Greece!

I've been bad about updating. Ok, I'm finally updating the end of spring break. This is after Ed left. I went to Greece with a bunch of the crowd. They'd gone to Santorini (an isle) earlier in the week, but I just met up with them and stayed in Athens. We definitely filled up every day I was there too.

Monday, March 17th, 2008:

I arrived in the late afternoon. The metro leaves from the airport. It's about an hour and I get to practice reading my first Greek letters. I remembered more than I thought I would. Plus, since the names of the metro stops are translated phonetically to English, I could compare. Like "Syntagma" equals Συντάγμα.

After checking into my hostel "Athens backpackers" (which backs up right to the Acropolis!) I met up with Jacquelyn and Vivian and ate dinner in the Plaka, a cute little neighborhood full of restaurants and touristy things.


Tuesday, March 18th, 2008:

Today was the big site-seeing day. Lucky for us, to get anywhere was walking distance because the buses were on strike. We climbed to the top of the Acropolis (the hill where most fo the ancient Greek temples are mounted) saw the Parthenon, the Propylaea, the temple of Athena Nike, the Odeion of Herodes Atticus, the Stoa of Eumenes, the ancient theatre of Dionysus, and the Erechtheion. Down from the Acropolis, but in the same area of ancient temples I saw Hadrians Arch and the temple of Olympian Zeus.

My impression of the Acropolis is that it was very humbling. To know how many people (in sheer numbers!) had walked there before me, not to mention how influential the people were and that they had lived and died two thousand years ago just made me feel so small, which is I guess how it's supposed to be. It also made me feel capable; like one day I could do great things and I also felt blessed and honored to be able to witness these structures before they crumble and are nothing more than worn down rocks.


Wednesday, March 19th, 2008

Last full site-seeing day. We met up with friends at Parliament and watched the changing of the guards. Pretty interesting. Their outfits were....ethnic (re: goofy). I got to see some Byzantine churches. (ex: The Kapnikarea on Ermou street, Aiya Ekaterini church) These were only 1000 years old so people didn't give them too much status. I thought they were awesome. Then we decided to climb to the top of Lycavittos Hill. It's called a "hill" but it's really more of a mountain! It took some effort to get to the top but the reward was worth it. I got to see one of the little white-washed domed churches so characteristic to Greece. I felt like I was in a post card! The church is called Ayios Gregorio, which means St. George. Also it was the BEST VIEW. You could really see the vastness of the city. It's the capital of and the most populous city in Greece and it spreads as far as the eye can see. (well, until you hit mountains I could see all sides of Athens, and all the way down to the Mediterranean.)

Later as we were walking around and most of the group went to go have sandals made by some famous Greek cobbler, I went to the archaeological site Kerameikos. It was awesome! It used to be Athens' most important cemetery. I saw a tombstone that pre-dated democracy! It was very elaborate which was outlawed when the Greeks invented democracy and had the idea everyone should be equal, therefore tombstones were more normalized. This was also where there were remnants of the "Sacred Gate" (the world's largest gate for a while) which kept out the Persian invaders in about 479 BC. The sacred gate was here and the dried river bed of the River Eridanos. This was where Pericles stood to give an oration commemorating those fallen in the Peloponnesian war.

As I was walking back towards the hostel, I visited one of the most historic places, in my opinion, that really matters. I got to stand on the rock where St. Paul preached to the Athenians and they converted to Christianity! I stood where a direct friend and apostle to Jesus Christ stood! It was amazing. Then I walked back and went souvenir shopping. It was gorgeous.


Thursday, march 20th, 2008

Getting to the airport was a bit of an adventure because we'd intended to take the metro and it was on strike that day. Athens taxis are notoriously hard to catch and that was quite an anxious experience. But we made it ok. Got back to Madrid and Spring Break: Europe was officially over!

Reflections on Greece
I used to think it was just Spain that was political. But apparently it's Greece too. (and probably all Europe) Everywhere we went were strikes and protests! Like my teacher Noemi said "With the Spring, come the strikes." I loved Athens. Very easy to get around- walkable. Everything was interesting and beautiful. I'd love to come back to show my Dad because I know he'd enjoy it. I'd love to come back with Ed because it's a tad romantic too. The food was the best.

I couldn't have asked for a better Spring Break.