My, my, 6 hours on a ferry tends to feel quite long. However, we finally made it to Piraeus, the port about 10k from Athens. Remember, we were planning to meet our friend Nick for our place to stay. He told us to take the Metro to Dafni station, where he would pick us up around 11:30pm. Upon arriving at Piraeus, we already wished we were back on the islands. All the hustle and bustle that comes with a big city was present here and more. Dirty, grimy streets, a once prosperous area now completely run down, Kara and I stuck out even more than we did on the islands. After getting lost trying to find our bearings, we ran into a lone backpacker from Australia, also looking for the metro. It was nice to be around a big imposing looking guy while trying to navigate the dark port streets. He was nice to talk to, but we were all getting off at different stations, so we said goodbye and continued on to Dafni. Once we arrived, we were starving, and still had a couple hours to kill while waiting for Nick. We found a pasta place where we had some delicious, cheap pasta, and I registered for my classes for fall term. Nick came and brought us back to his apartment, giving Kara and I his bed while he slept on the couch. We tried to convince him that we should stay on the couch, but he insisted: “It’s my couch.” How ironic, he was CouchSurfing on his own couch! Nick had work all day the next day, so we had to be out by 8am, where he dropped us off at the metro station and we could do what we wanted until he met up with us at 11:30pm again.
After so much shopping, we were thinking about how much we disliked Athens, and how maybe we should leave the next day instead of hanging around until the day after. Well, we better get on to seeing some of the ancient temples and other historical places of Athens. First we found the Temple of Zeus, and next to it the Panathanaic Stadium. Built in 566 BC, this is the first Olympic stadium ever, and it was really cool to wander through it and imagine what it would have been like all those years ago. You can even walk through the tunnel where the athletes used to run out onto the stadium from! We were able to see the acropolis on the hill from this part of the city, but it was closed at this time and we would have to wait until morning. We walked back to the metro via a street lined in orange groves and guards in all their funny uniforms (complete with pom poms on the toe of the shoes, and tassels on the calf of the sock). We took the metro to an area where we thought we would look for dinner, but it ended up feeling very sketchy, being less comfortable to us than anywhere else we had thus been. We looked through a guide book and found a new stop we thought we’d try. It was perfect. Monastiraki. Very tourist friendly, exactly what two white girls needed. Some guys were playing their drums in the streets while little Greek boys imitated break dancing. Some old man even joined in, a very awkward and hilarious sight indeed. Kara and I planned to wear dresses and the heels we bought that day to celebrate our birthdays. Kara’s 21st is the day after mine. Anyways, we found a restaurant with an excellent view of the Acropolis, and ran into the bathrooms to freshen up and change. We walked out in our heels and immediately noticed how our service changed. From half paying attention to us, to all of a sudden being at our every beck and call. We immensely enjoyed being immature that night, snickering and cracking jokes at everyone and everything. Because Kara told them it was my birthday, the server gave us wine on the house. However, as we were leaving, I really started to feel sick. It was not good wine. My stomach was not so happy. Anyways, we still had a fun time trying to navigate through the cobblestone streets of Athens in our new stilettos, and I tripped more than enough times to convince anyone I was drunk as could be. All to loud bursts of laughter from both Kara and myself. We kept walking, hoping to stumble on a good place for dessert and drinks. However, by the time we sat down, my stomach was really hurting. The funniest waiter was at our service, and he kept us thoroughly entertained for the next hour. He took a particular liking to me, while his greasy waiter friend grew a fondness for Kara. We ordered baklava, which was not very good here, and I’m afraid Kara is scarred forever, never again willing to attempt to try the traditional dessert. This baklava did not help my stomach condition. When a young gypsy girl came and tried to sell us flowers, greasy buddy came and ran her out, but came back a few minutes later with flowers for both Kara and me. Then our original waiter comes out and yells at greasy