After a few delayed flights and a great view of Iceland's northern lights, we landed in Athens. A taxi driver (arranged by our Airbnb host) was waiting for us. He dropped us off at a lovely & well stocked condo with a view of the lighted Parthenon. Our friendly host provided us with homemade wine, olives soaking in olive oil, fresh baked cookies & bread & fruit. What's not to love about that! Since we'd been en route around 20 hours, we fell into bed. Next morning we took a short subway ride to meet our guide & took off exploring & learning about this spectacular city with a fascinating past dating back to Neolithic period. Our guide was especially good at explaining the layers of history that Athens has been through: original Greece, then conquered by Romans, next Turks, then England colonized, attacked by the German in WWII killing/starving 20% of their population & now part of EU. Through it all, they remained Greeks at heart & saved what they could of their historical buildings built around 450 BC. The Acropolis of Athens, Parthenon, Theater of Dionysus, Erechtheion, Temple of Arthena Nike. Just WOW! Though many times grossly damaged in wars & stripped by greedy men, they remain a vision of AWE. Our guide pointed out how much of the Greek language lives in our language today: Nike shoes; polis in politics, police; muse in music...etc. She proudly reminded us that Greece is where democracy began and St. Paul preached. So also said she could teach us to read Greek in an hour but speaking it takes decades. Also interesting that both our guide & taxi driver lamented that today's young Greeks don't want to get married, have children or take on so much responsibility. The young girls are controlling & young men are pushed around. Most get good education here but then leave to get better pay. 2008 was a tough year. Homeless first appeared. Over 2 million immigrants are straining the economy. Taxes are high & wages low. Our guide & taxi driver are worried about the future of Greece. But tourism is strong with over 1500 cruise ships stopping by each year. The Athens we saw was clean & well kept. And fortunately since it's the lowest tourist season, it was not crowded either. However, it was cold (@50F) & windy so we were glad we had lots of layers on. Last night it snowed, first time in 2 years. After our tour, we dined on a tasty Greek Gyro & scrumptious baklava. We spent the rest of the daylight seeing what was left of Planka, Roman & Ancient Agora (old cities) & Hadrian's library and the St. Nicholas Cathedral. We picked up some cheese & Coke Light that along with what our host provided made a nice Greek supper. Now that's a full day!
(**Disclaimer: I don't take the time to check spelling & grammar as there's so much I'd rather be doing...and I write mainly so we have our trip memories when we get home. Feel free to respond, correct, share or ignore!!)
