mom on Skype and went to bed.

Oh, What a Night

So my plans are super fluid while I am in Athens. By that I mean that I don't really have anything planned out in advance and that my plans usually change. Like today for instance. My original plan was to take a 3 hour bus to Delphi early in the morning and try and be back by evening. I woke this morning and canceled that plan. It was 26 euros round trip and 3 hours both ways... That's too much money and too much time. Instead I took a bus to the Temple of Poseidon at Sounin. For breakfast, I had a creme pastry that was sprinkled with cinnamon and powdered sugar along with a fruit salad thing. SO GOOD. The fruit salad was awesome because I do eat fresh fruit much anymore. The bus ride was only 1.5 hours and only costs 5 euros. The Temple of Poseidon was built at the southern most tip of the part of Greece called Attica. Attica is the region surrounding Athens. The Temple was 6 columns wide by 13 columns long. 15 columns are still standing which are really awesome (picture 1). The whiteness of them against the blue sky and redish brown earth was striking. Sailors, long ago and today, saw the columns and knew that they were close to Athens and home (picture 2). I met a woman from Oregon, she took my picture. She is on sabatical in Florence and came to Greece for a week. She was nice. I also met a couple from the Netherlands. We looked for Lord Byron's name on one of the columns (he carved his name when he visited over 150 years ago). We never did find it. The couple asked where else I was headed and was probably a little offended that I am going to Belgium but not the Netherlands (I ended up changing my mind on that which would probably make them happy).

On the bus ride back, the guy who collects the money talked to me about John Kerry for a while. The guy is Greek but was talking about John Kerry like he was a super hero. Pretty strange but good for him for knowing more about him than I do. I walked around and got a pita for lunch. I decided to climb up Lyccabettus Hill. It's a hill in the northeast of Athens. It was superhot today (over 80) and I was sweating like a pig at the top. The views were super (picture 3 is one of my absolute favorite pictures of the trip). The solar panels on the roofs of the houses where glittering like glass. There was some smog for sure though. On the top of the hill is a church (picture 4). There is a funicular that you can ride down or up but it was 3 euros each way! I'd rather sweat. The top of the hill also has a theater where concerts and performances are held during the Athenian Festival in July or August. After that I walked down from the hill and through the Klamaka neighborhood. It is a posh and trendy place with lots of cafes and shops. Kind of like Kensington in London but not as pretty. I walked past the President's House and alongside the National Gardens again. I finally arrived at my destination, the Panatheniac Stadium (picture 5). It was built for the first Modern Olympic Games in 1896 and can hold 69,000 people. It was completely made out of marble. The Greeks call it "pretty marble". Then I walked back to the hostel and sat around for a little bit (a siesta sort of). I headed out and ate dinner at a place called the Noodle Bar (it was listed in my Let's Go book, thanks Amy!). I had sweet and sour chicken. Incredibly delicious and a huge change from the food I had been eating since I left London. It reminded me of how me, Garrett, Ben, and Ryan went to China Restaurant in St. Cloud every other Sunday. It also reminded me of when Vanessa and I had chinese food in Rome. Anyway, it was delicious and after that I walked and got a little gelato for dessert. Also fantastic. I decided to walk around for a while since that is what everyone else seemed to be doing.

I walked through the Plaka, the neighborhood I am staying in. It is super touristy and has narrow streets so walking is tough. Everyone seemed to be out looking at restaurants and just enjoying the night air. I walked near the Acropolis and there was a HUGE book fair going on (picture 6). No English books though. All Greek. There were soooo many books and a lot of people walking around looking at them. The white tents probably stretched for over a quarter of a mile and were double sided (one publisher on one and side and another on the other side). There were street preformers as well. One street performance was a guy playing violin and a woman manipulating a puppet woman that danced. It was entrancing. Then I walked over to Monstaraki. That's another neighborhood close by. There were three girls playing music in a square near there (picture 7). They were awesome. They played some Beatles, Greek music, Italian music, Elvis, everything. Lots of fun. I think I watched them for over an hour. Then I walked back to the hostel. It was a great night and I had a lot of fun today. Tomorrow: Acropolis.

Toodles!

