09.26.09 - Athens (part 1) and Agia Marina

Starting out by having your Brussels 2:09 PM train canceled and flight rescheduled the day earlier was certainly a rough start, but after getting to the airport, getting my 2 bags, including my can of kidney beans and pesto sauce, and talit (prayer shawl), through security and onto the plane, I knew I would be alright. Let me say, Eastern European airlines are like the Motel 6's of aviation. They are manageable and work, but could use a facelift and staff who actually like their jobs. When arriving in Athens I felt like a little kid at the window trying to guess what islands, mountains and cities I was flying over. Once back on the ground I walked along the tar-mat onto a shuttle to the airport, locked up my Ioannina duffle bag, grabbed the X95 bus to Syntagma Square and walked to my hostel on Makri St., the Athens Backpacker. I arrived around 1:45 AM.

Hostelworld review on Athens Backpacker: ''Location: central, ideal. Room: Spacious. Sheets: crispy clean. Staff: couldn't be nicer and more knowledgeable. Breakfast: decent variety but doesn't matter when everything is fresh and you are eating 6 floors up overlooking Athens and in the background is the Acropolis. Couldn't have been a better experience.''

Friday, like last Friday in London, was the day to TOUR the whole city, minus museums. Up at 7:30 AM to maximize my feast-ly breakfast, I wanted to stick to my strict plans. 8:30 Acropolis, 9:30 Acropolis Museum etc. The Acropolis, which was the center of Athenian religious social life, was bruised and batter as usual. Much of the archeology and artifacts are barely standing. Serious conservation and restoration programs are constantly taking place. Much of the ruins are surrounded by scaffolding. Nonetheless, the Acropolis was magnificent and it was certainly good that I got their early!

The Acropolis Museum, just opened this June, was meticulously constructed on top of an archeological site, so that many places in the museum you can look through the glass windowed floor and see ancient ruins below. The museum also sits literally at the base of the Acropolis so that during the day you see the Parthenon’s reflection on the museum wall. The museum houses all of the artifacts collected from the Acropolis, except for the ones that the Greek government is hoping to get back from the British Museum, like much of the Parthenon's remains. The Greek government really did an excellent job with the museum; you would expect so considering it took ten years to construct, and it’s not like all the stuff for its exhibits just randomly showed up.

From the museum I made a spontaneous turn away from the next desired location and decided to climb the nearby hill, Filapappos. From the Acropolis I saw the monument of Filapappos and noticed Filapappos's potential view overlooking the surrounding Athens area, including its angle facing the Piraeus port - and by no means was I disappointed. After the almost 60 degree hike, not actually knowing at all where I was going, I can honestly say that Filapappos is a top ten view from any of my travels thus far. On the peak I scurried around searching for the best photo ops, eyeing the Acropolis on one side, Piraeus port on the other, and the city, suburbs and mountains all around.

Once my infatuation with Filapappos ended, and my passion for following the many random turtles inhabiting Filapappos's hillsides stopped, I realized the time and that the Ancient Agora was calling. But that was the problem - where was Agora? I started learning that each ancient area (eg Agora, Acropolis, Filapappos) were not just monuments but whole areas, whether being an ancient neighborhood, a park or just a small ruin with a wall around it. So escaping Filapappos took much longer than expected.

Finally I arrived for a brief stay at Ancient Agora, which was the ancient political and administrative center of old Athens. Although it must have been grand then, Agora today is literally partial pillars, statues and buildings. You really need a guide who knows what happened or at least a guide book or else everything appears fairly similar. The only thing at Agora that I really appreciated was Hephaestus’s temple, and not just because this temple is the best preserved temple in Athens. Hephaestus is the Blacksmith god, a direct son of Zeus and the god who helped birth Athena, the goddess known for her fierceness and wisdom. I also did a project on Hephaestus in 6th grade. He is my favorite of the Greek gods.

Once completing Agora I ended up in the Monastiraki flee market for some window shopping. After I got the gist of the market I decided to embark on my kosher food hunt. I found the subway, asked numerous directions, and then, upon having an accurate address, enter 64 Ioulinnou st. The people barely spoke English, there were no prepared meals, just raw meat, and they indicated that they sold pork. Major disappointment! We tried a caterer's number but no luck. Such a lead on! So I settled for a premiere, authentic, Spanicopita from a bakery near Victoria Gardens. So good! While, eating in Victoria Gardens, I really noticed a) sever marginalization within Athenian society b) such incredible Athenian ethnic diversity and c) a serious poverty level for what appeared to be mostly black (probably Turkish and North African). The police had no tolerance for street venders selling their crap. If only these venders knew anything about supply and demand, or even marketing. It makes me so mad!

It was now about 2PM. After a little more subwaying, I scurried to see Hadrien's Arch and the Temple of the Olympian Zeus, both of which were purely imaginative experiences because they were a few stacked stones each. Clearly, my patience for ancient Greek ruins faded as the day got longer. Overall, my Athens impression after day one was positive. Athens is such an international city. The different ethnicities, languages, and tourists were remarkable. It is packed with cars, rude bikers and so many ancient ruins. Too be frank, Athens' ruins, although grand and historical, were somewhat disappointing. I can't imagine everything that was there so long ago. Ancient Athens has experienced so much cultural history over the years that the whole city could probably be excavated and considered an archeological site. Yet, despite some disappointment, the passion and dream to experience Ancient Greece instilled in me by Mrs. Goodman/Gotlieb, my 6th grade Ancient Civilizations teacher, has finally been fulfilled. Athens is so rich; I hope the Greeks can continue to protect its history.

