with Africans selling purses on the road like Spain, there's crazy letters I can't read like in Asia.. Even Asian restaurants.. Men staring like I'm the first blond girl to ever cross their path like in Egypt, it's got a little feel of Croatia but the people don't seem to care about anything like in Paris or Italy.. There's stretching dead land like Iceland and little city parks mixed in with amazing old stuff, all next to trinket shops where the people follow you all too. Close around the store and then theres the hustle and bustle of the city.. O yea.. And I think there's more Americans than Greek people in the plaka. When I first got to land, I was shuffled onto a bus where I had to pay €2.20 to sit on the floor of the bus isle. Then the bus man sent me the wrong direction to the city bus, and I roamed the city for an hour in a fat circle.. I later found out from my hostel lady, who was a tad bit cooky, that that was the worst part of Athens where the prstitutes shoot up heroin and what not.. Guess I'm still oblivious to that stuff or she was exaggerating, or I was on the best street of the neighborhood.. Or maybe they kept the drugs in the purses that lined the roads. I think it took a full two hours from the rafina port to my hostel. The hostel was fine, but it's just one of those ones that gives you a weird vibe.. Like don't spend anymore time than required here because it's so lame and they want to suck you in.
So I went out and saw the "first" olympic stadium, Zeus' temple, and the hardian gate entrance deal.. I managed to bust in for free after tips from mere who had gone the day before. The columns were pretty cool.. And wouldve been even more amazing to photograph with my real camera! The sky was just perfect..
(yay my face! I still have one! Charming pic really...hmm) So I spent too long admiring and realized the acropolis would haveta wait til tomorrow.. So I just headed down tourist road where all the shops are selling their junk and got sucked in a bit. Then I me. Bob who was conserned I wasn't smiling... I told him I was tired.. I'd been to 20 countries.. And then he thought I was the cooles person ever.. And he started telling me that I haveta be clever to make money.. And have good friends.. I never asked him about it.. He just told me and then kept showing me his text messages from asian tourists that send him gifts that he sells.. If he thought he was gettin anything outta me, he was quite mistaken. So I let bob babble too long.. It started to get dark and so I had to nicely decline bobs offer to take me out for a drink and around Athens the next day.. 40 yr old clever Greeks just aren't my type I guess.. But if their yours... Well let me know! I've got bobs number waitin for you! So I hustled back home as it started to get cold.. I was told my beauty would keep me warm by a man pushin his son in a stroller offering directions that I didn't need.. O these men are just so charming... and wrong. I was cold. Made it back.. Cooked up some din din and tried to go to bed early but the dumb Internet was soo slow and broken that it took eons to look up the ferries.. So I gave up and went to sleep... With the snoring polish grandma. Yay.
I woke up pretty late this morning.. The rain, dark room, exhaustion, and lack of motivation had me knocked out til almost 9 am.. The latest I've slept in forever and a day. So I kinda got my life together and headed to the travel agency to get a boat ticket out of Athens asap. The problem was that the ferry this afternoon was a high speed one.. Aka expensive and no pretend islands to go to. The one at 7 the following morning meant I had to get up before public transportation started, and the one that afternoon meant hangin in Athens that much longer. So after much contemplation and working my skills, a discount on the first ferry outta there is what I took.. So I'm on my way to santorini right now! I'm sure it's gorgeous at midnight when I arrive.. Hope I can find someone good at the port too or I'm in trouble! After dealing with the lame travel agent man who could care less what I wantedo do, I got myself together and headed to the acropolis and such. The busting in for free didn't work so well when I was the only one goin in.. And I don't have my solo survival skills all back yet, so instead of claiming an eu country to study in, I said california like an idiot.. At least my ticket was still half price! I saw the didioluois or whatever ampitheater and the hiked my way up to the top for the Parthenon and the nike temple and eveything else that was cool and old and completely covered in scaffolding. Bummer.
(sorry the iphone pixtures are slack.. The screen om my little camera decided it wanted to start working again! And i got carried away with that..) Heaps of Americans to take my picture though! and to say things so dumb outloud that i couldn't even fully understand sometimes. There was also so many dogs just hangin out on the monuments.. I'm not sure why they got the green pass to clear the desginated walkway but I surely didn't. I also was invited by an acropolis guard to go on a 30 mm adventure if I waited just 3 mins for him to get off work. I told him I was Swedish and with my boyfriend. He was convinced I was alone.. That was obvious, and he thought I was German. I'm afraid to claim I'm German because lots of ppl in Europe know German.. I thought Swedish was a good obsure enough one that they'd haveta use English.. But I guess I don't pull it off well enough so I need a new fake identity in the eu. I avoided the creepy guard and took in some more cool old marble stones and rocks before wondering the long way back (where I found this awesome sign).
I ate some more (surprise!) And gathered myslef before makin the 2 hour trek to the santorini ferry. I knew there was no way it could possibly take. 2 hours, but i listened to the hostel lady because I didn't want to miss my expensive ticket outta there. So I took the bus to the metro to the bus to the boat and felt guilty enough to pay €1 for part of my transportation. I noticed these two women were struggling around more or less on the same path so I asked if they were goin to santorini too, claro! So we worked together to get on our ferry.. They're from Argentina, and their English is as extensive as my Spanish.. But we can converse so it's fun... And I really hope I can catch a free ride to the place they are staying for €11 for a room... Only time will tell!
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