Piraeus and Athens, Greece: In 1 Day!

I forgot to mention a funny thing a Croatian said…
Shea and I were sitting on a bench, deciding our options and plans for the day. We asked a local guy next to us what would be the best selection, and he spoke no English at all. The only response he had when we asked was, “debatable.” He knew it was funny and we kept laughing so he kept just saying it over and over every time we tried to ask something. He said it with a heavy accent and that’s all he knew in English! It was so amusing and now when instances come up, Shea and I say, “debatable!”
6/14
We arrived in Piraeus, Greece at about 1am last night, but we had to wait until 10:30am to get off when customs cleared us! They stamped our passports at this stop which is cool because we were told no countries would stamp passports being such a large cruise. We started heading out into Piraeus, and for some reason it reminds me of Naples. Internet cafes, taxis everywhere, little side-street shops, muggy, hot (100 degrees), homeless people, dirty, and just as port-ish as a port city can be! There are way more dogs here though. We went and picked up our ferry tickets for Mykonos tomorrow, then caught a train for 1 Euro to Athens! It was really cheap and really fast. Once we got off (reading Greek is unfeasible), we started wandering around streets filled with shops. There were leather stores, clothing stores, musical instruments, fabrics, carpets, art, fruits, boutiques, hand-made leather shoes, and so much more than we’ve seen this entire summer! We didn’t have much time to shop but we looked and made mental notes. We will have Saturday and Sunday to shop away! Our plan was to go to all of the famous sights around Athens, including the Parthenon. We looked across the street at a place called Quick Pitta. We instantly ran in and started trying to figure out this menu that was in all Greek. Greek is impossible to read and pronounce. This little pita stop was delicious and cozy. I got a chicken pita with fresh red onions, tomatoes, parsley, Greek mayo, and very flavorful rotisserie chicken! We sat outside and then started walking around while eating our scrumptious pita pockets! While we were trying to find our way around and probably looking like lost tourists, a bus tour man walked up to us and started telling us about a hop-on, hop-off bus tour. It was 15 Euro a person to get on this double-decker, get off wherever and whenever you want, and get on whenever and wherever for 24 hours. This was a good deal and we were stoked that we found out about it! Right as we were about to pay and get on, a lady with the same bus tour concept, just a different company, ran up and said she’d give it to us for half of the price! We paid 7 Euro to ride a bus around wherever we wanted and we got off when we felt like touring around! It was nice sitting on the top deck (my first time on a double-decker), feeling the breeze and listening to the headphones tell you about everything you are passing. The first stop we decided to get off on was the Parthenon of course! It was SO hot when we got off and we hiked up slick marble steps to get to the entrance of the even steeper steps to the top of Athens! On the way to the top, there were dogs everywhere (most all have collars, surprisingly), Indian men selling umbrellas, and a massive group of Asian tourists with massive umbrellas. It was a sight to see! When we bought our ticket (6 Euros, student discount) we started walking to the top! On the way up, we looked down over a ledge at the Herodion Theatre. I think they have music concerts there and it looked like something was being set up for an upcoming one. It was really cool to see the old, historic marble columns and know that it’s still used for entertainment today! When we got to the top, the Parthenon was beautifully resting on top of the huge city of Athens. It was still very hot, we were drenched in sweat, and the crowd was minimal. It was so amazing to finally see this structure!! You can image how many pictures we all took in front of this and more pictures with the amazing aerial view of Athens in the background. We hung out up there for a good 45 minutes or hour, it was insanely hot. Some of the people we were with were from up north and they just about died from the heat! I’m thankful that it didn’t feel THAT bad, but was still pretty hot. By the way- there are a ton of Australians in Athens, I don’t know why, but there just are! On the way back down, at the end, we all got these delightful lemon icees and I got mine mixed with the strawberry icee flavor. It was well deserved after hiking around in the gorgeous weather viewing breathtaking scenes :)

