My Eurotrip 2009: Day 7

Museums & Shopping
Thursday, May 7

Siena and I made our way to downtown Athens again on public transportation and our first stop was the National Art Gallery. I never knew just how much she knew about painting techniques, different periods (Renaissance, etc.) and styles. She gave me a mini lesson while we wandered through the mix of modern and old paintings.
Our next stop was the Benaki Museum, which is a private museum. Yia Yia had given us some spanakopita to take with us and we found a shade tree near the front steps of the Benaki Museum and ate it before going inside.
Afterwards, we went down to the area of town called Plaka where there are many shops and old buildings. We didn't do much shopping, but we enjoyed the view of the Acropolis from the narrow streets. When we had our fill, we made our way back to Pallini to rest for a while until Despina came back from work.

We had a snack and then left for downtown again, only this time our goal was to see the sunset from Areopagos. We climbed to the top of the rock and had an amazing view of the city and the sun setting through the clouds.
On our way back down, we saw the moon still in the sky and it was almost full. We wandered the streets for a while, taking in the orange and pink sky that was the backdrop for the old buildings. We made our way towards a metro station, but before we made it to the square, we stopped at a small restaurant and got some souvlaki. We sat out in the square and watched the night life start to brew as we ate our delicious food. Before we boarded the metro, we got one last glimpse of the Acroplis lit up against the black sky.

My Eurotrip 2009: Day 6

The Parliament & Museums
Wednesday, May 6

The day started out with catching the bus to Athens with Despina at 8:30am, and Siena and I continued on to the metro. We got off at the Syntagma metro stop just in time to see the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in front of the Greek Parliament building at 10am.
Afterwards, we got back on the metro and went up to the Omonia stop and walked to the National Archeological Museum. We spent some time there, getting lost among the ancient jewelry and sculptures.
Afterwards, we had lunch at Goody's, which is a fast food restaurant. Only half of the menu was in English, like "Premium *insert Greek work here*" or "Goody's Club *insert Greek word here* + Coca-Cola". Siena and I decided to stick with what we know, and ordered 2 club sandwiches and fries. But because we didn't know that fries came with the sandwiches, we ended up with a LOT of fries.
Then, we walked down the street called Oktovriou-Patision until it intersected with Ermou, which is a street packed with high-end (and some not-so-high-end) stores, shops, and cafes. There were 2 items I wanted to get in Europe while I'm here: a purse and a pair of shoes. I got lucky and found a pair of really cute shoes in one of the first stores we went into. But finding the right purse proved to be more difficult.

While we were eating our lunch, it started to rain. Luckily, we had Despina's little umbrella with us and we managed to stay mostly dry while going between shops. We called Despina somewhere along the way, and when we weren't having any luck finding purses on Ermou, she directed us toward another street where I found my new purse! They were closing the shop as we were looking, but they let us hang around long enough to make a decision.
We made our way back to Syntagma and back to Pallini.


After resting for a while at Despina's house, we got changed and went out to downtown Athens for a drink at a couple of her favorite bars. One of them was called Nixon and had a bobblehead of Former President Nixon hanging out on the DJ's table. The neighborhood where the bars were located had a great view of the Acropolis lit up at night. We took a taxi back to the metro station where we had parked the car, and got home around midnight.

My Eurotrip 2009: Day 5

Athens Public Transit & The Acropolis
Tuesday, May 5

Siena and I got up early and left the house with Despina, as she was on her way to work. We took a bus from a bus stop one block from her house and headed towards Athens. The night before she had given us hand-written notes on which buses to take and where, and which metro trains as well. She got off the bus soon after we got on, and we continued to the end of the line: the Ethniki Amyna metro stop. From there, we hopped on the metro to the Akropoli metro stop. From there, we walked around and saw many of the ruins. Luckily, the day was partly sunny and made it a beautiful day to do a lot of walking and take pictures.

We visited:
- Temple of Olympian Zeus
- Hadrian's Arch
- Theatre of Dionysos
- Odeon of Herodes Atticus
- The Parthenon and other Temples on the Acropolis
- Areopagus Hill
- Church of the Apostles of Solakis
- Stoa of Attalos and surrounding ruins

Along the way, we stopped at a restaurant and ate outdoors with a view of the Acropolis from our table. There were several birds flying around (pigeons, mourning doves, etc.) and some even jumped on our table while we were eating!

