Athene

Becca was kind enough to allow Ryan and I to stay with her in Athens, and see the ancient city! She warned us about the frequent strikes--the day before we arrived was a huge, city wide strike, and there had been some violent ones earlier that month. Luckily, strikes are so common in Europe, every country has a website announcing them.
After getting totally lost wandering the streets, the police advised we take a cab--SO CHEAP! Can’t beat a 5 euro cab ride through the whole city. We met up with the beautiful Becca, who took us out to gyro, and then to a Carnival gathering at her school. It was so fun watching them Greek dance (poor Becca was in a foot cast, and couldn’t show us her moves)
On Friday we went to the fresh market with her roommates, where I was stuffed with olives and raisins by pleasant vendors, and amazed by the cheap prices, olive oil hand bottled in plastic, and eggs sold by the piece. We went to an adorable bakery and got spank pita and cheese pies, which I am addicted to. We began our sight seeing, and climbed the hill of the Acropolis. It was covered in the resident feral dogs. There are plenty all over Athens, and they are adorable. Many are collared, but none are violent. They don’t roll in packs, which surprised me. One followed me around a little, after I stared at him a bit J (The cats are terrifying though. I thought one cat was going to seriously jump me). We then rolled Becca around the Acropolis Museum, where we ran into one of Ryan’s old friends from the dorms, who lives in my apartment complex! Whar are the odds. Becca stuffed us full of stuffed peppers at her apartment J What a great Greek! I admired the lemon trees off her balcony, and she told me the orange trees on the street produce bitter fruit. It’s crazy to think of fruit trees as a natural part of the surroundings--When we went to Limone, off Lake Garda, in Italy, lemon trees were everywhere. (This is where Limoncello, or as they call it in the north, Limoncino, originated. It’s a lemon liquor).
On Saturday, Ryan and I went sight seeing--since we’d done the Acropolis, it was an easy day compared to our Parisian adventures. We went to the Ancient Agora, Hadrians Library, the Olympic stadium, and Hadrians Arch. I was honestly expecting more, but Ancient Greece was much more compact than I knew. It was very run down (Obligatory joke: How was Athens? Eh, its kind of falling apart. Groan) after all these centuries. There was so much history, but it was sad how much disrepair has occurred. Athens is a great city, but dirty after being occupied so long.
Did I mention you can’t flush toilet paper? You can’t flush toilet paper. This amazed me to no end. There’s no subway either, I imagine since a. cabs are so cheap and b. theres ruins under everything! Other differences in Greece: people stand much closer to you, and talk a bit louder. Food is a bit heavier, and lots of feta cheese, but whos complaining! Much fewer normal citizens spoke English, but thank goodness the police did. The city was a bit more cramped, and much hillier.
We bid goodbye to Becca on Sunday, and went through the amazing Athens airport (a nice change after shady warehouses…it was built for the Olympics, very modern, drinking fountains, charging stations, amazing!) to our flight.
F’farestume Becca (the only butchered Greek I know!) for putting us up! (And for sharing books with me--everyone I shared the Hunger Games with is addicted to it! ) What a relaxing weekend, as only Greece can provide. I hope I get to go to the islands sometime(you know, when I return to Europe in 10 years or something), I hear they are a slice of paradise.