But as much as we really tried to love Greece, it was really difficult. As a city Athens is, for lack of a better word, a shit hole. It’s dangerous, dirty, rude, and really really lazy. In one day alone we saw an armed robbery, someone shooting up in the park, a pimp “reprimanding” one of his girls, and two bums fist fighting in the plaza. We had a hell of a time getting anyone to do anything. It is certainly unfair to judge a country by the small bit that we have seen so we will just leave it at this: we are very happy to get out of here…

(Check out the Greece photo gallery here for some action shots)

Favorite moments:

• Gyros & Pitas
• Delphi
• Exploring Tinos Island
• Driving for the first time in months
• Great weather
• Wild poppies growing all over the ruins

Not so great:

• Dealing with lazy, self-important postal workers
• The gunshots outside our window in middle of the day
• Constantly watching our backs for robbery and/or violence
• Everything is so expensive!!

Total Money Spent Per Person: $817.76

Average Per Day Costs Per Person:

• Lodging: $15.76
• Food: $16.42
• Transportation: $8.65
• Misc: $10.28 (Internet, museum/park entrance, etc.)

(Misc costs also includes flight delays but not postage cost)

Total Average Per Day, Per Person: $51.11

Number of Days: 16

The last several days have been wretchedly boring so we’ve combined them into a single still unexciting post to update you on our recent doings. We’ve included some random photos as well.

Wildflowers

What we have spent our time doing has consisted of coming back to Athens from Delphi on 5/10, daily calls (harassment?) to the post office and Greek customs office, working on the website, walking around Piraeus one afternoon which proved really really uneventful (oh wait, we saw someone get hit by a scooter; that was eventful but certainly not in a good way), we saw the Acropolis at night and had a most incredible view over Athens…

Mmm dinner!

Athens at night

…and we ranted and raved at the postman on the last day to give us our package (he wouldn’t go look for it because he literally told us ”Look, I don’t want to inconvenience myself”….yeah we wish we were joking…we were both furious). But we got our package FINALLY even though it cost us 132 euros (you don’t even want to know how many dollars that is….ugh) in taxes and fees that were entirely made up. On 5/15 we flew to Cairo at 12:50AM and got to Cairo at 3AM. You can read about that next post…

Deep contemplation...

The most famous ruins of Delphi (the temple of Athena), are surprisingly free! Which would have been nice know before we paid the 3 Euro entrance free to get to the lesser ruins at the top of the hill.

Ruins of Delphi

The complex is very well laid out and has a beautiful rugged look to it but was not what we came for. We climbed all over the hills looking everywhere for the famous Oracle of Delphi. Then from up high near the old stadium we spotted it…far from the gate and down the hill. We scurried out, past the hoards of tourists and touts and headed down a small almost unmarked path which ended in the fantastic Temple of Athena.

Temple of Athena at Delphi

Not a soul in sight except for a few surprised snakes. It was amazing to see one of the most famous ruins completely deserted with the chaos of tour buses just a few hundred yards away. Even the guard house was only occupied by a few stray cats. It was beautiful to have it all to ourselves.

Ruins at Delphi

We finished a lovely, sunny day with delicious pitas, aimless wandering around the tiny but charming town and, best of all, an afternoon nap!

What the hell is so wrong with us that no one will pick us up?! Frustrated, lost, and literally seconds from missing our 3:30 bus to Delphi, we were passed by at least 10 empty taxis that refused to stop to pick us up despite our safe location for pulling in and hugely obviously waving arm. We had crossed the highway, the crossed back, and finally crossed back-back once more trying to figure out why it was that whenever we crossed the 6 lanes of traffic without a stoplight or crosswalk that all the taxis started passing like mad on the side we had just crossed from! We just couldn’t win!!

