Hannah and I started our Greek weekend by celebrating the fact that our flight didn't leave Madrid until about 11:00, so we, for the first time in three weeks, did NOT have to drag ourselves out of bed at 4:30, nor did we have to pay for a taxi to get ourselves to the bus station. Just like always, we took the bus to Madrid, and then took the God-foresaken metro ride from the bus station to the airport. For whatever reason, those who designed the city of Madrid and its metro system decided it would make perfect sense to put the bus station and the airport as far away from each other as humanly possible, and every time we travel, Hannah and I spent a fair amount of time on the metro, grumbling about the stupid layout of the city. Nevertheless, we made it to the airport and got through security, blah blah blah.
We normally fly out of terminal 4, but this time we had the pleasure of flying out of terminal 4-S. Not all that different, but the good news is the 4-S terminal had an American newsstand and a Starbucks, so we were pretty much jumping for joy. I was glad to find the newsstand, since this was only a few days after the election, so all of the magazines were plastered with Obama's face and I was able to actually read some American coverage of the election!
Sidenote about the election: prior to November 4, when a person in any country (Spain, France, or Italy) found out I was an American, he or she immediately wanted to know, "McCain or Obama?" (keeping in mind, of course, that neither name was pronounced correctly, but at least they tried, I guess!) I got a very warm reception when I told them I was supporting Obama. During Election Night (since I am 6 hours ahead of the East Coast), I stayed up watching the results come in on Spanish CNN and I kept looking at various American news websites for updates. I ended up staying up until 5:00 AM to see the historic event arrive, and although I was quite the zombie the next day, it was so so worth it! It was kind of interesting to be in a different country during the end of the campaign season, since I got to witness a different perspective of the entire thing. I kid you not, "El País", the Spanish national newspaper, devoted its first 21 pages of the edition on November 6 to coverage of the election. I was stunned! I don't even think a lot of American newspapers have that much coverage!
Back to my Greek weekend (or my Greekend?), Hannah and I had managed to snag ourselves some exit row seats, which was exciting since it means extra leg room, yaaaay! I am not going to lie, I was secretly worried that this would be the flight where something would go awry and I would be responsible for helping people...fortunately, not the case. We even got a meal on our flight, which was exciting, too! Thus, we were all rested and recharged and ready to take Athens by storm by the time our flight landed.
We caught the airport express bus to take us into the heart of the city, which ended up taking about an hour. Surprisingly, the sun had completely set by the time we got off the bus at about 7:00, so we were a little skittish about being in a strange place with no bearings after dark, but we obviously survived. We managed to find our hostel and then headed out for some traditional Greek food for dinner. We had minced meat and spices, which we both agreed was....ok. At least we tried, right? Then we tracked down some delicious-looking pastries only to be heart-broken to discover that they were anything but delicious. They had some weird molasses-like coating which made them feel like an absolute brick in your stomach, so that was a disappointing experience. On our way back to the hostel, a man asked me for change for a euro, and I just brushed him off, and then Hannah wisely pointed out that that request was absurd, since a 1-euro piece is already a coin, so why would he need coins in place of a coin? We then put the pieces together and assumed his intentions were not that honorable, so we decided to call it an early night and play a few hours' worth of 20 Questions in the hostel before going to bed. Not exactly the most wild and crazy first night in Greece, but it was a blast nonetheless.
On Saturday, we woke up early and had our eyes on the prize: The Parthenon! We figured it was pretty close, since Athens isn't terribly large, but we still didn't have very good bearings, so we decided to take the metro. We walked about 5 blocks to the metro stop only to have the metro take us about 7 blocks in the opposite direction...therefore, we could have saved ourselves a bit of time and money by walking the 2 blocks in the other direction, but oh well. It wasn't really until our last few hours in Greece that we realized the Parthenon was directly behind our hostel...since we couldn't see in that direction, we had no idea! Anyhow, we got to the Acropolis (the giant hill that the Parthenon is on) and trekked up. It was really warm, which was nice, but when you are walking up and up and up under the direct sunlight, it was REALLY warm, and we were both icky by the time of our ascent. Along the way up the hill, we saw a few ancient ampitheaters and temples, and then finally saw the Parthenon. It was so gigantic! It was pretty amazing to see this structure that is so old still standing in relatively good shape. Fun fact: the Parthenon is in ruins because the French used it to store gunpowder, and then the gunpowder exploded. Nice job, Frenchies.
After touring around the Parthenon for a few hours and taking in the views of the city, we walked down to the ruins site of Ancient Agora, which was pretty cool, too. However, along the way, we had to walk down a set of stairs in the Temple of Nike. These steps are made of marble and have 1000s of people walking up and down them every day, so they are pretty smoothed down. I was walking down the steps, when all of a sudden, my foot slipped out and I started to fall toward the foot of the staircase. Hannah's contribution to helping me was a super-loud gasp which attracted the attention of many people standing nearby. Somehow, thankfully, I was able to catch myself (almost) and basically just bopped down on the step, and then hopped right up again. No injuries, aside from my sore ego (just like the metro in Rome). I was pretty embarrassed, so after that little episode, Hannah and I booked it away from there and toward the other ruins. We toured around the other sites for a little bit, but in all honesty, they have a tendency to kind of blur together in my memory, since they all have very long and hard to pronounce Greek names, and they look relatively similar, with columns and ruins and white marble, etc. After so much time looking at ruins, Hannah and I decided to have some lunch.