buddy, “They don’t want gypsy flowers! It’s their birthday!! They want drinks! I will go get drinks!” He comes back later with “shots” of ouzo. By shots I mean 3 shots in each glass. And oh boy by this time I was really feeling sick. I felt bad that I only had a few bites of the dessert, and nothing of the ouzo, but I could just not handle it at that moment. The waiter was understanding, he told me all the restaurants use horrible cheap wine. After some more witty banter, Kara and I decided it was time to go try and get ahold of Nick as it was nearing 11:30. We walk down the street, but we hear running towards us, and turn to see our waiter chasing after us. He told us they get off at 12am, and if we wanted to meet them here then, they would take us out and we could get drinks and go to a club. Kara and I both thought that sounded fun, and I so wish we could have, but I just felt awful, and we still hadn’t heard from Nick. We made it back towards the metro station, where the square was so crowded with tourists just a few hours prior, but was now full of sketchy locals. One guy was circling Kara and I on his bike as we made our way to a better lit part. Some Indian guys approached and wanted us to go clubbing with them. Yes, little 4-foot tall man with a hot pink Hollister polo and popped collar, I would like to go clubbing with you. We told them we had to meet a friend, but of course they didn’t believe us. Finally we got rid of them and sat to wait in a little deli thing. We were way over dressed, had nothing with us, hadn’t heard from Nick, and it was nearing midnight. We hadn’t heard from him since 9pm, and we were both more than a little worried. We didn’t know whether to take the subway to closer to his house, or wait there. All we knew was that we had nothing we could do. He seemed like a nice guy, but could he be scamming us? We left our passports at his house, my computer, and everything else in our packs. We actually had no idea what to do. In a city where we knew no one, didn’t speak the language, knew nothing about the guy we were staying with-not even a last name, nor where he lived, etc, we were very scared. We changed our shoes and decided to get on the subway once more. As we walked into the building, Nick called!! Only 45-minutes late, but hey, what sweet relief to hear from him! We couldn’t even be mad we were so relieved. He told us to take it to where he was. However, in all our exhaustion or nerves or whatever, of course we got on it the wrong direction. We got off and ran to an attendant asking how to get back, but the line had just closed. That was the last train for the night! We called Nick again but guess what! He didn’t answer! We thought we would find a taxi, but thankfully Nick called us back and told us he would come pick us up. What a guy. When we finally found him and were safe in his car, exhaustion hit hard! It wasn’t exactly the 21st birthday I’d always imagined, but it was memorable nonetheless. We got back, hung out with Nick for a few minutes, and then went fast to sleep. Only to wake up and be out by 8am again. This time we brought our stuff with us and said our final goodbye to Nick outside the Metro station. This time it was Kara’s birthday and we were going to the Acropolis! We got some coffee and juice there, left our bags in storage, and made our way to the entrance. Thankfully we saved some money by having our Limerick school ID’s. With a student ID card from Europe you get in for free! (Otherwise it’s €12). Let me tell you they definitely did not want to believe we had Irish ID. It’s pretty unbelievable being in the presence of something as old as the Acropolis. It’s huge, it’s old, it’s crumbling, it’s amazing. It’s actually unreal. To think about what it looked like before surrounded by dirty, crowded housing tracts, you can just imagine fields of cows and other livestock, boys practicing sword fighting, and those traditional Grecian sandals on the feet of important member of society as they held important meetings in the walls of the once completely in-tact Acropolis. We finished looking at the temple and headed back down to the Acropolis museum, where we stood in the presence of statues and other ancient artifacts. Then we had lunch and made our way to try and find the bus station to take us to Litochoro where we would climb Mt. Olympus from. It’s a good thing we left early, because we had to take a metro, walk a few blocks, take a city bus to one bus station, then catch another city bus to another bus station where we bought a ticket for a 5 hour bus ride where we got off and waited for another bus that took us to Litochoro. And all of that while trying to read Greek. Easy, right?