Where: Athens, Greece
When: July 20-21, 2007
With: Rachel and Lucy
Since I can remember, since before I even had a bucket list, Greece has always been the place I've wanted to travel to the most. As a classics minor in college, I was always fascinated by the mythology, the ruins, and the culture. However, it always felt like a trip that was so far away and exotic, it was out of my grasp. Like, people don't just go to Greece on vacation.
I was almost a year into my first real job post-college, and when the prospect of taking this trip came up, I can barely explain the exhilaration of deciding to go. It wasn't as expensive as I might have imagined...and I had the money to afford it...and no one could stop me. It was my first adult vacation, not with parents, not just visiting friends in some US city, but a real, foreign, my decision, my money, vacation. To be honest, booking this trip was probably what sealed the deal of travel for me. After this, I was unstoppable and nowhere in the world was out of the question.
We booked our trip through a tour company called Contiki. It's travel geared for 18-35 year old travelers, and everything is pretty much taken care of for you. The trip would start in Athens before jumping on a cruise ship through the Greek islands and bits of Turkey. I was amazed how easy it was to book and be done with a 10 day trip!
This was also my first trip to a country that didn't speak English (cruise ports in Mexico don't count). I spent weeks listening to a Greek language instructional tapes on my iPod attempting to learn the basics. I had dreams of having casual conversations with shopowners and taxi drivers in Greek. Sadly, the very basics was all I learned, and while that helped in some ways, attempting to ask the cab driver "where are you from?" after landing in Athens proved that the "basics" don't cover the very long-winded response.
So after a lifetime of anticipating this trip, we landed in Athens, piled into a cab, and took our first drive through Greece. It was surreal. The sky above was so blue, and the whitewashed buildings were scattered and clumped everywhere. And as we turned around a particular mountain bend, in between me flubbing my way through Greek with the cab driver, I saw it for the first time. The ultimate site on my bucket list: the Acropolis.
We decided to give ourselves a day to overcome jetlag and get our bearings before seeing any major sites. However, the fact that you can see the Acropolis from pretty much anywhere in the city (hence the root of the word: polis means "city" and acro means "highest") is very tantalizing . Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed the continued surrealness of our day.
We were staying in the plaka district of Athens, meaning the "old city". It was easily the best place we could have been. The streets were narrow and windy, and there were ruins everywhere. We ate at a little cafe in the middle of a shady square. The waiters brought us free shots of ouzo (like Greece's version of grappa, its a digestive that tastes like black licorice) to welcome us to the country. Already, we were overwhelmed by how friendly everyone was. Opa!
When: July 20-21, 2007
With: Rachel and Lucy
Since I can remember, since before I even had a bucket list, Greece has always been the place I've wanted to travel to the most. As a classics minor in college, I was always fascinated by the mythology, the ruins, and the culture. However, it always felt like a trip that was so far away and exotic, it was out of my grasp. Like, people don't just go to Greece on vacation.
I was almost a year into my first real job post-college, and when the prospect of taking this trip came up, I can barely explain the exhilaration of deciding to go. It wasn't as expensive as I might have imagined...and I had the money to afford it...and no one could stop me. It was my first adult vacation, not with parents, not just visiting friends in some US city, but a real, foreign, my decision, my money, vacation. To be honest, booking this trip was probably what sealed the deal of travel for me. After this, I was unstoppable and nowhere in the world was out of the question.
We booked our trip through a tour company called Contiki. It's travel geared for 18-35 year old travelers, and everything is pretty much taken care of for you. The trip would start in Athens before jumping on a cruise ship through the Greek islands and bits of Turkey. I was amazed how easy it was to book and be done with a 10 day trip!
This was also my first trip to a country that didn't speak English (cruise ports in Mexico don't count). I spent weeks listening to a Greek language instructional tapes on my iPod attempting to learn the basics. I had dreams of having casual conversations with shopowners and taxi drivers in Greek. Sadly, the very basics was all I learned, and while that helped in some ways, attempting to ask the cab driver "where are you from?" after landing in Athens proved that the "basics" don't cover the very long-winded response.
We decided to give ourselves a day to overcome jetlag and get our bearings before seeing any major sites. However, the fact that you can see the Acropolis from pretty much anywhere in the city (hence the root of the word: polis means "city" and acro means "highest") is very tantalizing . Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed the continued surrealness of our day.
