Athens

This was my favorite trip so far. We stayed in the Backpacker’s hostel which is one of the top 5 rated in the world. The staff at the hostel was more than welcoming. One of our roommates at the hostel was unable to make the trip and so they gave us all free beers as an apology.

The vastness of the city was incredible. We visited the temple of Zues, the Parthenon, the Parthenon museum and several other ancient sites and museums. The Parthenon was my, like most others, favorite site visit. The ancient pillars sit on top of a hill/mountain in the middle of the city. We hiked to the top and walked around the remaining ruins. We were able to overlook the city and see the layout of the roads.

The museum was a very beautiful and modern building. The floors were mostly glass which allowed you to look beneath the building to see the ancient ruins left in tact after thousands of years. The age of these ruins literally made my mouth drop.

The artifacts in the museum were so old! Some of them dated back six to seven thousand years ago. It was astounding to see the sculptures and pottery that were older than my family name.

The city’s architecture was unlike any other I have visited so far. The city is mostly white. All of the buildings were white or some shade of off-white. This gave the city a very ancient feeling. I think the age of the city is what made it my favorite.

The highlight of my trip was on the last night when we hiked Zues’ mountain (I believe that is what it’s called). Joel, Taras, Kelsie, Bianca, Bri, and I all hiked the mountain around sunset. We took tons of pictures and were totally awed by the vastness and beauty of the city. We were able to watch the sun set. It was gorgeous. We hung around for about another hour after the sun set to watch the city at night. The city sprawls out below the mountain-top, in every direction. On one side all you can see is white architecture all the way to the ocean and on the other you see the same all the way to the edge of the mountains. In the opposite directions you can see buildings and houses stretching for as far as you can see.

Greece has meat and salad down better than any other European country I have visited. Their (Greek) salads have no lettuce but are the best salads I have ever had. Two of the best meals I have had were in Greece. We ordered a meat platter at one meal that had all sorts of delicious, moist meat: pork, meat balls, chicken, lamb, sausage, and some other types of meat I was unsure of. The prices were much more reasonable than the other cities.

The night-life was pretty low key. The first night we sat at a local bar and I called it a night early thanks to a little too much vodka. The second night was much better. After a great dinner we went to a strip of clubs and bars. We ended up at a bar that had a small dance floor. The Dj played a good mix of European techno and American hip-hop and pop. We drank in a group of about 10 for most of the night.

A downfall to Greece was the amount of illegal immigrants who tried to sell you useless toys. They all sold these jelly balls that they would slap on the ground in front of you and say “5 euro.” There were literally hundreds of these guys everywhere. The funniest part about it was when they would just pack up their purses, sunglasses, scarfs, or whatever else they were selling and book it down the street when they saw the police coming. The other downfall was the amount of stray dogs everywhere. We sat out one night at a bar and watched dogs attack people, literally. It was pretty intense.

Overall, I loved Athens. The history of the city inspired me to think about many things I had not really considered. It was an eye-opening experience that gave me a great appreciation for the city.