We had already missed the 1:00 bus because the hostel didn’t get our laundry done when they said they would and now we have just missed our 3:30 bus. Having no idea where we were, how to get away from where we were, and having no idea what bus to take back to the terminal, we felt completely dumbfounded. No taxis would pick us up and we didn’t even know what direction to start walking. We had gotten to Terminal B to get tickets to Delphi at 1:15, breathless and hoping to still maybe catch the 1:00 but without luck. Since we had about 2 hours to kill til our 3:30 bus, we took a city bus up the road 15 or 20 minutes til we saw some restaurants. Unfortunately we were in an all-Greek neighborhood and with no English menus and a now pressing language barrier, we were reduced to a ”Coffee + Food” shop with plastic-wrapped sandwiches and rotten vegetables. We couldn’t even finish them and just sat very sullenly not even bothering to speak to each other since there was just nothing to say sipping unpleasantly warm beers while a very creepy man with an over sized mustache watched us. We had plenty of time left before we needed to start heading back so we went up the street to an Internet cafe to check the status of our package one last time before we get all the way outside Athens. No changes, as expected. We started heading back catching one of the million buses that run toward the Terminal and wouldn’t our luck have it but we got on the one stupid bus that turned off into a residential district. Time was rapidly running out and we could find no taxis in the burb so we hoofed it toward the freeway hoping for better luck. That only led to crossing multiple lanes multiple times thereby multiplying our already intense frustration.

So with no other choice, we simply started walking. Saben had a vague idea of the direction we should go and with no better plan, we set off. Twenty minutes later, we saw the bus station…except that is wasn’t the bus station we needed; it was Terminal A. How Saben’s wicked directional skills got us to a bus station, even the wrong one, is totally bizarre! Finally, we were able to get a taxi to stop for us and drove us nearly 15 minutes to get to Terminal B. How we got to wherever we were, we still have no idea but it was a seriously long way! Glad we didn’t try to walk it–it would’ve taken weeks!

Finally, we made it back to the bus station with an hour and a half til the next bus left for Delphi. Playing the dumb tourist who doesn’t understand Greek, we got our tickets switched to the 5:30 bus with no problems. This time we knew better than to try and kill time outside the bus station!

Several hours later, we finally made it to Delphi and collapsed in our lovely cheap room with a balcony overlooking the mountains and not so distant sea! And our misadventures come to a brief halt when we discovered the most delicious pitas and tzatziki in, not just Greece, but the whole world! It’s the only place in town that doesn’t cater to the tourist crowd so it’s cheap, filled with locals zipping in and out and sometimes shouting at the TV soccer (er, football) game, and it’s unbelievably delicious. Of course the sign name is in Greek but it’s easy enough to find on the ”upper” level of the town. There is a small white and red sign that says ”Pitas” sticking out of the side and it’s near an upscale looking bakery that sells wine across the street. And to top it all off, the owner is incredibly nice. Even though we had a ridiculous day trying to get here, these pitas make it so worth it!

Yummm... Pitas

A thousand apologies, dear readers, for we are as bored writing these last few posts as you are of reading them. Still no package, a second painfully expensive flight delay. We are hoping just as you are that something exciting will happen VERY soon…

Random photo off our balcony

So we’re stuck here for 2 more days with nothing else to do. Wish we would’ve known so we could’ve stayed on Tinos! Went to National Archaeology Museum this morning and came out to find it cold and raining. Museum was interesting at first then mind numbing (3 euros students, 6 nonstudents). Some cool things like ancient medical instruments, jury duty tickets, and hair accessories. After a while the massive amounts of (seemingly endless) sculptures got a little boring but it’s definitely worth a visit especially for history buffs. Otherwise, yet another disappointingly boring day for posting…

Shield crest

Sculpture

Lin among the riches

Bronze cast heads

Restless, cramped, noisy 4 hour ferry back from Tinos to Rafina for Lindsey, awesome, freezing cold, blissful solitude on deck for Saben.

No one braving the cold

Top Deck

Saben watching the waves

Hungry and stinky thanks to the icey water in the hotel on Tinos (perfect all except that shower!). Didn’t get back to Athens til about 2:30pm and we’re supposed to fly out tonight but still no package. Can’t leave without it so had to delay our flight til Thursday. Surely that will be enough time since it’s already in Greece. Back to the old Zeus Hostel once again…

Stepping off the ferry onto Tinos, we quickly sized up the tiny isle. It was perfect for us. Despite the cold weather and fierce winds with clouds threatening rain at any second, we were ecstatic at everything that lay before us. It was the white buildings with classic Greek blue shutters and rich pink flowers in the window sill, small streets winding uphill and between buildings, the absence of people and thus, the absence of noise. Everything came together to make us forget the crummy weather and appreciate the misty fog passing across the highest mountains and ancient stone walls and the numerous dovecotes left over from Venetian rule around the 18th and 19th centuries. We spent the day driving around in our tiny rented Yaris admiring the charming countryside of the island.

