7th May - Greece Athens - Good morning Cassie?

Woke to some other random guy leaving who we'd spoke to the night before. We also found that we were sharing the room with a Canadian girl who is undertaking a Classical Studies course as part of her degree. She has arrived from Rome and is on her way to the Greek islands shortly to see some more classical stuff. She was very outgoing and friendly and so we exchanged the obligatory traveller opener conversation. Chris and I decided to head off to check out the Acropolis after stocking up on some basic supplies, particularly the sun tan lotion - factor 30 for me!

By a complete coincidence we stumbled across her again when dropping our toiletries off. She expressed a desire to go to the Acropolis too and act as a pseudo tour guide.

As we bustled through the streets of Athens, i was overwhelmed with the culture shock - it honestly felt like we were in the third world, or at least my uneducated view of the the third world. It certainly was not westernised even compared to Slovenia. It was so hot, so stuffy and cluttered in the extreme. There were just so many people hurrying to somewhere, so many motorbikes nearly crashing over the bonnet of a car just to get slightly ahead, so many street stalls with endless tat. This is how i imagined Buenos Aires or Rio de Janeiro, not one of the major cultural players of modern Europe.

We made it up the hillside to the Acropolis and i was overwhelmed in a more positive manner - i had seen pictures before but did not realise exactly how majestic it was going to be in the flesh. If anything, the fight through the crowds made the Greek ruins even more impressive; being released from the intensity below up to one of the worlds greatest testaments to human accomplishment. The famous structures atop the mountain enjoy a supporting cast of smaller remains on each of the four 'slopes' which lead to and from the summit. This included the original amphitheatre which we sat in and felt history whizzing by our ears. A poppy had emerged between two marble slabs and would have made for a fantastically arty photo had i not been on the brink of collapse from heat exhaustion.

After spending about 5hrs hanging around with the Canadian girl James and I realised that we didn't even officially know her name, and it was far to late to actually do introductions now. After heading back we discovered / drew our own conclusions that she may be sleeping / have slept with the porter. Who apparently was named "Jordan". We branded Jordan a bit of a playa having seduced her in literally one day, but what made it even funnier was the carving under James' bed warning others to beware of his charms. "Beware of Jordan", unfortunately it would appear Cassie was not!

Athens beware of Jordan

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Throughout Athens there was a stupid amount of motorbikes, with literally no fear as they weaved carelessly through crowds of people! There were literally loads of street sellers, all selling the same thing, yet somehow surviving to stay afloat. Feels very cluttered and not as westernised as we'd have thought! James described it more as a shanty down than anything else, I'm sure the Greeks might have something to say about that though!

Athens - Lunch summary, cassie and ruins

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Athens hotel Zorbas tour with captain quote

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Athens pan

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Athens dinner with a dead bird

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