We continued our walking tour and made our way to the Monastiraki metro stop and headed back to Pallini. We got home after 5pm and took a 3-hour nap around 6pm. We woke up in time for dinner and essentially went back to bed. For some reason, I wasn't able to sleep right after my shower and I ended up staying awake on the internet until about 1am.

My Eurotrip 2009: Day 4

Road Trip with Simon
Monday, May 4

Despina's father, Simon, had some flexibility in his schedule and took Siena and I for a drive around the Attica region of Greece. One important detail of this trip is that Simon does not speak English. He knows a few key words, and a lot of Polish words, but that didn't help the Romance linguists that Siena and I are.


We left around 9:30am and our first stop was Sounio, where the Temple of Poseidon sits on top of a hill near the sea. It was mostly cloudy, and very windy, but at least it wasn't raining. We had some coffee with Simon at a cafe at the bottom of the hill and then Siena and I made our way up to the top. Somehow we managed to get through without paying the entrance fee. (Oops!)
We drove through the hills and stopped to see some ruins from the road (it was Monday and they were closed!) We passed through Markopoulo and eventually made our way up to Marathon. At Marathon, we stopped at a restaurant on the beach for a snack. Keep in mind that our communication with Simon was very limited. He ordered some food for us, and you can imagine our surprise when 2 plates of octopus and 1 plate of calamari were delivered to our table. We tried to be polite by trying it, but let's just say it wasn't my favorite Greek dish.
Somewhere along the way, he had been trying to tell us about Ouzo, which is a drink like Raki that we tried on our first night in Greece. It is a very strong liquor that smells a bit like black licorice. Simon kept telling us that it was to 'clear our senses', you know, so we could taste the octopus. ;-) The grilled octopus was better than the boiled octopus, according to Siena. I could only get myself to try the grilled one.
We drove around some more and saw the starting point for the Olympic marathon that took place in 2004, a shrine to Saint Barbara, and made a stop for the bathroom and also ordered some spanakopita at a small tavern where Simon's friends worked.
A few times during the day, we had to call Despina to have her translate between us and her dad. We knew Simon wanted to tell us the history of many of the places we visited, but we just couldn't communicate. At some point, late in the day, he tried to tell us something about President Obama, which we found out later from Despina that it was a joke.
All in all, it was a good day and Simon was very generous with his time to take us all over Attica by car. :)

My Eurotrip 2009: Day 3

Day Trip to Peloponnisos
Sunday, May 3
(Simon and Eleni's birthday!)

This day we woke up around 6am to get ready. Despina's boyfriend, Kostas, picked Siena, Eleni, Despina, and I up at the house and we headed to the suburban train line in Pallini to start our journey. We took a total of 4 trains:

Pallini -> Ano Liosia -> Kiato -> Diakofto -> Kalavrita

Along the way, we saw amazing scenery including the beautiful hills and mountains of Attica, the narrow canal that separates Peloponnisos from Attica, and miles of beautiful coastline. In Diakofto, we stopped in a small shop for snacks and water. From here, the train we took up the hill used othodotos (teeth in the middle of the railroad tracks for the train to use to climb up the hills in the Vouraiko Gorge). This railway used to be the only way in and out of the villages that lie in the mountains.


The train ride takes 1.5 hours to get to Kalavrita (from Diakofto), which is 22,000 meters above sea level, and about 22 km from the town of Diakofto. It is common for people to hike along the tracks all the way to the top. (It would be awesome to come back and do that one day!)

The train was very small: Only 2 cars and the engine in the middle. There were 2 first class sections on either end of the train, for which Eleni bought ticket for us! That meant that there were fewer people in that section and more room to run from window to window trying to get good pictures of the scenery. We all got some amazing shots. :)
Upon arrival in Kalavrita, we walked up the hill to a small museum about the German occupation of Greece and the massacre of the villagers from Kalavrita and surrounding villages.
Then we went to eat at a tavern and we had Greek salad (of course!), lamb chops, plain salad, and tiropita (like spanakopita [spinach & feta pie], but only with feta cheese).
Towards the end of our meal, Kostas and Despina worked it out with the waiter so we could surprise Eleni with a birthday cake. She was so surprised that she cried a little. We sang "Happy Birthday" in English and Greek. Well, Despina and Kostas sang in Greek...
After lunch, we continued to follow the mosaic design of railroad tracks on the sidewalk up the hill to see more shops and touristy things. We reached the end of the line and walked back down towards the train station, but we still had some time so we decided to stop at a cafe. We sat at a table in the sun and sipped our frothy caffeinated/decaf beverages.
On the way back to Pallini, it didn't take us long to realize that the ride home was going to be a crowded one. Friday, May 1 was May Day (kind of like Labor Day) and many people traveled to the villages from Athens for the 3-day weekend.
After the 2nd train back, I had to go to the bathroom. Only, the only bathroom available was on the opposite platform and the train was coming any minute. I made a mad dash downstairs, through the tunnel under the tracks, up to the bathroom and back just as the train was pulling in. I had to push my way through the crowd on the platform to get to Despina and everybody, but I made it!
We were very tired from the long day of traveling by train when we arrived home. We had another birthday cake for Eleni and Simon with Kostos and Despina's grandmother and then went to bed.

