Athens Almost Didn't Happen

Saturday August 11, 2012

Athens seemed like an easy port to conquer. Kyle had lived there for three months when he was modeling back in the summer of 2009, and had become fairly familiar with finding his way around. Of course, Athens isn't a port city - we docked in Piraeus, a short 20-minute train ride from the city center. Upon exiting the ship in Piraeus we searched for a bank, we only had Lyra left and had spent our remaining Euros on the Ho-Ho bus in Istanbul. Unfortunately being familiar with Athens meant Kyle was unfamiliar with Piraeus, and we walked around for nearly two hours trying to find a BNL (global network alliance with Bank of America) ATM before giving up and paying the transaction fee and exchange fees at a random Greek ATM. With money finally in our pockets we attempted to locate the metro station - which proved to be yet another difficult task. Turn after turn in the wrong direction, and without a map we seriously considered heading back to the ship... just as we saw the big blue "M” marking the metro station – what a relief!

We gladly paid €4 for two 24-hour unlimited metro passes and jumped on the first train bound for the historic area of Athens. Our first stop was the Acropolis, where we were again pleased to find that for only €12 each we could by bundled tickets for the Acropolis, Zeus's Temple, the Ancient Agora, the Roman Agora, Theatre of Dionysus, Hadrian’s Library, and Keramikos! Packaged tickets are available on the South side of the Acropolis, and can also be found at any one of the seven points of interest (students with a valid ID can get tickets half price.) As we passed through the gates that led to the Acropolis we were blasted by hot stale air, and a light dust from tourists who kicked up the loosely packed dirt path before us. We began our exploration with the Theatre of Dionysus wandering around the remnants of thousand-year-old stadium seating. Next we climbed the steps past the Odeon of Herodes theater, which is still in use today and walked up the steep hill to the Acropolis. Investigating our surroundings we noticed the many construction sites of ancient relics, which were being rebuilt - a trend in Athens that we're not sure we agree with.




Being herded like we were cattle we finally reached the top of the Acropolis, and here is what we saw:

Ancient Acropolis from Traveling In The Moment on Vimeo.

After taking in the majestic views of the ancient buildings, the legendary Parthenon, and the stunning city below we headed off to conquer the remaining sites our tickets allowed. Without a map we asked the closest tour guide for directions to Hadrian's Library - after pointing us in the right direction he glanced at his watch and informed us that all of the places we could see closed at 3:30pm... and it was already 1:30! Panicked that we might not get to see EVERYTHING, Megan shifted gears from admiring tourist to deranged do-it-all'er - as we sprinted down from the top of the Acropolis. Zigging, zagging and flying past tour groups and families we located a map, and managed to make it every single stop on our tour list that our tickets entitled us to. We even managed to squeeze in a pit stop for some authentic Greek frozen yogurt before heading back to Piraeus to board the ship.






Our time in Athens was short and rushed but we still managed to tackle the better part of what was recommended to see and do despite the intense heat. It’s a little disheartening seeing the fading remains of what was once one of the most magnificent societies of our time. We’re grateful for our youth and the ability to literally run around a city while still being able to learn about its history and take in its majesty.

Xo,
M&K

Posted in , , , . Bookmark the permalink. RSS feed for this post.

Leave a Reply

Search

Header image:Arizona Roadtrip Sunset, By: Kyle Ledeboer
Images and text are the property of Traveling in the Moment and may not be duplicated or used without their expressed written consent.