Lunch was a bit of a let-down, since I was pretty aggravated with the environment. In many places in Europe, I have had the experience of sitting outside a cafe, enjoying a drink or meal, when street vendors and beggars come directly up to your table and will not leave you in peace until you are borderline rude to them. It is a pretty frustrating process, since you never really feel at ease at the cafe. It seemed like every 5 minutes or so, another person was coming up to the table, and the meal was anything but relaxing. Additionally, my ham and cheese sandwich had ham, cheese, and 1/2 pound of mayo, so that was less than appetizing. Since Hannah and I were a little unenthused by our lunch experience, we decided we had to soothe our wounds with some shopping! Coincidentally, we then stumbled upon the shopping district of Athens and spent the rest of the afternoon there, looking at the regular stores in addition to the 100s of touristy stores that all sell basically the same amount of stuff. During the middle of the afternoon, we headed over to the Olympic Stadium, a recreation of the stadium used in the 1896 Olympics. This wasn't the stadium where the Opening and Closing Ceremonies were held in 2004, but some events were held in the stadium we visited. It was all decked out in Greek flags and Olympic Rings, and it was especially exciting to see it that day, since the Athens Marathon was being held, and the finish line was inside the stadium. Thus, the entire stadium area was very well decorated and a really cool place to see!
After the Stadium, we headed out for some dinner, and we decided to try some traditional Greek food again. We picked a random cafe and this time, the results were much better. On top of the good food, our waiter quickly ascertained we were Americans, and it turns out, he was born in Wisconsin! Therefore, during the entire meal, every time he came back to the table for refills or something like that, he would just go on and on about how much he loves America, and how great it is, and how Europeans are so cold and uninviting while Americans are very warm and friendly. He apparently was moving back to Wisconsin relatively soon and was enthralled with the idea of us being from his idea of heaven-on-earth. We chit-chatted with him, since it was one of the few interactions I have had in Europe where someone is pleased to discover our homeland, and then at the end of the meal, he gave us free dessert, so all in all, it wasn't a bad series of events! After dinner, we did a bit more shopping and then called it a night, having had a much better 2nd evening in Athens than the 1st.
On Sunday, we slept in a bit and then checked out of the hostel, but kept our bags there while we toured around the city a little bit more. We headed over to the Temple of Zeus, which now consists of a few columns in a field, but it was still fun to see. We then explored one of the rustic little neighborhoods and had some brunch. I snagged some baklava which was really really yummy, and then we headed out to the airport. To get to the Athens airport from the center square of the city, you can take a bus or the metro. Well, for whatever reason, we were told the bus wasn't going to our stop that afternoon, so we decided to take the metro. It was a little confusing, since all of the signs were in Greek and English, and then there were also signs for regular tickets and airport tickets, so we had to wade through many lines of text to make sure we were buying what we actually needed. All of the guidebooks we had really emphasized that you NEED to have your ticket with you (and it NEEDS to be the right type of ticket) and it NEEDS to be validated for that journey, or else you'll be slapped with a hefty fine. Well, the "validation" process consists of feeding the ticket into a machine, the machine beeps, and the ticket shoots back out at you. You have no way of telling if that beep was "good job, you did it right, carry on" or if that beep was "you're an idiot and screwed it up, therefore this ticket hasn't been validated". Hannah and I fed our joint ticket through 2 machines and hoped that was enough, then hopped onto the metro.
The ride to the airport was about an hour, as the airport was the last metro stop on the line. At the 2nd to last stop, 2 men in suits with badges hopped onto the train and not-so-politely demanded that all passengers exhibit their tickets. I woke Hannah up so she could dig ours out, and then nervously waited while the men with badges surveyed the situation. Thankfully, it appears as though we succeeded in the ticket puzzle. However, there were 2 other girls on the metro who were clearly American and had purchased regular metro tickets as opposed to airport metro tickets. I was certain that the men with badges would say something to the effect of "don't let it happen again" or "when we get to the airport, you need to pay the difference". Instead, the not-so-polite demands continued, and he demanded to see both of the girls' passports. He issued them a fine! It was 4o euros, which I thought wasn't too bad, until I realized that it was 40 euros per person. Granted, that amount won't ruin your bank account, but definitely bites a big one. I genuinely felt bad for the girls, since their faces definitely displayed a combination of their shock, fear, and disappointment. Oh well!
On the flight back, we again had exit row seats, so that was exciting for the 2nd time (it obviously doesn't take much to excite us, huh?). There was a guy in his mid-20s sitting next to me, and throughout the first half of the flight, he spoke to me in a combination of Greek, Spanish, and English, mostly when he needed help getting his tray out or asking for the time. About 2/3 of the way through the flight, he got out his fanny pack and was rooting through it for a bit, very secretively, but I thought nothing of it. He then got up and went to the bathroom and was gone for about 10-15 minutes, so I figured there was just a line for the stall. However, when he came back he REEKED of cigarette smoke. It was such a strong smell! He then immediately put on a sweatshirt and popped about 10 mints. Sure enough, within 5 minutes, the flight attendant came up and asked if he had smoked. He claimed not to understand her question, although he seemed pretty good with his English when he spoke to me. She then made the motion of smoking, and his response was this: "(10 seconds of silence)....no?" The flight attendant walked away, but I was just in shock. I was shocked that he smoked in the first place, I was shoked that she couldn't smell it on him, I was shocked that she bought his answer (it was honestly like a 5-year-old denying something after thinking if it would be better to tell the truth and get in trouble or take a chance and lie, potentially getting in more trouble or no trouble whatsoever), and I was shocked that he was getting away with it! Oh, Europe...the land of the cigarettes.
After that little escapade, Hannah and I made the now-routine trek from the airport to the bus station and successfully completed our big fat Greek weekend. It was fun, but at the same time a little sad, since it was our last international journey together.
More updates to come soon, I swear!
Hasta luego,
Jill
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