Our hotel

Our mean little Yaris

Small town on the coast

We went to a marble beach with the biggest, meanest waves we’ve yet to see where broken bits of green, pink, and black marble took the place of what would otherwise be sand. There was a small fresh water stream protected from the ocean by massive towering boulders that eventually ran around to the water’s edge, combining on the wet sand until it was longer evident where the ocean ended and the stream began. The waves were at least 7   feet tall and would’ve thoughtlessly bashed anyone or thing that tried to even stand in the surf. It was stunning. All around us we were surrounded by hazy mountains as rain drops fell on our shoulders prodding us to get back in the car. But this particular beach was so extraordinary that it was incredibly difficult to leave, as if those powerful waves were pulling on us keeping us mesmerized by its immeasurable strength.

The surging waves

Marble beach

A totally delightful day despite the unfavorable weather!

Small fried fish, if you saw that on the menu, what would you expect? One small fried fish one a plate, right? Yeah me too, but in fact that small phrase can mean more than one thing. In Greece apparently it means ”TWENTY (very) small fried fishes.” So while Saben sucked away at his jumbo shrimp, Lin was throwing down some serious fish carnage.

Before

After (Small fried fish... you have been warned)

Can you believe that such a tiny fish would have bones? Like whole spines? Annoyingly tiny bones that are not innocuous to eat and too tiny to get your stupid fingers on?! Well, friend, let me wholeheartedly assure you that they indeed do. For the better part of twenty minutes, Lin de-headed, de-spined, and de-tailed twenty small fried fish perfecting the technique that it really is a shame not to ever (not EVER) use it again. By the end of the plate, there was finally enough meat to make a small pile a little larger than a tomato slice! But to be fair it was very tasty.

Sabens bone-free shrimp

Along with our seafood we had a fantastic salad, some fluffy bread, and lots of house wine–truly the best wine either of us have ever had. It was an utterly perfect red. A shame that it’s only available in a tiny seafood restaurant in this tiny port town in Greece. But then again, if it were bottled and exported, it would probably lose some of its flawlessness.

Oh so very tasty (insert drool here)

Laughing and feeling satisfied, we bounced down to the docks and up to an ice cream shop where we feasted on some wicked awesome deliciousness and finally found ourselves climbing over sea rocks looking out over the magnificently clear water. The water turned white when it rolled in colliding with the rocks. It was quiet despite the sound of the gentley crashing waves spraying us lightly as we stood poised like goats on the highest rocks we could climb breathlessly surveying the Aegean.

Ahh the sea

View from our deck

The National Gardens in Athens are dreadfully boring. Although admission is free, there are essentially no flowers except a few small rows of pansies and petunias by a couple entrance gates and around the base of a monument. Mostly it’s just a park with dusty paths and over pruned hedges on the verge of death. There is a filthy little fish pond with turtles too but the water is so dirty that you can’t even really see the fish but only a few orange darting spots below the surface. The turtles just hang around on the rocks that are oddly stacked in the middle while pigeons hop from one turtle shell to another, completely oblivious to the fact that they are standing on top of a (very unhappy) fellow creature.

Flowers and the fence

We watched the brainless birds for a bit until one finally leapt from a turtle to a real rock, and in propelling itself to its next target, knocked the turtle off its rather high rock and sent it crashing into the rock below before finally landing with a plunk in the water. He was swimming fiercely away, clearly pissed, running over a couple fellow turtles in his path. Poor guy!

Turtle Taxi

The only other interesting thing in the gardens is a miniature zoo. Actually it more closely resembles an American barnyard than a zoo. It has billy goats with big crazy horns, chickens and roosters, a lonely sad looking mule who seems to stand all day facing the wall of its tiny shed, a few fat sleepy cats (mysteriously residing in the chicken pin), some ducks and a cage full of parakeets.

We like goats!

Since we were so close, we made our way over to check out Hadrian’s Arch and the Temple of Zeus just beside each other. The arch was nice but a little less grand looking than it must have been when it was first built. I have a feeling that if Hadrian could see him arch today he would be very disheartened to see all the indifferent lanes of traffic zooming by and the advertisements visible through the arch on the buildings that now create a rather ”modern” backdrop.

Hadrian's arch

The Temple of Zeus is more interesting. All that remains are 15 columns and a rather small piece of what was once the roof that was supported by these massive, sturdy columns. It would have been quite an impressive sight in its day.

Temple of Zeus

Temple of Zeus detail