Athens Stories: Day III

Laser Beams And City Sight Seeing

Jason Lucas
Nov 4 · 7 min read

And so I woke up, still shook from the intense surge of emotions that had overcome me the day before.

What could this mean?

My mind was in shambles, as I was trying to interpret all of those feelings inside of my Being.

I couldn’t even tell if I was ecstatic of my presence here, delighted by my recent discoveries and findings, or already depressed by my eventual departure.

Sometimes, it can be so hard to identify the reason behind certain emotions, even though you are the bearer of them. Or maybe that is precisely why it is in fact so hard…

You know, when something is right under your nose, is often when you’re less likely to find it…

But I couldn’t spend the whole day questioning myself.

We wouldn’t want our third day here to be spent overthinking inside of our cubicle, right?

So we got ready, filled the bathroom bin (remember that dessert we got yesterday before coming back?), triple locked the door, and got on our way to find some food.

Day III was actually quite the calm day — it’s like our spirit strategically planned ahead a day to recharge as the fourth one promised a long road ahead.

Our journey would start at Syntagma, which seemed to quickly become quite the routine and usual starting point for our touristic endeavors.

It would basically go like this:

  • Take the metro, destination station Syntagma
  • Get out at Syntagma Square
  • Head towards Athinas street (connecting to the Monastiraki Square)
  • Pass through the lovely Ermou street, where we’d often stop at διόρρυθμων (Idiorrithmon), the sweet artisanal jewelry store to meet our beloved new friend/guide
Ermou Street, Athens

So we would do exactly that, and obviously proceed to ask some tips and directions I would omit to register in my mind, once again.

Continuing our way towards Athinas street, we were actively looking for this wondrous breakfast place we passed by, the day earlier while looking we were looking for the Cosmote — The notorious Brunch Factory.

And let me tell you, at first, finding that place was our happiest moment of the day.

Ever had a freddoccino? If not, trust me, you have not yet experienced real coffee bliss.

The menu was the hungry-tourist’s dream. The variety of (mostly) healthy and succulent choices available to us really made us feel like we made a great decision coming here.

Until the waitress brought our meals.

Prior to that, I briefly left the table to pay a visit to the bathroom.

Upon my return, the scene felt like the wrap of a pornography production (weird analogy, I know)

For those unfamiliar with the term, a wrap was a phrase used by directors in the early days of the film industry to signal the end of filming. Since quite a while, filmmakers have been using the term when the process of production is concluded and the project is ready to go into post-production.

So, what’s the link here?

Simply put: sticky white stuff was all over the place.

Seems like our clumsy waitress had a bad day and managed drop my cup of mayo as hard as they dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

The floor, the table, the chair, all of it was radiating with friggin’ mayonnaise.

Am I stretching it? Definitely. Do I have a reason for doing so? Most likely, yes.

Turns out I was quite the bad guy for having ordered a side of fries with my meal, which was supposed to come with the aforementioned cup of mayo. Because God forbid if I dared ask for a replacement cup, not only would she obliterate me with the laser beams that burst out her eyes, but I would also die waiting as she never came back with a replacement.

How happy was I to notice, upon sitting on my mayo-radiating chair, that my plate was full of prosciutto — thing I definitely did not order. Knowing I was at fault by respectfully expressing very clearly my non-meat-eating habits, I didn’t dare ask where she learned to speak English, fearing she might score another touchdown upon bringing me a replacement plate.

So I sucked it up, pulled it out (no pun intended) and ate whatever was left of what I had supposedly ordered, and left the prosciutto to my dear travel partner.

But I try to focus on the positive, so I’ll give it to them, they did still made me discover the best damn freddocinno I had ever tasted (okay, it was my first one, but still, it was undoubtedly the best of the many following ones I had tried elsewhere after).

The Brunch Factory, Athinas, Athens

Once our bellies were full, it was time to get some tickets for the City Sight Seeing tour bus, which had several options we were unsure about.

After inquiring to a local guide, we proceeded to grab a ticket giving us access to the 4 lines: the Athens Line, the Piraeus Line, the Beach line & the Rivera line.

So you’d have the Athens line, that would take you all around the city, where two of its stops would connect you to the three other lines, being the Piraeus line, Beach line, and the Rivera line.

The Piraeus line would take you around Piraeus (obviously), which is a port city located within the Athens urban area, to which the final stop would logically be the Piraeus port. To get there, you’d have to take the Athens line, and drop off at the Acropolis/Parthenon stop, and transfer to the Piraeus line.

The Beach line would take you around various beaches going along the coast of the Phaleron Bay, where you could enjoy a sunny day and a warm swim. To get there, you’d have to drop off at the Plaka stop from the Athens line, and switch to the Beach line, which would have a similar departing route upon reaching a certain point.

The Rivera line, similarly as the Beach line, would also go along the coast, but continue its route a bit farther than the previous line. The departing stop for this line would be the same as the Beach line, and would drop you right back to the same departing point upon returning.

Dedicated to exploring the most we could, we took the option including the four lines, and asked to schedule the two day access for two days later, as the following day was reserved to a local tour with the funniest guide Athens has to offer.

The local guide providing us with the tickets was very accommodating and served us with a free tour so we could enjoy a little journey around the city without waiting the whole two days for it, or having to activate our passes early and miss out on a lot of options.

This allowed us to get a nice overview of the city and see places we didn’t know we wanted to go, and dropped us off right back were we got in.

At this point, we had joked around a lot about being as tourist as we could, but let me tell you, nothing felt more tourist than being in that bus.

Regardless, it was incredibly satisfying to “sight-see” the whole city in such a way.

Walking it was awesome, indeed, but being able to sit back and simply observe the beauty of the city, especially from the higher vantage point we had by being on the roof of the bus (I’m sure there’s a better way to word this, but bear with me as I write those words quite late in the night — or early in the morning, depending on your perspective).

What was quite remarkable was especially the contrast: from one stop to another, you would feel in a completely different city.

One minute you would be witnessing the incredible, sophisticated, vibrant, and rich architectural prowess of the Greek culture, and the next minute, you would empathetically suffer the pains and struggles of the deteriorating areas of the less fortunate. A whole other side to the spectrum.

But eventually you would land on the Acropolis, and remember just how great this city is, despite its quite strickening economical imbalance, and think of the deep historical events that birthed such an ancient place.

Coming back to the starting point of the tour, which was right in the neighbourhood we were temporarily residing, we wrapped the day by revisiting the first restaurant we introduced ourselves to when we first arrived and were pleased to see our friendly waitress who kindly warned us about the dangers of the city once again.

Dear Dafni wanted to try something a little different, so she ordered… a Greek salad…

However, we did get a side of the best fried-cheese we’ve ever tasted — ô glorious sagnaki — along with a fresh tzatziki and crispy pita to enjoy with.

Sagnaki Cheese, fried to perfection :)

I was really curious about seeing on the menu the option for a carrot salad and got served with a portion for the entire family, which explained the waitresses big eyes when I ordered.

We dedicated the rest of the night to, once again, planning ahead for the next day, day where something very particular would take form into my mind…

A day where I would get hit with some kind of revelation — an answer to the questions I didn’t know how to ask, which would, by itself, bring a multitude of additional questions which I yet have to find the answer to…

Jason Lucas

Written by

Creator & Entrepreneur

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