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| Athens, Greece |
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| Zakinthos, Greece |
Kelly and I spent 2 full days in Athens. We had both heard Athens was not a very nice place, but we disagreed. The air quality was bad, and it wasn’t one of the world’s paradises, but I thought the people were friendly, the sites pretty cool, the shops unique, and the food good. We visited an archaeological museum that just re-opened after a two year closure. It displayed all kinds of sculptures, as well as medieval masks, swords, and vases. It’s trippy to realize these things you’re looking at were made in 500 B.C. It makes you feel you’re living in a medieval place, as does the modern day custom we had to obey of throwing your toilet paper in the trash instead of the toilet. “Bring out your dead!”
Kelly and I found a local jewelry shop with unique, beautiful jewelry. I could tell it stood out because Kelly said, “This place has unique and beautiful jewelry.” Kelly bought us each a ring, and I’m quite taken with them both. Mine is silver with a sunken layer of oxidized (darker) silver underneath, and Kelly’s is a naturally cut rock that looks kind of like a diamond crossed with a geode. I like that we each have a special ring that we bought together to wear for our journey. It’s somehow very satisfying.
Our second full day in Athens we saw the Acropolis/Parthenon. The summit which houses it rests high above the city, and is viewable from almost everywhere. It was used in ancient times as a lookout and a place from which to protect the city. It’s under huge renovations, with large wire framing around most everything. It’s supposed to be done for the Olympics, but they’re going to need to hurry. We hiked up the long hill in the early morning and got to enjoy the sites almost tourist-free. By the time we were coming down, huge tour groups had already begun to invade, each faction loyally following their unit’s high-ranking tour guides. I unsheathed my long bow and picked off as many as I could, while Kelly poured boiling oil from the summit, but alas we were unable to defend our fortress. The sights were cool, but as a modern day stronghold, the Acropolis sucks. Hopefully the renovations include adding laser equipped sniping towers.
The coolest experience in Athens by far was when Greece won the Eurocup (soccer). We tried to watch in several restaurants, but they were too crowded and we could barely see the ball. We watched in an outdoor restaurant for a while and finished the game in our room. Greece beat Portugal 1-0. Athens went NUTS. Handheld air horns blowing, cars driving recklessly down the streets with horns blowing. Our room had a balcony from where we could see most of the action. It was getting so out of hand, I wasn’t surprised to see a couple of cop cars come whizzing by with sirens blazing. I was surprised, however, when I realized they weren’t going to stop the madness, but were participating in it. At one point, a cop car pulled over to a fanatical Athenian, and the loudest shot rang out. I turned to Kelly and said, “Holy crap, they just shot that kid!” but then I realized the kid had just set off an M-10,000 firecracker. The cop responded by turning back on his siren and flying back down the street. The whole city came together to celebrate as one. It was very refreshing compared to celebrations in the States where after the first cries of happiness, at least a few people decide to go overturn a car or break into a storefront. Because it was a relatively orderly (if not ridiculously passionate) victory celebration, the police were just another set of celebrators. From our balcony, Kelly and I watched 3 separate fireworks displays from all over the city, the biggest of which was just a few blocks away and quite large. Kelly and I smiled at each other when we realized it was July 4 and we had gotten our fireworks celebration after all.
The next day we headed for Zakynthos, the smallest of three Ionian Greek islands we intend to visit. Within one minute of arriving (which involved a trip by bus and then by ferry), we were approached by a woman offering to drive us to a room she had available. She had pictures, and the place looked awesome – a clean room right on the water. I asked how much, and had to stifle my victory jig when she said 25 Euro. In Athens we had paid 4 times that for a room. As soon as we got there we went swimming in the sea. New favorite sea: Adriatic. It’s very salty, but man is it clean, clear blue water. It’s just beautiful. And no jellyfish and sea lice like all the other beautiful water I’ve swum in. I threw on my goggles and swam laps right outside our hotel.
Day two we took a cruise around the entire island, stopping to see the Blue Caves and Shipwreck Beach. I took a lot of photos, which I was able to upload. You can check them out at my photos page. This is where all photos will be (there is a link to them in the top left Links section for convenience). Sorry, no photos from Athens yet unless I can find a Firewire port to connect my iPod, I already transferred them there from the camera. We ended our second night with a treat of fresh fish (similar to red snapper) eaten right on the water by our hotel, and with me passing out directly afterward for the second night in a row (from my seasickness medication).
Today is day 3 on the island, and Kelly and I are off to rent a car to do some non-guided exploring. There are some mountain towns and other beach areas we’d like to explore, possibly to stay in when we leave here. We may try to help save the Loggerhead turtles too, they’re endangered because the bright lights confuse the newly hatched turtles and they run for the clubs instead of the water. Personally I think the clubs may be a better time, but Kelly insists they’re better off if they reach the water. Okay, Kelly just informed me it’s a minimum one month volunteer commitment. Enjoy the drum and bass and glow sticks, turtles!
