Episode 02: "The Greek Half" (+) [P2]

A couple of weeks after I left the kibbutz, my buddy Val and I took a two-week trip to Greece and Turkey. Here's where I give a personal shout-out to Mom, who made it possible for me. And now for the Greek half of my trip.

After we found our hostel, the youth-centric "Athens Backpackers", Val and I hit the ground running with the tourist attractions. The first place we found was the famous Acropolis, an ancient site at the center of Athens.

The amphitheater.

The Temple of Athena.

The rock we found that had a beautiful view of Athens.

The weather was warm, and the atmosphere was inviting, so we were sold on Greece the first day through. The next day, we came back to the same area to check out the Agora, or the "place of gathering" back in Ancient Greece's heyday. We were lucky enough to see some cool archaeological ruins, and we made our way through them toward some of the tourist staples around:

Temple Hephaistos.

The museum.

Val walking out of a Byzantine church.

After the Agora, we got directions to Mount Lycabettus, which we had seen from the Acropolis rock the day before. We made a trek through a busy part of the city, up the mount, and made it to the top with an insanely beautiful view as our reward. While there, we were able to check out an awesome white-washed church at the summit.

The view from Lycabettus.

One of the fantastic mural paintings of gospel scenes
in the church we came upon.

The day after, Val and I checked out an even higher mount--the mountain Hymettos. Searching blindly for a path to the top, Val and I eventually came across a path sparsely marked by red spraypaint. Although the climb was great exercise on a sunny day, there was a slight negative edge to the hike--no guide, no working phones, no sense of direction. We made it to the top though, and got a view from so high it felt like it was from space. Afterward, going back down was a little more lighthearted.

Val.

And Me. In outer space.

The next day, we made a ferry voyage to the island of Santorini, explained to us as one of the most beautiful places in all of Greece. Hot springs, beaches, beautiful buildings, great night life, and there was even a hot tub at our hostel. Unfortunately, all those possibilities were cut off by the winter season. When we got to the island, everything was dead, gray and rainy. We experienced exactly zero of the famed attractions. I think this next picture of Val in Santorini sums it all up:

Miserable.

We made a friend named Hye-Kyoong at our hostel during our last night there, and played charades to pass the time. Charades. Meeting Hye-Kyoong was cool, but it wasn't nearly enough to redeem the black hole that was Santorini. Never again.

We got out of there a day early and managed to catch more of the rainstorm on the mainland, which closed down the museum we wanted to hit up. Val and I improvised and made our way to the Olympic stadium (the one built for the games in 2004), and caught a European basketball game. Our time there wasn't bad at all.


We went to the movies that night and caught an early flight to Istanbul the next morning. Aside from that misstep into the Santorini Manhole, we'd done all right for ourselves. And I was definitely looking forward to what Turkey had to offer next.

Shalom,
Eric