We were staying in the plaka district of Athens, meaning the "old city". It was easily the best place we could have been. The streets were narrow and windy, and there were ruins everywhere. We ate at a little cafe in the middle of a shady square. The waiters brought us free shots of ouzo (like Greece's version of grappa, its a digestive that tastes like black licorice) to welcome us to the country. Already, we were overwhelmed by how friendly everyone was. Opa!
While we didn't go into any museums, we just wandered and explored. We saw the Old Royal Palace (where Parliament has sat since 1934) and the Academy of Athens, made to look like an old Greek building.
We wandered through the city's National Garden, a huge public park right in the middle of the city. It was beautiful and made us fall in love with Athens further.
And all the while, the Acropolis looked down on me.
That first night, Contiki organized a traditional Greek meal, complete with local dancers. We got to meet some of the people on our tour and enjoy some amazing food. This was definitely a surreal cap to a day I still was processing had actually happened.
After day 1, we were fully indoctrinated and the next day, we woke up ready to truly enjoy the Acropolis. The only problem was we had a tough time figuring out how to get up there. We walked and walked in the heat, but just seemed to keep circling the base. It was so close, and yet we hung on the gates at the bottom desperately pleading for it to show us the way to the top!
Finally, someone set us on the right route and the elevation began to change. We started seeing some of the fortifications along the base of the mountain.
As we approached the entrance along the same, slippery marble footpath that millions before us had climbed, we finally entered and found ourselves on top of the Acropolis facing the 2,500 year old Parthenon. Ahhh, totally geeking out!!
Completed in 432BC, this structure was a temple dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena, the patron saint of Athens, at the height of Athens' power. It used to be gilded in gold and painted in all kinds of colors, and the top border used to contain carved marble statues telling various stories of war and mythology. Those statues, among other artifacts, were removed in the 1800s by the British Earl of Elgin, and now the "Elgin marbles" sit in the British Museum. Greece desperately wants them back and since my trip there, has built a state-of-the-art museum to properly house and protect them (Britain had claimed it should keep them since the Greeks didn't have a proper way to preserve them). No luck yet for Greece, but this building was just as fantastic regardless.
Thankfully for aesthetics, the front of the Parthenon is mostly intact. The rest of it is, well, a work in progress. The south side of the structure suffered damage in 1687 when some ammunitions stored here by the Ottomans went off. Amazing how the DAMAGE to this building is over 300 years old.
As we wandered around the rest of the Acropolis, we had amazing views of the city below us. This is why the Acropolis would have been so important during wartime, as the locals would come here for protection. The height also would provide the optimal ability to defend the city.
Some other sites we could see from above: the Odeon of Herades Atticus, a theater that is a little newer as it was only built in 161AD. The floor has been redone so that it can still host concerts here. It holds up to 5,000 people.
This is the Temple of Olympian Zeus. Started in 638BC, it was not completed until the 2nd century AD when the Romans were in control of Athens. It never reached the full grandeur that was expected, but the 16 remaining columns are originals.
This is the Erechtheion, a temple built in 406BC to Zeus and Athena and named after an ancient king of Athens. The six ladies in the foreground are decorative to hide a support beam after budget cuts. They are usually the most recognizable element of this building, referred to as the Porch of the Maidens.
One side of the Erectheion has something rare for these old ruins: a ceiling! A special treat of this in-tact top is actually the one hole in it, which was intentional. This represents the lightning bolt that Zeus threw to supposedly kill Erechtheion.
After our spin around the Acropolis, it was time to do as the Greeks did and descend down towards their Agora, or marketplace. This is where daily life was lived.
This main temple you can see from above is the Temple of Hephaestus, god of metal working, craftsmanship and fire. Since its construction in 415BC, this building has been used for various purposes beyond a temple which is how it has been so well maintained in its original state.
One building that is not original, but was rebuilt in the 1950s to look as it would have back in the day, was the Stoa of Attalos. This open air, covered walkway would have been frequented by all walks of life in Athens. Shops would have lined the walkways and it would have been a daily gathering place.
With that, it was time to head back to our hotel, gather our bags and begin the cruise phase of our trip. This was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen in my life, and I could have spent hours, if not days, exploring this area. My parting picture is one taken when we realized that our feet were covered in ancient dust. This is like my dream come true!
On to Istanbul!
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