Athens
Day 1
Wendesday around 21, I stepped on the land of Greeks for the first time. While I was searching for the metro station in the airport, me and some other tourist came to a realization that metros and public buses were not working for a couple of days due to strike. So the only way to get to the downtown was to take a cab. And of course, this has had to happen while I was there. Luckily I gathered with some other tourists to split the cab price. On the way, we tried to have a friendly chat with the driver (Yura) to get a better price and we managed to decrease the price from Euro 80 to 50 (Later on some locals told me normally it’d cost around 40 euro so it was a good bargain for a tourist.) It was a fun ride since the driver could speak a few words of Turkish since he had some anchestors who lived in Trabzon/Turkey back in the day.
Small towns on the way to the city centre looked so much like Aegean towns in Turkey at first sight. But the city itself was quite a big difference. It was remarkable differing than most of the European capitals I’ve visited so far. Also, another surprising thing to discover was that there were so many people sleeping on the streets of Athens. I’m still not sure if they are immigrants seeking for aslyium or Greek people highly affected by recent economic crisis. My hostel (Athenstyle) where the staff were truly helpful in everything. I treated myself with a welcome beer on top of the hostel while catching up with some other travellers and having a first look at the mesmerizing Acropolis. Had a chest filled with excitement while I was impressed with my first interaction with Acropolis.
Day 2
I was welcomed by an unusual rain in my first morning in the city. The rain was scattered so I had to decide that the day should be full of indoor museum visits. And not long after, it turned out that that was not a bad decision since I was told at the entrance of the Acropolis Museum that the 18th of May is World Museum Day and all the museums that day was not going to charge visitors. Well, what can I say! My wallet loved it while my foot hated it at the end of the day. I have visited 4–5 museum including Acropolis Museum, Acropolis Hill and the temples, Temple of Zeus and Olympic Stadium. In between, I took some time to have cake with Greek coffee (Ellikios) which is incredibly similar to Turkish coffee but maybe slightly stronger.
When it was almost dark and I was on my way back to the hostel, I noticed a huge crowd gathered right in front of the Parliament building. I couldn’t help but to get into the crowd to figure out what was really happening. I managed to found some English speaking protestors and journalist to inform me on the demonstrations. Apparently, people gathered to protest the goverment’s new regulations on austerity policies. The demonstrations were peaceful during my presence and there were no tension perceivable in the air. However an hour after I left, I heard that in the news that police and protestors were crashing and it was on the media all over the World.
In the evening it was about time for me to crash with some Greek kebap which I didnt’t have high expectations on after Turkish kebap but I was wrong in the end, as usual. Kebap with yogurt and ayrani were delicious and very satisfying in terms of the size of the portion and not too expensive at all. Later in the evening, my tummy needed a digestion walk. While I was walking in the dark streets of Athens around midnight, the safety of the streets of Athens were tested and rated highly by myself.
Day 3
On friday, the sun was bright, the streets were crowded as I was walking reliefed knowing that most of museum and site visiting tasks were completed. So I could just walk around without any purpose and hurry and do whatever I feel like to do. My first stop was of course busy and central area called Plaka. In plaka, shops were lined up one after another. Also, it was very easy to find taverna to sit outside and enjoy the sun. Afternoon, I had my souvlaki period once again.
Souvlaki is a traditional Greek food. It’s wrap of meat with salad and Caciki or Greek yogurt. It’s healthy, cheap and delicious. Best thing can happen to your stomach.
Souvlaki was calling me again and I just had to get some. So I found a highly recommended local place named“O Kostas” run by two siblings Kostas and Popi. A que full of local souvlaki seekers slobberingly welcomed me and I immediately tried to make some friends as we were waiting in the que. At the end I even almost became friends with Kostas and Popi and they refused to take my money for the two raki shots I had along with souvlaki.
Towards the evening I decided to be act like a local even more. I had to admit its not easy to say which one is more enjoyable in Athens; being a tourist or acting like a local. Both experiences are very fullfilling and practical in this great city.
Finally, it was friday evening in the city. A lot of young people were showing their faces around and looking for places to go out. Well, I was one of the luckiest since I found two great fellas, Manuel and Florian. Manuel and Florian were Austrians on a road trip. They were stopping by cities and making music in the streets of Eastern Europe. The three of us were down for a night full of partying. We ended up in Frank Sinatra’s Greek version: Drunk Sinatra Bar. To be able to somewhat describe the fun we had I could only say that if Frank could see us he would have been so proud of us.
Day 4
The last day of my trip was full of learning and sharing. I met my Thanasis who is my Greek friend I met couple of years back in Bulgaria for a training program. Thanasis and his friends Chris, Viktoria, Niko took me to show the suburbs of Athens, an area not too popular among tourists. Later in the evening, we were in a taverna run as a family business by two young sisters. The food, ambience, live music, uzo and everything was so pleasing.
It was surprising and exciting to realise that we had so much to talk, share and learn from each other with my Greeks friends even though our cultures are very similar. We have sang songs in each other’s languages, played games and laughed a lot. That was a perfect ending to a magnificent trip in this gorgeous city.
The end for my trip was near but I was sure that I’d do my best to visit this city as soon as possible.
Efharisto!
