Ancient Greece

I’m in Athens now…it is hot…95 degrees and super humid. I quickly realize there is not much to do here as far as sightseeing, so I have a lot of time. The first day I check out the New Acropolis Museum and the Acropolis (temple for Athena) itself. The museum is pretty fascinating in that it has many pieces of the Parthenon such as the two main story lines on the east and west pediments (Athena’s birth and Athena’s fight to win Athens from Poseidon).  Walking through the museum, it reminds me of studying Greek mythology during my school days. What’s most amazing is that the Acropolis was built nearly 25 centuries and there are still remnants of the structure here. And even more so that this ancient site is in the middle of a modern city. Weaving through the various structures surrounding it, I make my way up to the top. I try to visualize what the Parthenon might have looked like at that time. As I wander through the streets, I try hard to remember the Greek alphabet from my sorority days as some of the street signs are not in English.  I can say that was quite helpful! I usually end up visiting places during the off season (more so by coincidence) thus being in Greece now is a total pain. There are tons of tourists everywhere and it just makes you not what to be here.

On a side note, I was curious to see how the current debt crisis has played out within the country. The signs that I see are lots of police on the streets and lots of closed shops. In speaking to locals here, they say it has been tough and there are lots of trains, buses and boats that have been cancelled. But I have not seen any protests or anything. Though people told me to be careful traveling around in Greece, after traveling around the Middle East, I am not too worried. One experience that struck me was with an Australian woman I had met here. We were walking to a bar to watch the EuroCup  semi-final game (Spain vs Portugal) and her ATM card got stuck in the machine. She just continued her conversation with me and said she’ll get her card tomorrow. I was asking her why she didn’t freak out…as that is what I would have done..had that happened to me. She then says “If I can’t control it, then I don’t worry about it”. I always thought I was care free in that sense, but she took it to another level.  As they say, life begins at the end of your comfort zone..I’m sure to test some of those limits especially in Morocco. Now I’m off to Mykonos for a few days of relaxation and to see what all the hype is about the Greek Islands.