My Big Fat Greek Blog Post (Part 2): 2 Fat 2 Furious

The ferry we took back to Athens wasn’t as nice as the"mini cruise ship" that we took to Crete. But this time, we had a plan. We staked out the biggest open space we could find and marked our territory. We got some actual sleep this time, and I even took a hot shower before we got off in Athens.

The plan was to lock our luggage in a locker at the train station in Piraeus and then go exploring until we could meet up with our host after she got out of work that evening.

We took the tram along the coast, and just decided to get off when the beach looked appealing enough. We got to the beach and walked out to the water. Two stray dogs ran up to greet us like we had just arrived at their house and they were excited to see us, jumping up on us and giving us doggie smiles. After saying hello they walked off down the beach like they were friends who stick together. Bizarre and cute at the same time.

We walked along the docks admiring the yachts and watched a group of elderly locals taking their morning swim in the freezing salty water until the restaurant nearby opened at 8 A.M. We ate breakfast (more yogurt and honey with fruit) and planned our day. After getting directions from some friendly Greek policemen, we set off for the Acropolis.

The tram turned a corner and suddenly brought the Acropolis into view for the first time, perched on the mountaintop with its ivory white pillars stretching up into the sky. Maja’s hand instinctually went up to point at it in amazement but she caught herself and casually tucked it under her chin. I understood why. It was the first time I had ever seen ruins like that in real life. I was seeing one of the coolest things I’d ever seen but I didn’t want to act like was a big deal in front of the locals who see it every day, so we settled for whispering to each other how excited we were.

There is a ticket you can buy to visit six different ancient sites in Athens. We bought ours at the Acropolis. I set my student I.D. on the counter and the Greek lady working scrutinized it and then squinted up at me. “Who is this…Grand Valley?” she asked, in a thick Greek accent. I explained that it was my university, and she accepted it grudgingly.

We spent the afternoon at the Acropolis marveling over the ancient ruins and gazing down at Athens below us.

For lunch, we stopped at a place called God’s Restaurant. Blasphemously good food. Even Rick Steve recommended it, apparently. I got some fantastic vegetarian moussaka, and bread with what might have been the best olive oil I have ever had. We made friends with the guys working and even got a free dessert. The one on the left said, "At the same moment that the camera captured my mouth, it did that thing Ben Affleck does with his mouth when he smiles!"

As we wandered around various shops we learned quickly that Greek people love to talk, and will gladly offer you their philosophy on life, usually without being asked. They were as friendly as they were talkative. One guy even showed us business cards of all of his Greek friends who live an America. "God Bless America!" he said. "Don't worry about the Greeks who don't like Americans. It is where the money is, we have to love it!" Usually these spiels ended with something along the lines of "You want something Greeky for your family?" while holding out a tacky t-shirt.

Greek people were extremely helpful. I was standing in line at a metro ticket machine when someone tapped me on the shoulder. A Greek woman handed me a metro ticket and walked away. Maja tried standing by the entrance to the metro and soon someone passed one off to her too. We asked our host Antigone later and she told us that since the ticket prices went up recently there is a movement called “We won’t pay anymore!” in Greek. Well, that makes sense. Since tickets are good for ninety minutes people hand them off to each other in an act of money saving rebellion. This saved us a lot of money on transportation!

As evening drew near, we collected our luggage and headed across the city to meet our host, Antigone. We found a bakery for a cheap meal, and as we waited I ate the best baklava I have ever had, with a flakey layered crust and absolutely drenched in honey. I don’t like honey very much usually; there is a flavor in it I just don’t enjoy. Greek honey was everything I ever wanted honey to be. I could eat that stuff like Winnie the freaking Pooh.

Luckily, I was able to remove all of the sticky honey remnants from my face before Antigone came from her work (teaching English). She looked like she had walked straight out of the ninties, and had an infectious smile. We liked her instantly.

She had a really nice two bedroom apartment that was really cozy and decorated in a beautiful and unique way. She had an awesome fluffy black cat named Kissa, which is Greek for magpie. She told us that her best friend, another CouchSurfer named Leni, would be arriving the next day for the weekend and staying with us too. Maja asked if she could take a shower and Antigone said that there had been a lot of sun that day, so there should be hot water. I like the idea of using solar power, but it kind of stunk when we didn't get much sun for the last couple of days there. Antigone and I had talked and got to know each other before we went to bed that night. She teaches English and French in Athens, but her real passion is psychology. She just went back to school to be a counselor, and I think she'd be a really good one. She is really easy to talk to.

We woke up the next day and Antigone had gone to the bakery and brought home cheese pie, spinach pie, ham and cheese pie, and a dessert pie. So many pies! We ate and talked and planned out the next few days. Then we went out to do more sightseeing and she went to work. She had won tickets to her favorite singer's concert on the radio, so her and Leni were going to go that night.

We spent the day at Monastiraki Flea Market getting more unsolicited advice, enduring spiels, haggling for trinkets, and avoiding gypsy kids. That was something that I had a really hard time with. These little kids trained to get money from you anyway they can, with no chance for a real childhood.

Lucky Greek eyes.

When we had had our fill, we headed back. As we got closer to the apartment a thunderstorm was blowing in. We don’t get them in Los Angeles and so I hadn’t seen once since I left Michigan last July. I was ecstatic; I love thunderstorms. I love the wet earthy smell, the strength of the wind picking up, the eruptions of thunder. We made it back to the apartment just in time, a downpour started as soon as we got inside. It was so cozy sitting in her living room listening to the storm outside, recovering from a day of sightseeing.They offered us drinks as they got ready to go, and we had some good talks until they left. It felt really nice to have a night in to relax. Somehow being a tourist can be really exhausting.

We got up early the next day to take advantage of the rest of our monument pass. We saw Zeus's Temple, the Ancient and Roman Agoras, the South slope of the Acropolis which includes the Theatre of Dionyso and wandered up the mountain and around the Acropolis again, soaking everything up.

Feeling bad about leaving us the night before, Antigone and Leni vowed to take us out the next night when we got home from our last day of seeing ancient monuments. Bars in Athens stay open late…some as late as seven A.M.! So, we went bar hopping. The music was wonderful, a very eclectic mix of things I really wasn't expecting to hear like Violent Femmes and Frank Sinatra. Leni was a fantastic dancer. She just had rhythm and you could tell she really enjoyed doing it.

Antigone and Leni said it is hard to meet men because in Greek culture women don’t really approach men. So even if you like someone you have to wait for him to come to you., and if he never does, oh well. In fact, a lot of my French students have told me that about French culture as well. However, Leni cracked me up when guys would hit on her and she wasn't interested. One guy asked her for the time, and she cooly replied, "Time for you to stop talking."

The only downside was that every bar was super crowded, and everyone but Maja and I smoked. I don't mind when people smoke, but being packed in like sardines and then forced to breathe it in was getting to me by the time we went home at six in the morning. I was exhausted by the end of it, but it was a blast.

Before they went to bed Antigone and Leni both came and hugged us and said their goodbyes, knowing they probably wouldn’t be awake when we had to leave for the airport in the morning. They were right. Leni did stir on the couch and say “Goodbye girls! I am dreaming of you already!” as we quietly let ourselves out of the apartment.

Maja, Leni, Antigone, and I on our last night.