After more subwaying, I finally found my ferry on pier E8, the Alexandros, that would take me to my destination island, Aegina, port - Agia Marina. During the hour and a half ride, as I was standing on the bench, foot on the rail (Capt. Morgan pose), and the sun was setting northwest of me, I developed my first impressions of the island: the Saronic Sea's winds are very strong. Its color is a dark blue, almost as dark as Loch Ness. Aegina appears to be very simple, at least its East coast. The coast seems unblemished from picture snapping, 5 star hotel, honeymooning tourists. It is lush, a little rocky, with scattered, conventional boxy, cement, Greek houses. We hit the port. This is when the fun began.....

The day earlier, I called the hotel to confirm my room and ask questions about the island's activities and location, but the receptionist thought that I was actually cancelling. A clear miscommunication, and probably because, neither the receptionist, nor his wife, the two owners of the Hotel Liberty 1, spoke very much English at all. Eventually we figured it out and I got my room, a triple room (even though I booked a double) for myself. I was on the island for one day, I wanted a little privacy to sleep in, relax and have my own place. Now, I was under the impression that this lodging facility had a kitchen, hence why I brought pasta, beans etc. from Maastricht to cook for the next few meals. No such thing. ''This is a hotel” the owner didn't stop saying. So, I walked into town to by supplies. Around the corner I bought a camp, gas-powered burner, a pot, tin and spoon from the grumpiest, craziest (his family said so themselves) old man ever, who spoke no English either. For the record, I initially wanted it, but then I realized the hotel wouldn't allow it, but it was too late because the shop owner put it together already. Oh boy! As I walked into the hotel the owners had a real fit. So, after some discussion, I walked back to the super market to return my items. Grumpy old Greek man had a heart attack. All I did was place the supplies on the counter and stood there. He began throwing things around and shouting in Greek. Oh man. By now I think he, I, and his family outside were getting a little upset. His daughter, I think, came by to help. Thank god she spoke English. At the end, I got to buy the food's worth of items, minus the burner which I couldn't return, so 5.30 euros of food. Do-able. I returned to the hostel with the food, showered in the little corner of my bathroom and grabbed dinner on the beach at a cafe, with the nicest owners - finally some nice Greeks. What a day.

Hostelworld review of Hotel Libtery 1: Location: 2 min from beach, overlooks port. Beautiful. Facilities (sheets, towels, rooms, beds etc.): clean, in need of facelift. Breakfast: Like Mamma's cooking. Ate way too much. Staff: They seem nice, but not to me. No English spoken. Fun: none. The port of Agia Marina is not for hostel-seekers, rather old age retirees interested in window shopping, eating, and doing nothing.

Newest Impression of island: I think there may be a total of 5 people my age within this port city. I really missed the touring season and the locals clearly are burnt out from a summer of business. It is a very old port city with few English speakers. The beach and parallel street along the costs is all hotels, restaurants and stores and then the rest of this part of the island is very Greek, if you know what I mean. I have found few people that are fairly nice, besides those cafe owners. Saturday, I woke up late, ate too much for breakfast as indicated above, went back to sleep, sat on the beach at the tables of the nice cafe owners, because the beach chairs cost 3 euro each, and hung around the hostel waiting for my ferry to get me at 6:15 PM. Overall, Agia Marina is very touristy in nature, but this time of year, it is seemingly full of grumpy locals. I really should've brought an English Greek dictionary. I am finding my stay peaceful, relaxing, but mainly because there isn't much too do, hence why I am writing so much. I also find that traveling alone, especially to a non-social destination, is somewhat lonesome but very reflective. It is amazing how much thinking, realizing and learning that can go on but just listening to the people and places around you. It is kind of nice, but not something that I couldn’t do for a long time. Unfortunately, the weather on Saturday was overcast, but still Agia Marina served its purpose of being a nice vacation and a rejuvenating 24 hours.

Saturday ended with an attempt at spite to the Agia Marianians. After taking an hour job around the impoverished local neighborhoods, I stripped into my boxers and did some swimming along the rocks – not very spiteful. But if I had more time who knows… The grumpy Alexandros crewman rescued me around 6:15 PM. On the Saronic we tossed along the waves. At Piraeus I grabbed the metro to Acropolis to head back to the Athens Backpacker. Wet, cranky and tired of grumpy Greeks, the Backpackers staff informed me of my upgrade into “The Studios”, a six person room with bathroom, kitchen, living room and TV included. Finally! When I arrive to my room I was alone – peacefulness – so I cooked some beans and rice, had a drink and lounged on the couch to watch some US movies.

Sunday morning I woke up early and metroed to the National Archeological Museum. The artifacts were plentiful but the museum was poorly signed and relatively dull, not to mention the staff sitting the corners of EVERY room watched your every movement like hawks at prey. Afterwards, I metroed back to Syntagma Square where I surprisingly made it just in time for the Greek changing of the guards. So hilarious! I did the NYer style and stood on the top of a garbage can to get the best view. So naturally, everyone around me asked me to take pictures for them. Because the guards were marching the police, who are useless, blocked off the streets, including the ones where my X95 airport bus was. Oh well. So I metroed. On the subway I met a LEED certification specialist from San Francisco, who developed a software for sustainable architecture – business networking as usual. At airport I did security, not before getting some Spanikopita for lunch, and settled in to my dinky Olympic, Motel 6 like, plane to Ioannina. Did I say dinky? Correction. A 20 row, propeller aircraft that dipped above the mountains like a coaster car. Oh boy! 3:30 PM I landed in Ioaninana, where a whole new adventure, trip, mission, experience…you name it… began: