Athens

Arrived in Athens yesterday, Sunday, after a long and unventful flight from JFK. Took a bit of a detour on the train trip to the city center...but arrived in the Plaka district (very close to the Acropolis and the Parliament) unscathed. Turns out there's some huge european sports action that happened in Athens this weekend, which is why I wasn't able to find a hotel before I came. Rest easy - the Greeks won and there was much celebration complete with fireworks and debauchery.

When I got off the train in Athens, I stopped into a few places and after the initial disappointment of not being able to stay in the place run by three late 20s Aussie male models, I found a nice hotel very close to everything. I immediately crawled into bed for a quick nap.

I wasn't able to sleep on the plane, so my cat nap turned into a 6 hour slumber. I awoke just in time for sunset, so I hiked to the top of the Acropolis and watched the sun setting over Athens. I went into a square near my hotel to find some dinner and had lamb with lemons and fried cheese, as well as some a glass of nice Greek wine. I didn't even realize it, but I spent 3 1/2 hours sitting in the square, eating dinner, chatting with the waiters and my new friend Harold & his wife from Chicago. The food was amazing and the people watching was even better.

Stayed up too late last night with a few Greek folks that I met at the restaurant. They took me around the city and showed me a few of the lesser known sites that I would never have found myself. Excellent company, excellent night.

Just found another hotel for this evening and plan to spend the day wandering around Athens and taking pictures. I'm hoping to leave to Piraeus (port town south west of Athens) in the morning to catch a ferry to some islands. Still figuring out my exact itinerary, but I know that I want to go to Crete and Rhodes, which are pretty far away...hopefully I can make it to Istanbul for a couple of nights as well!

Off to get some lunch.
Cheers!