Spring Break - Athens

If you were disappointed by the last post it's because I was having hot flashes of excitement to write about the second leg of spring break - Athens, Greece. Mark and I began the journey from Rome (not the brightest idea as we could've just jetted over to Athens from Turkey, but hindsight's 20/20 right?!) I don't know about you but I've always imagined Athens and Greece as general as a country still stuck in ancient times. Everyone wears togas and leaves on their heads and speaks in..well, ancient Greek, I guess. But in Istanbul we had met 3 guys studying in Athens who convinced me it was actually a progressive place where women weren't simply concubines or melodramatic lovers. We stayed in a hostel that looked like a complete shithole but was fucking fabulous and about a 20 minute walk from the city center. As Athens held the 2004 Olympics it had undergone some much needed change which was a plus for us - great public transportation, signs in English, and FOOD EVERYWHERE. Kebabs, gyros, that white sauce? Yes. And fairly cheap compared to Italy - their supermarket beer (Vergina, I kid you not) was about 4 euro for a 6-pack and rather appetizing.
The hostel was geared toward a younger crowd (as it was called a "Youth Hostel") but that didn't stop some of the creeps from coming out - and boy am I glad they did! We played drinking games one night w/ people from England, Madrid (they were acrobats in the circus!!), Bulgaria, Brooklyn, and Canada (check this guy out: www.andrewmondia.com he's exactly like this in real-life, such a weirdo). It was super to meet people from all over, learn what they thought about Americans, and eat food they were more than willing to cook.
Mark and I spent one of the days in the Acropolis - the city 'above' Athens that has the Parthenon, the Temple of Athena Nike, and other old really cool shit. Look it up, please. We also saw Socrates' jail, the Philopappou monument (Mark actually did push-ups on it, I told you he's a meathead), the Academy, and the National Archaelogical Museum. Mark had an episode of diarrhea so our time was cut short in the museum. We also traveled with our friends from England and Spain to the Olympic complex and watched time trials in cycling for the next Olympics. I love things that are free! You can also go to the site of the original Olympics of 1896 - a large (not in this day and age) track that was the first big stadium in the modern world. Interestingly it also happens to be a contemporary hot spot for drug deals!
The night life in Athens is...it's what kept us in Athens the whole time instead of going to islands like Mykonos and Santorini or Delphi. (Don't be angry, the weather was kind of bad too and not 'island weather.') But, as always seems to be the case for me, we got lucky and met all the right people to really make the trip. One night in particular stands out - read on if you want to be a bit shocked:
Mark and I were completely psyched to see that the Chinese National Acrobat team was going to be in Athens while we were there. We wanted to get tickets so badly that walking for 1.5 hours in the pouring rain (in sandals, of course) seemed like a good idea. As I made my way into the second gas station to ask for directions, a shifty-eyed Greek man w/ shoulder-length hair (yes, he was beautiful) said we were about 7 km away and offered us a ride. YES PLEASE THANK YOU! We hopped in and began a friendship. Antonios was a disgustingly wealthy lava-lamp-seller-turned-mechanical engineer who basically built present-day Athens. He was divorced w/ 2 kids (something he spent many minutes talking about) and very very lonely as he dedicated 12 hours a day to work. Was this his attempt at getting some from me? Probably, but whatever. He ended up buying a ticket to the acrobat show and said he'd pick us up the next night. He did, we went to the show (it was AWESOME!), and then brought us to his flat afterward for some wine (he even bought us our own bottle as a gift to take home). We kept the conversation going (yeah - it got awkward) and the subject of drugs came up when Mark was in the bathroom. I asked if they were a problem w/in the younger population of Athens and he said yes but that he admittedly was a coke user. Then Antonios went to the bathroom several more times and I finally figured out he was doing coke each time. I told Mark but he was a bit too drunk to care at that point which is when my brain turned on and I decided to STOP DRINKING and start making sure we weren't going to die that night. I mean Antonios was our ride home and it appeared as though our night was young...shit.
He proceeded to take us to a Romanian night club filled w/ slutty girls and humongously jacked dudes. I was scared but free drinks were coming and Mark couldn't help himself - he was hammered. Then Antonios asked if we wanted to go to a strip club - now I'd never been to one and Mark said he hadn't either (I saw right through that) - but what better place to do it than in Athens where we somehow meet the nightclub owner, sit VIP, get a free lapdance (Mark), free tequila and food, and free entry? Yeah, you heard right. I forgot to mention that it was also a sex show and I was about 8 feet from a horrific live sex scene. Then Antonios offered us each some coke and I declined. We got home at about 4 that morning - but we were alive.
Anyway Greece became my new favorite place after this trip and is still high up there. The people were very similar to Italians but in general much friendlier. It didn't help that I don't even know the Greek alphabet so when things weren't written in English we were fucked. Several times we encountered people for blocks that spoke no English and therefore couldn't get us home. But that's all part of the adventure. I'll never forget Damareos street (stay there if you ever go - Pagration Youth Hostel).
One highlight of the trip that really reminded Mark and I both of home was playing soccer and basketball w/ some locals at Pagrati Park. Also near the park a small zoo where, for 10 minutes of awe, we watched a ram trying to rape a small goat. It was really disturbing.
Toodles!