Okay, let me just put it out it there - Athens suck. Actually, it's not so bad, but it definitely wasn't one of my favorite cities. I was going to Greece for work, so I decided to spend the weekend in Athens but 2 days was more than enough. That's including time I spent being lost, which was about half the time. The first problem arose out of the Greek letters. I've only seen them used in math equations and Greek societies, so I've never seen them put together to make words - or street names. I had a hard time mapping the street I was on to the streets in the map. And try this while you're driving in major traffic! Nevermind the fact that you can't even see the street signs if you are driving. Yeah, so my very first night in Athens (after a drive down to Cape Sounion to see the Temple of Poseidon), I probably spent an hour in the city driving around in circles trying to find my hotel. I'm sure I broke my record, by tenfold, the number of times I had to stop and ask for directions - in a given month. Seriously, this sucked. Luckily, I was to return the car the next day, but it took me about an hour then too to find the car rental place in the city. I knew exactly where it was on the map - but I couldn't get there!!! The city has so many one way streets it's not funny. Again, I was going around and around in circles. At least on one occasion I rushed my way down a one-way street hoping no one will come from the other end. In another case, I completely left my car illegally blocking a one-way street while I stepped out and ran around the area on foot looking for the car rental place. (Hell if I was going to spend another 20 minutes driving in circles.) Yeah, so don't drive in Athens if you can help it. But if you must, do like the locals do:
1) Cut people off in the turning lanes and get right up to the front
2) Speed limit signs are ornamental - pay no attention to them
3) Run over pedestrians at your will
4) Double park if you can't find a place to park
5) Go the wrong way down one-way streets - but do it quickly
6) If you get stuck, drive down a pedestrian street while taking out some cafe tables
You think I'm joking... I'm not.
The Walk
In this city where life is as ancient as Acropolis, the internet is as slow as dial-up and a water bottle costs only 50 euro cents (maybe the cheapest in the world). In this city, you also do a lot of walking. The city is very mountainous(?) so there are a lot of uphills. To get to Acropolis you must walk uphill, to get to the top of Lykavittos, you must walk uphill. To get from place to place, you must walk a lot, because it is a big city. To get from place to place, you must walk a lot because you will get lost. Well, mostly, it's in the city center where it's a bit confusing. It's also difficult to find your place on the map if you have no idea where you are to begin with. Which was the case one night after coming down Lykavittos Hill after dark. I came down a different path from where I went up, simply because I had no idea where I entered the hill to begin with. You know, this hill is supposed to be a major tourist attraction. I found it quite surprising though that the paths were not lit or marked. I stayed up the hill past dark to try to catch the sunset (too many clouds tho) and see the city by night. It got very dark on my way down, and I could hardly see anything and I had no idea where I was going. I followed a few people for a while, but I lost them quickly after stopping once or twice to take photos. A little while later, the path split into two. I went back and forth between the two paths unsure whether one would end up taking me back up to the top or to the otherside of the hill where I didn't want to be. In the end, I finally made it down hill and just kind of kept walking aimlessly until I found someone who pointed me in the general direction of where I wanted to go. Yeah, that's another reason why you'll wak a lot. Since there really isn't a whole lot to do in Athens, you could easily just decide to walk around a lot aimlessly as I did. Beats sitting in the hotel. So I probably spent at least 6 hours a day walking while there.
The Sights
Everyone goes to Athens to see Acropolis. This was actually the coolest part of my trip. I actually enjoyed the walk up to it, and the walk around Ancient Agora which is right next to it. The weather was great, and the occasional hustle bustle of the tourists all around made for a lively outing. The Acropolis was slightly on the disappointing side though. The Parthenon is not well-preserved, and the scene is ruined by tons of equipment for reconstruction. Also, in comparison to some other ruins (e.g. Angkor Wat, Machu Picchu), it's not so spectacular. Hence, I did not vote to have the Acropolis be part of the new 7 wonders of the world. (You can vote too!) Aside from Acropolis, I went to the Ancient Agora, Temple of Olympian Zeus, the Olympic Stadium, Lykavittos Hill, National Archealogical Museum, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Plaka, and the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion.
More pictures here.
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