Spring Break Part 3: Athens

Wednesday of Spring Break, Hannah, Meghan, and I flew to Athens after staying up all night at the Rome airport. It was a pretty short flight, about an hour and 45 minutes, plus we moved ahead one hour, as Greece is in a different time zone than Italy. We got off the plane around 11 o'clock or so, but it took us a while to figure out what to do after that.

The Athens airport is 17 miles East of downtown, about 45 minutes by metro. First, we had to find the ticket guy. Then, we had to figure out which metro line to get on. Athens' metro system is a lot more complicated than the one in Rome. This one has three different lines which seem to be running all over the place. Although it's probably not too complicated for someone who is used to it, I am totally new to this metro thing. Luckily, Meghan is not only awesome with directions, but also has loads of experience with the NY subway system.

As if that wasn't confusing enough, all the words are in Greek.

Greek Alphabet

I had to memorize the Greek alphabet when I went through sorority recruitment. I can still recite it, and I think I can even still write it. But when I see words like "ΓΛΥΦΑΔΑΣ" and "ΚΟΛΟΚΥΝΘΟΣ," I start to feel a little dizzy. Luckily, there's usually the English equivalent right next to the Greek word. So, it's not really a big deal; it just adds to the confusion of finding our way around.

Somehow (I'm really not sure; I was so tired at this point and I really just followed Meghan who had the map and directions), we made it to our hotel. I told the woman at the front desk my name. "Oh," she said, "Yes. But you are not in this hotel. We moved you to another one. It's just down the street on the other side. Hotel Aristoteles."

Umm. . . okay!

We got to our new hotel and checked in. I don't really know why we got upgraded, but the room rate posted in our room was €70 per night for two people. We each paid €12 per night. Plus, it said the "breakfast rate" was €10, and breakfast was included for us. Each day we got: a hard boiled egg, corn flakes and milk, peaches, a lot of fresh bread with butter and jam, coffee, juice, meat, cheese, and some kind of citrus-y sweet bread. Each morning, we were stuffed and ready to go for the day. The rooms were clean and we had our own bathroom (finally!). And it happened to be the cheapest place we stayed during the whole trip!

So, our hotel rocked.

Anyway, we took a nap as soon as we got there. Then we went out to explore the town before it got dark. We saw the Parliament building and the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We saw a bunch of Greek Orthodox churches. Then we got into all the mythology stuff, which makes me wish I had paid more attention to Ancient History class in high school. But anyway, we saw the Arch of Hadrian and the Temple of Olympian Zeus. Then we headed towards the Acropolis. It was getting dark, and we were starving. I hadn't eaten since my donut and cappuccino at the airport at 5am, and I had started getting hungry about 5 minutes after I had eaten that.

Enter Geros Tou Moria Tavern.

We sat down and looked at the menu. It didn't take me long to pick out my meal. Spinach pie, and Meatballs.

I had no idea what spinach pie would be like. And I don't even really like meatballs (at least not in spaghetti, which is the only way I've ever had them, I think), but these were calling my name. Really. I heard them say it to me from the menu. Creepy? No. It was just meant to be.

At last, the food came. I was so lucky. I had 4 spinach pies! (Except I don't really think of them as pies; they were cooked spinach folded up in phyllo dough triangles; and I think they were fried, because they were crispy.) And. . . SURPRISE! My meatballs came with fries! Seasoned fries!

Spinach Pies and Meatballs with Fries.
I ordered it because it rhymes, maybe.

I am a ketchupaholic, and I don't even need ketchup for really good seasoned fries. These were REALLY good. Oh, and the meatballs? Ohmygosh I can't even tell you how delicious they were. They were crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, but not at all mushy like most meatballs. The flavor was incredible and every bite was totally satisfying. I am still dreaming about those meatballs. I would go to Greece again just to get those dang meatballs. I want the recipe. One day, I will know how to make those. . . Oops. I'm drooling now.

Moving on. . .

Our bellies were full and it was dark out, so we headed back to the hotel, seeing the Roman Forum and some other things on our way.

The next morning, we went to the Archaeological Museum. It was full of artifacts from different Greek civilizations dating from 7000 BC to AD 500. Minoans, Mycenaeans, Archaic Greece, Classical age, Alexander the Great, and finally, the Romans. All kinds of sculptures and artifacts. Lots of pots and vases, jewelry, and statues. It was really cool!