Introducing Athens (Starring Sore Feet)

I woke up pretty early and checked out of my hostel so I could get an earlier bus. I took the eight am bus back to Athens and then the city bus into town. The city bus ended at Omonia Square which is a ways from where my hostel is. It took about 30 minutes of wandering and walking for me to find the area that my hostel is located in. I was sweating so bad when I arrived. It is hot in Athens. Forecast is around 80 degrees and sunny every day that I will be here. My hostel is called Traveler's and Student's Inn. It has free internet, a garden area, hot showers and breakfast (that you pay for, only 4 euros though). Not bad. My hostel room has three Asians and me. The Inn is located right in the middle of the Plaka. That's the area of Athens with narrow streets and TONS of tourists shops and tavernas. It is kind of overwhelming walking through the streets sometimes. I walked around the Plaka and found a gyros stand that was basically inside a wall (picture 1). I had a gyro and it was fantastic. The meat was a little spicier than normal and I really liked it. I walked by some of the ruins, Ancient Agora, Roman Agora and Kermaikos Cemetery, but did not go into them. I am waiting until another day. I walked all the way back up to Omonia Square and up even more to the National Archaeological Museum.

The National Archaeological Museum is quite large (not as big as the British Museum of course) and houses artifacts from all over Greece (picture 2). I started in the Sculpture Gallery. I saw a bunch of kronoses. These were the popular thing in sculpture for a long time. They are a naked guy standing with his arms at his sides and his left foot slightly more forward of his right. I moved on to newer statues. They have the statue from the inside of the Temple of Poseidon at Sounin. It's a bronze statue of a Poseidon about to throw his trident. I saw some sculptures of Greek Gods. There was a large collection of grave stone sculptures. Both reliefs and stand alone sculptures. They were very interesting. There were Roman sculptures as well. I moved on to the next section in the museum, the Prehistoric Gallery. This gallery houses things from the Cyclades, Mycenae, and Crete. I saw a whooooole bunch of pots and those awesome Cycladic statues. There's one of a guy playing a lute (picture 3). I loved this statue. The Museum has the biggest complete Cycladic statue discovered. It is about 4 ft tall. They have a bunch of stuff from the graves at Mycenae. There is the famous metal mask (called the Mask of Agememnon but it was created at least 200 years before him). There are a bunch of swords which I liked as well. Basically, there was just a large amount of stuff from these graves. They have a lot of the artifacts collected from Akrotiri on Santorini as well. The wall paintings from Akrotiri are in the National Archaeological Museum which were cool to see. I liked the one with two boys boxing. One of the boys had earrings and other jewelry (picture 4). I moved on to the Egyptian Gallery. My favorite thing about the Egyptians is their amulets. I love how they all are said to have different magical powers and designs. There were also some paintings from the Roman era in Egypt that I liked. There was a guy in this gallery who took 4 pictures of every object he liked. While I was trying to look at stuff I kept hearing "click, click, click, click". Very annoying. By this time, the museum was closing (it closes at 3 pm, too weird). I was basically kicked out which sucked because I had to pretty much run through the bronze and pottery galleries without really looking at them. The lights were being shut off as I walked through the galleries.

I left the Museum and bought some crackers from a stand as a snack to keep my energy up. I walked through the Central Market (picture 5). Not for those with queasy stomachs. Holy crap. There were pig's heads and feet and chicken livers and cow tongues and every other kind of meat you could ever think of. It did not smell good inside. There was a fish section as well. Loads of fish. I walked to Monastoraki. This is a square with a bunch of streets lined by shops leading up to it (picture 6). I bought a bracelet here. From there, I zoomed over to the National Gardens (picture 7). Lots of trees and stray dogs. I hate stray dogs. They are all over Athens. The Gardens are not as pretty as I thought they would be. They were nice but not near as good as any park in London. I saw a commercial being filmed (picture 8). That was interesting. I don't know what the product was though. The director was old and kept showing the actor how he wanted it done. That was funny. I walked back to my hostel and then went to eat dinner. I walked around trying to find a place in my Frommer's book but it turns out that place doesn't exist. Instead I had a deli sandwich from Everest, a fast food like place. It was good. I also had milk with the sandwich. It was the first time I had milk in forever. It tasted good. I walked around on the pedestrianized streets while the sunset, like everyone else was doing, and then had a piece of nut cake for dessert. It wasn't very expensive and was freaking delicious. The cake part was marble but the frosting was carmelized and chewy with pieces of pecan in it. I walked by some ruins and a view of the Acropolis (picture 9). I came back to the hostel and went to bed. I was tired from all the walking I did and all the heat. I did all the walking in flip flops... bad decision.

Au Revoir!