We hoped back on the fun double-decker and got off at Zeus’ Temple (Temple of Zeus). It was interesting… I mean it was about 5-6 columns standing in a field with no grass or anything, one bench, and a column that fell over, with a lot of dogs. We were there a grand total of 10 minutes! I took some cool pictures but other than that, it was ok. We then walked to the National Garden and saw the changing of the guards in front of the Prime Minister’s house! There were even more dogs everywhere once we were inside the gardens. One in particular, named Bruno (yes, we named him that), followed us everywhere throughout the gardens and led the way a few times. When we would stop to take pictures, he would roll around and try to play with our feet! We played fetch with a pine cone, that’s all I could find… I took some cute videos and then we said, “stay,” and he didn’t leave that gardens and watched us get back on the bus. It was so precious! We also saw the Olympic Stadium from across the street and took some pictures, then we kept walking around and made our way to the National Archeological Museum. For some reason, when we got to the museum, I just didn’t feel like paying and going in, even though air-conditioning would’ve been nice. I sat on a marble bench outside and just watched all sorts of people walk by while everyone was inside. It was nice sitting by myself and just thinking about everything that I’ve done on the trip so far. A few minutes after sitting there, a man walked up and sat near me, then about 4 more people walked up. They all sat alone and quiet, and sometimes would speak Greek to each other, but they would never look at one another.

Side note- In my global music class, one day Dr. K dressed up like a ‘wandering minstrel’ and acted out their traditional behaviors and informed us about their way of life. He said that these men (and sometimes women) were loners who traveled from place to place, reciting poems or just sitting and sulking. The walk around with one hand in their pocket, one hand holding a coat over their shoulder (used for defense when they would get into underground fights), head down, and usually wear a fedora hat. They make clicking noises with their mouths and usually talk to few people. They are all members of an underground Greek society in speakeasy bars which is illegal. They carry around a string of beads called “worry beads” and they do tricks with them in their hands. Each bead represents a personality trait or a fear the individual has. Dr. K would spin them around and show us the neat tricks they typically do in their hands.

Back to my story- As I was noticing the man that sat near me, I saw that he had a bright orange string with beads on it! He was old, dressed very nice (like Dr. K did in class that one day), and was doing tricks with his beads in his hand! I got so excited that I had just seen what Dr. K had been telling us about in class! It’s a cool feeling when you relate what you learned to the actual country that it was being taught about. I got the courage to ask, “Milate Anglika?” meaning ‘do you speak English’. He had NO idea how to speak English and just stared at me, spoke in Greek, and it was a little scary. I started thinking about him sitting in a bar underground gambling and being illegal with his fellow wandering minstrels, haha. I asked him in hand signals if I could take a picture of the beads. He was so confused and I finally made sense somehow, but nothing was ever really clear. A woman walked up and started speaking Greek to me (it’s all Greek to me…) and she was talking so fast. Then the other 4 people that sat around started talking to each other and me all at once and it really freaked me out! I was sitting alone, surrounded by Greeks, and a few wandering minstrels. Who knows what kind of trouble they get in! I didn’t feel threatened, and they were all smiling. Once the talking settled down, no common words at ALL, one of the ladies pulled out her worry beads and they were stunning. I took pictures of them all and even got my picture taken with the old man while holding up more bright worry beads! When my friends walked out of the museum, they were surprised to see me sitting there, Greek words coming from all directions, taking pictures, and laughing with old creepy people! I started explaining to them the awesome situation that I had just experienced! The minstrels thought I was Russian but I kept saying American, and they would respond with, “Superman!” I guess that helps them relate USA to me? Anyways, it was awesome and I can’t wait to share it to Dr. K! I plan on buying some beads if I see some because it definitely made a special memory :)

After that, we caught the train back to Piraeus, bought some snacks, used free WiFi at the port (which didn’t really work at all), then got back on the ship! Our trip to Mykonos is in the morning (6:15am…) so I need to pack and get well rested! Today was another wonderful day in another wonderful country!