Next, we headed to the ancient Agora, the heart of ancient Athens. It's mostly a field full of ruins, but we walked around with my guide book and read about what the different buildings used to be. At the end of our Agora tour, we walked up to the Acropolis. Before going in to see the Acropolis, we paused to climb up some giant rocks and sit on top of Mars Hill, a historic spot. It's where the Apostle Paul preached to the Athenians! From there, we had a great view of Athens.

Finally, the Acropolis!

The Propylaea; The Entrance to the Acropolis

When we got inside, we saw two things:

1. The Parthenon!

There it is!

2. Kate!

Reunion!

We found my roommate at the Acropolis! Kate and her friend Alex did Spring Break with Euroadventures, a company that plans trips for Study Abroad students. They ended up in Greece at the same time we happened to be there, and it was a total surprise to find them!

After the Acropolis, it was lunch time. We went to Smile Cafe, a place I had heard of on Trip Advisor. For €7.50 we got bread, Greek salad, moussaka, and a glass of wine.

Greek Salad

Greek salad: tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, green bell pepper, olives, feta cheese, and an olive oily dressing. (Greeks consume almost seven gallons of olive oil per capita each year!)

Did you know feta cheese looked like this? I've only ever seen it in crumbles. Yucky, dry crumbles. I thought I didn't like feta cheese. But it turns out, I LOVE feta cheese! Delicious and creamy and perfect in every way. This salad goes in my top 4 favorite Greek foods I tried on the trip (along with those meatballs).

Moussaka

Moussaka is a casserole with layers of eggplant, tomatoes, and minced meat, topped with cheesy Bechamel sauce. The Smile Cafe has the best moussaka. They make it fresh when you order! Which was really cool, because then they could make Hannah a meatless one.

The Smile Cafe lady was really nice. She told us that the next day was a holiday, and everything would be closed except restaurants. (We didn't know about that.) She said it was Greek Independence Day, and there would be a parade at 11 at Syntagma Square. She also told us of a really awesome trip we could take! She recommended going to Poseidon's Temple, an hour and a half ride by bus. She told us which bus stop, which bus, how to pay for the ticket, how much it would cost, and what times the bus came. So, we made plans for the next day. :)

The rest of the afternoon we spent shopping. Athens has some great shopping. There's tons of jewlery, which was mainly what I bought. But they also sell really cool olive oil soaps, and all kinds of junky touristy Greek items, some of which aren't really that bad.

The highlight of the afternoon, though, was Melissinos Art, the famous sandal maker of Athens! There are plenty of shops along the main shopping drag that sell sandals. But this place is the real thing. The shop was opened in 1927 by the current owner's dad. They make leather sandals in different styles and you pay based on the amount of leather they use. They adjust the sandals to your feet. I've never had customized shoes before! This place is sort of a big deal. The Beatles came to Melissinos in 1968, and Jackie O bought sandals there, and the Queen of Greece also used to shop there! Here are the ones I picked out:

My Beloved Leather Sandals

(We wore them the next day, and my right foot was getting blisters. We went back to the store, and Melissinos adjusted them for me. He shaved down the leather and filed it where it was rubbing, and then they fit perfectly!)

After a full afternoon of shopping, it was dark, and dinner time. First, we had baklava: phyllo dough layered with nuts and honey.

Baklava!

I'll be honest. This wasn't my favorite. Don't get me wrong; I ate it. Every bite. (What are you supposed to do when it cost almost €5?) It wasn't bad. Some bites I sort of thought were good! But I wouldn't order it again. Conclusion: Definitely try it when you're in Greece. But other than that. . . meh. (Maybe I just don't like honey that much.)

The rest of our meal consisted of us picking up some gummy bears and chips (We each got our own bags, and finished them.) and a bottle of wine, and we had a fun little sleepover-y snack-and-stay-up-talking-about-boys night in our hotel room. Another end to another fabulous day.

Next morning, it was Greek Independence Day, and we were going to celebrate. We hit up a streetside flag-selling man, and then took our spots on the street along the parade route.

My Favorite Picture of the Three of Us

The parade was pretty cool. Lots of military people, guards, veterans, firefighters, etc. We weren't exactly sure who some of the people were, but we admired their uniforms, and waved our flags and clapped anyway.

