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Athens is definitely a very interesting place. Embrace yourself for some negativity, because I want to be as honest as possible with this blog writing as it could save someone a nasty surprise in the future. But also realise that I do have a lot of positive things to say and that I'm not a totally arrogant and unappreciative person! :)
So when we first arrived in Athens, it wasn't a very pleasant experience. We arrived with the mind-set that we were likely to run in to the same problems as we did in Rome in terms of beggars, pick-pocketers and so on, so I think that alone meant we already viewed Athens quite negatively without giving it a chance to impress us. We arrived at the airport at about 2am, and immediately were on guard. We discovered that the airport was extremely far away from the city centre, so either we paid about 70 euros for a taxi, or used public transport. We figured that because it is 2am, and it is far from peak tourist season, public transport would be the more preferable option. It took us almost an hour to get dropped off in the city centre, and then we followed the directions to our hostel.
This turned out to be a bit of a disaster because it wasn't where it said it was. We started getting really grouchy because it was about 2.30am, we were alone in a dark city in which we've heard heaps of horrible stories about picking on tourists, and we just really felt out of our comfort zone. Eventually when we were sure the hostel was not where it should be, we went in to another hotel and asked for help with directions. They gave us some information and a map and we headed off as the hostel was only supposed to be less than ten minutes walking distance. Around ten minutes later we saw a public map and took a look, and were approached by a taxi driver. In our tired, grouchy, nervous state we probably came across really rude to the taxi man but the last thing we wanted was to be charged 4832740832 euros when we knew the hostel was just minutes away. However we were pleasantly surprised that the taxi man gave us (very politely) a detailed description of how to get to our hostel. I find that's it really difficult in these sort of places because on one hand, you kind of want to act like everyone is an enemy so that you always have your guard up and therefore avoid things such as pickpocketing, scams, and so on. But on the other I think for your own peace of mind you also want to remember that not everyone is out there to get you, and of course the number of genuinely nice and amazing people far outweighs the greedy tools who are looking to make your life hell for their own benefits.
But anyway, we arrived at the hostel. However things didn't get any better. There was a paper sign saying that there had been a problem with water maintenance and that the hostel had moved to "around the corner". Given the rubbish directions on the website of how to get to the hostel, I didn't trust the "around the corner" message. Instead of dragging all my stuff with me, I left it with Matt and quickly ran down the road to look at the street sign - and sure enough it didn't match the one that was on the paper note. I rang the buzzer multiple times but despite it being answered, the speaker was rubbish and we couldn't hear a word. What also didn't help is that we very quickly realised that Athens has a HUGE stray cat and dog problem, so all around us we could hear wild animals making heaps of scary noises. The street was also very poorly lit. At this point I was ready to cry.
Ten minutes later a man appeared and I was ready to hand all my stuff over to avoid being killed. But it actually turned out to be a staff member of the hostel we were staying at. However this wasn't a pleasant experience because he didn't really say much other than he had come to pick us up from the hostel. Though he didn't come across as particularly friendly and didn't give much information or talk to us during the walk. But we followed on the basis that if we didn't, we would have still been sat outside the hostel on the other street.
When we did get to our hostel, it looked pretty dodgy. I managed to negotiate one nights free because I told them most hostels do a deal if you spend more than three nights there, plus it is completely off-peak season right now. So that made me feel a bit better. But once we got to bed, I was basically feeling pretty bummed out and grumpy.
I felt the same in the morning too since one of the people in our room woke me up because they were talking very loudly on Skype. So Matt and I decided to take it easy throughout the morning and be lazy. By lunchtime we got dressed, packed up our stuff in to our little safe bags that my nan got me which you can use for your money, cards, passport and phone - it zips up tightly and fits snug under clothes - but also has a cable which you put around you that is extremely difficult to cut. So we felt nice and secure and decided it was time to do some exploring.
Now this is where finally some positivity arrives! Woo! Exploring was soo much fun. Of course at first we were still like arghhh everyone is going to try mug us wahh, but the after about one hour we were feeling so happy and relaxed. Athens is definitely a very, very, veryyy beautiful city. We walked along some streets that had lots of beautiful little shops. We had no idea where we were going but that was half the fun, we just stumbled across all these beautiful places. What's really useful about Athens is that because you can see the hills around the city it helps you to get your bearings. For example the Acropolis is on a big hill very close to our accommodation, so we knew that as long as we could see it easily that we weren't far from home.
We stumbled across some of the most beautiful views on our trip so far I swear. It was totally accidental. I'm pretty sure we weren't supposed to be where we were because it looked like a private residential area but this little garden spot overlooked the city. Something that I also noticed which is charming about Athens is that the buildings here are absolutely crap. Seriously everything looks like it's falling apart. But I think this is what also makes it very beautiful - I also love all the Mediterranean colours.
Matt and I continued walking around and because we were going up a slight hill the views were getting more and more beautiful. We could even see the Aegean Sea! Oh and something I should also mention in greater detail is the stray cats and dogs thing… I'm actually totally surprised because although in Rome we saw heaaaps of stray cats, in Athens it's just a totally different scale seriously. And what is also amazing is that they seem totally harmless. I mean I'm sure there are times when they come in to conflict with humans, but the cats and dogs appear to just get on with their own thing in the same way that people do. The cats seem to socialise and hang out in the exact same manner. It's hilarious to watch! In the residential area I just mentioned before Matt and I saw a scooter which had like seven cats cuddling on the seat, and then two playing with each other below. Then later on when we were walking we saw some random guy feeding some cats and in the end there was about thirty of them chilling out together seriously. I haven't seen any cat or dogs fight or show any signs of aggression to each other. And also the dogs that we see are HUGE, but they're all just chilling out totally passively. They are lying around everywhere, or rolling around. Sometimes it is hard to believe they are stray because they look so healthy and happy with their lives.
So yes, the view got better and better. Eventually we found a big pile of rocks which we climbed up and it overlooked everyyyyyyyyything. In fact the picture I have uploaded for this entry shows part of the view. I wish I could tell you the name of the place, but I have no idea, it was another random finding. But I do know it is very close to the Acropolis.
Throughout our walk we managed to see the outside of the Acropolis, the Theatre of Dionysos, the Temple of Olympian Zeus, Hadrian Arch, the Stoa of Attalos, Museum of Ancient Agora and then spend the rest of our time in random little beautiful streets throughout the city centre. Our main objective was just to get a good feel for the city, and then we will spend our other days doing things in greater detail, for example tomorrow we plan on actually going in to the Acropolis. I also want to spend some time in Syntagma Square since I know that's an interesting spot for politics!
Another highlight of the day is the amazing Greek food! Oooooooooooooohboy it is so frickin delicious. We already ate two Gyros today because they are so beautiful. It is like a wrap using pita bread, filled with either meat or falafel, with some chunky fries, tomatoes and tzatziki (can't spell it), and then some yummy stuff sprinkled on the pita. It is one of the yummiest things I have ever had seriously. We then also had some Greek yoghurt treats. I had frozen Greek yoghurt with fruit including apple, mango, pineapple, pomegranate seeds, kiwifruit and strawberries. Matt had his with melted chocolate and honey!
Okay so I think that is most of what I had to say. I'm sorry it started off so depressingly but I hope I managed to turn it around with all the positivity in the second half. It shows how much I develop and the changes in my thoughts and opinions through travelling :D Hopefully tomorrow I will have even more positive stuff to say!
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