AΘΗΝΑ!

Kalimera!!  (that means good morning!!)

Yesterday was our day trip to Athens.  We managed the bus and subway system from Vrahati to Athens (about a 90 minute trip) and found the Acropolis!  We were able to but a ticket that covered the 6 major sites – Ancient Agora, Roman Agora, Keramikos, Temple of Olympian Zeus, and the Theater of Dionysos.  We saw the Parthenon, the Propylaia, the Erechtheion with the Caryatids – the six huge maiden columns.  Smaller than the Theater of Dionysos was the Odeon of Herodes Atticus.  In this theater the seating is being restored completely, but the backdrop of the columns and wall has remained intact.  It was so beautiful – I can’t imagine being able to see a performance there today!

I could go on and on about the ancient cites but you’ll really just have to look at the pictures – and even those don’t do them justice!  Everything is just so ancient and large, we couldn’t even fathom how big an undertaking this must have been in the early centuries BC!!

We walked the streets of Plaka – the village just under the Acropolis.  The shops and tavernas were so lively.  The owners of the tavernas came out into the street to try to convince us to come in.  One of them did finally convince us (or at least our stomachs) to try his restaurant – and it was great!  Chris had the kebab special and I had a spinach pie and Greek salad – complete with our first hunk of REAL feta!  It was unreal!  Totally incomparable to any feta we’ve had at home.  We’re doomed to be feta snobs…

We had some advice for our trip to Athens, but for the ride home we were on our own.  We realized upon arrival in Athens that we had no idea what the bus schedule was for the afternoon.  So, when it was time to leave we had to get resourceful.  I wholeheartedly tried not to destroy the Greek language when I asked a man in a kiosk “When is the next bus to Vrahati?”  He looked at us like we were crazy & couldn’t help us.  Luckily, a man standing behind us could speak English & instructed us to catch a bus to the main bus station. We followed his instructions and after a little ticketing confusion on the local bus we made it and booked a ticket back to Vrahati!  Great success!!

So even though it was a little rainy it was a great day!  Although we were exhausted when we arrived home we stuck it out and stayed up talking to our new friends.  Our efforts paid off – last night we were able to sleep through the night for the first time since arriving in Greece!

This will probably be the last of our exciting emails for a while.  We start our TEFL course on Monday so for 4 weeks we’ll be pretty busy learning and teaching.  They’re taking us on some ‘field trips’ over the weekends though, so we’re excited for that!  Thanks for all the emails and blog comments – we LOVE hearing from everyone!

More soon – miss you all!!

Love, Chris & Sam 

PS - Here's the link to our Athens pictures! 

Athena