Then we stopped by a stand that sells fresh coconut, coconut "juice," and these awesome coconut sticks!

Coconut Sticks from the Coconut Dudes

It's fresh sweetened coconut in chewy stick form. Hannah and Meghan's have some kind of chocolatey outside. Mine is all coconutty. Yum!

Then we took the bus to Poseidon's Temple. It's located on the southernmost tip of mainland Greece. It was a scenic bus ride, right along the coast almost the whole way there! We got to the site just in time. They closed 30 minutes later! We had time to walk up to the temple and take pictures.

Poseidon's Temple

Me!

We got kicked out when they closed, and then we walked around and took more pictures of the water. We were hungry, because it was already late, like 2:30, maybe. So we went to one of the three restaurants we had to pick from. (One was overpriced; the other two were super crowded; we picked one of those.) We waited, literally, forever before a table of people left. Then we sat down at their dirty table to claim our spot, and waited another forever until someone came to clean up their mess. Ten more years until they took our order. 20 more years until we actually got the food.

Meghan and I ordered fried shrimp and fries (I hardly ever eat fries, but it seems like I've had them a lot on this trip!) to share. Which was good, because here's the massive amount of shrimp we got:

Fried Shrimp

This was both Meghan's and my first time to ever try fried shrimp. We weren't sure how to eat it. As I am still easing into this whole fishy seafood thing, I barely made a dent in my half before I started to feel a little queasy. Maybe it was because I thought I might have been eating the shrimp heads. Or the tails. And then Meghan said something about these ones not being deveined, and that the vein was actually the intestines, and there was poop inside. I really doubt the restaurant would be serving us shrimp with poop in it, but it really grossed me out. Luckily, I had fries to eat.

After waiting LITERALLY 30 minutes to get the check after we had asked for it, it was getting dark out. We watched the sun set before we headed back to the bus, for our two hour + (somehow it took way longer coming back) ride home.

Sunset

Since we hadn't eaten much for lunch, and it took so long to get back, we were hungry again when we got to Athens. Meghan and I really wanted to try soulvaki. Soulvaki is meat (pork or chicken, usually) cooked on a skewer, eaten with pita bread. And, it goes really well with tzatziki, a yogurt, cucumber, and garlic sauce.

I'm getting hungry again.

Okay. So, my top four favorite things I ate in Greece are: Soulvaki, Tzatziki, Meatballs, and Greek Salad.

They were all INCREDIBLE. And yes. You've gotta have the tzatziki with the soulvaki. SO GOOD.

Our last day of Spring Break (Sunday didn't count, because it was a travel day), we began at the Acropolis Museum. It didn't take us too long there, and then we shopped the entire rest of the day, stopping for gyros for lunch. (My first gyros! And I had it in Greece!) At about 5pm we sat down and said, "Well, what should we do now?" It was weird not having somewhere to be. And it was getting a little cold, because we didn't have our jackets.

We headed back to the hotel to pack (sadly) and take a nap before going out for dinner. I had lamb soulvaki! I had never had lamb. . . that I know of, unless it was in a kebab or that gyros, but I've never had just straight-up lamb until then. The picture of it looks a lot like the other soulvaki picture, so I won't post it. But here's a picture of Hannah's stuffed grape leaves!

Stuffed with Rice

We had ordered wine with our meal, but after we had finished, they brought us another jar for free! We also ordered dessert. Meghan got baklava again; Hannah and I ordered chocolate pie. Which was good, but it was chocolate cake. Not pie. Oh well! It was a wonderful meal for our last night of Spring Break.

The next day we flew back to Rome and took the slow train to Florence. We got home around 7pm, totally exhausted but totally in awe of how PERFECT our entire break had been.

It's amazing how perfect (I keep using this word, but I can't think of a better -more perfect- word; sorry!) this entire semester has been. I am living with 5 other girls I didn't know till I got here. We're all from different places and different backgrounds. And we all get along so well. I'm blessed to have found Meghan and Hannah to travel with. We share the same interests (getting up early to go to museums, instead of staying out late to go to clubs during our vacation) and we all agreed on wanting to do the same things on our trip. There wasn't any drama or arguing. Just a lot of talking and taking pictures and having a genuinely good time together. I don't know what I would have done without them to take this trip with. It was THE best week. EVER.