Musings on Athens

For some reason I still haven't written about visiting Athens... I know, I'm just as confused as you about it. I guess I wrote briefly about visiting the Parthenon, but other than that, nihil. Weird.

So here it is: Athens. A city I have such mixed feelings about that I neglected to write about them.

On the one hand, it's ATHENS! Birthplace of democracy. Home of the Acropolis, the Parthenon. Hallowed, revered, ATHENS.

On the other hand... Athens. Meh.
I spent one night there and honestly, it felt like a week. It felt like a very long week. It was too long! This is one city I would have been content to have visited via Cruise Ship... you know, sail into port in the morning, see the biggest sites for several hours, then sail away at sunset. Yah. That's it. Athens is, in my book, a cruise port. A check off my list. Done. I may fly through again in the future, on my way to the outer-lying Greek Isles (which.are.amazing!!!), but I don't intend to spend more time in the city proper.

For crying out loud, I spent most of my night in Athens in a Starbucks on their free wifi. The city is wholly unimpressive, aside from the Acropolis. Dirty, badly organised, poorly maintained... Of course, Greece IS going through some very rough times, economically, but I don't think that has very much bearing on the current state of it's Capitol city.

Perhaps this all stems from expectations of the place being too high. The aforementioned hallowed-ness, rever-ity, et al. Perhaps the problem is that for all of the ancient glory this place once had, it is now utterly inglorious. Most of the city feels like a slum.

And that's the heart of it: This city feels it's defeat. It feels the conquering and assumption of the Roman politics and gods that overthrew its' ancient power. It feels as though the place simply exists now because it is too large, and was once too important, to fade into nothingness now. And in existing in that manner, it has faded into a shade of nothingness.

But enough of my musings. If you go to Athens, spend a night, perhaps two. See the Acropolis. Hike through it's vast compound during the day and tour its' museum. See it at night, from your hotel's roof. Tour the other ruins scattered about the city and eat at one of the zillions of "Greek" restaurants all around the city center.

Then go to the islands. And fall in love with Greece.

Be Careful

A kindly man reached out to take and scan my ticket as I stood, overheated, out of breath and exhausted at the gates of the Parthenon in Athens...

I had only arrived at my hotel an hour prior, direct from the airport, a train and the subway. But instead of sitting down, or laying down in my air conditioned hotel room, I immediately left the room to find some food (it was nearly 3pm and I hadn't eaten all day. Did you know that Santorini's airport is ridiculously small, horrifically organized, lacking *real* security and food items?) and at least find out where the Parthenon was.

So I wandered. I had purposefully picked a hotel in the Plaka district of Athens, the historical district, so I would be close to everything and I was not disappointed. I had barely walked two blocks before stumbling upon my first set of ruins, which were (I think) Hadrian's library. I kept walking, being rather unimpressed with the city in it's entirety. You see, I'm a person who vibes on the overall feel of a place. Istanbul felt old, and saturated with history in a realllllllly cool way. Rome feels smug, lively and oh-so-chalk-full-of-life and love and fun. But Athens... Nothing. Strangely. I was really shocked. For a city originally dating back before my favorite place (Rome), it was surprisingly dull.

So lunch. Greek Salad and Kebab. Sparkling water. Free internet. I was perfectly happy with it. And then, just steps away from the restaurant I found Ancient Greece's Agora. I thought to myself: I'll buy my tickets for the Agora and Parthenon now and come back after I've taken a nap.

Instead I bought my tickets and kept walking...
You see I'd finally found Athens' cool. Right there, in the center of the large metropolitan city, lay the heart of ancient democratic process. I wasn't ready to go home right when things were getting interesting. So I meandered through the large park and listened to the birds chirping, the same type of birds we have at home, chirping their oh-so-familiar sound and came out the other side, at the base of a large hill. The self-same hill the Parthenon happened to be perched upon.

Well, what would you do? Of course, I just kept right on going. Up, up, up through the sets of gates and past the guys selling frosty bottles of cold water (It was a huge mistake to not buy a couple bottles when I could have!) then up to the top of the hill, to the kindly man who took my ticket as I entered the Parthenon complex proper.

"Enjoy. And be careful!" The man said to me with a smile and with concern in his voice.

Be careful? Not generally advice one gleans from a ticket taker? Were there pick-pockets in abundance on the grounds? Were ancient legendary creatures going to pop out and eat me? Be careful. Interesting.

"Thanks." I said and continued to hike up the hill with determination despite being quite parched.  (I was certain there would be a place to buy water within the park... I was WRONG.)

Soon enough. Soon enough I understood why I should indeed "Be careful." Perhaps there were pickpockets in abundance, but I never saw one. Instead, I found the complex to be riddled with uneven surfaces, large ancient stone blocks out of place, staircases well worn and jagged. Antiquity, in essence, had vomited it's contents all over the site, making traversing the place quite rough.
(Especially when one tends to walk around with a camera strapped to one's face.)

I can't say I spent a lot of time at the Parthenon. I didn't, actually. When I finally got to the top of the hill, I had reached, not only the famous buildings in my Art history books, but also a state of delirious, miserable dehydration. (I really need to pay more attention to packing enough water around with me.) The scorching sun beat down on me, its rays beat down on my back, neck, shoulders. My camera became a lead weight. I couldn't see most things properly. So I resorted to taking as many photos as possible and boogieing the heck outta dodge. Carefully.