My Eurotrip 2009: Day 2 (cont'd)

Arrival in Pallini, Greece
Saturday, May 2

Upon arrival at Despina's house, we had a snack of pasticcio (it looked a bit like lasagna in the pan, but consisted of noodles, ground meat, and an egg, cream, and flour substance that held it all together). I took a much-needed shower and relaxed a bit with my sister, and around 8 or 9pm, we all went out to dinner at a restaurant (or tavern) that serves traditional Crete food.


We tried:
- ofti (grilled feta cheese)
- dakos (paksimadi [toasted bread] with tomato, feta cheese, basil, oregano, and other herbs)
- tzatziki (yogurt, garlic, and cucumber)
- fricase (pork with vegetables and red sauce)
- gamopilafo (Crete 'wedding rice')
- graviera (yellow cheese)
- dolmadakia yialantzi (vine leaves stuffed with rice and meat)
- lahano dolmades (cabbage leaves with meat and rice)
- Dessert: Apples and cinnamon with halvas (made with semolina [made from corn] and oil)

It was delicious! I really liked the gamopilafo, strong flavor and all, and the dakos. :)

My Eurotrip 2009: Days 1 & 2

The Voyage
Friday, May 1 and Saturday, May 2

I know Chicago has a very large Polish population, but I never imagined that I'd feel like I was in Poland before even boarding the plane. My flight to Athens, Greece had a connecting flight in Warsaw, Poland, and I traveled on Lot, a Polish airline, for both legs.
While waiting at the gate and aboard the plane, all of the announcements about my flight were in Polish, and it seemed like only some of them were translated into English.
As I boarded the plane, I had my ticket out and showed the flight attendant so she could tell me which aisle I should go down to get to my seat. Without hesitating, she directed me in Polish and the only thing I could think to say was, "English?" She smiled, and without missing a beat, she directed me in English.
I found my seat near the aisle in the row of seats in the middle of the plane. I was immediately surrounded by Polish chatter. The safety instructions were in Polish first, accompanied by a funny-looking video. (I'll upload that later.)
Because of the "Swine Flu" going around, my step-dad gave me some masks and rubber gloves to use, just in case anyone was coughing around me, etc. I thought I would try to be safe anyway, since I catch any cold that comes within 50 feet of me. I fell asleep with it on, but it didn't last long. I felt like I couldn't breathe, and I kept getting stares from the people sitting next to me and the little toddlers that were walking up and down the aisle with their moms, as if to practice for later. I took it off to eat our first meal, and kept it off.
The food was miniature, as were the forks and knifes. There was a choice of beef or chicken, and I chose beef. Among the other items on the food tray was a mini Kit Kat bar. How did they know I liked Kit Kats?
At some point, I tried explaining to the flight attendant how I felt like I seemed to be the only person on the plane that didn't speak Polish, and all she did was nod and grin. I don't think she had the faintest idea that I was trying to converse with her about something other than water or orange juice.
I went in and out of sleep, then caught the second half of the movie "Bride Wars". Just for kicks, I listened to the dubbed-in-polish version on my headphones and I think they had a man do the voice of Murphy Brown!
Shortly after breakfast, we started our descent. As we got closer, I peeked out the windows near me to catch a glimpse of the landscape from up high. Most of what I could see was miles of flat farmland, some forested areas, but no city. It wasn't until we were lined up with the runway that I could look out the other side of the plane and see what seemed like thousands of high rises scrunched next to each other.
As the Polish lady that I met at Jamaican Gardens said, the Warsaw airport is pretty small. It was neat the way most of it was made of glass, so you could look down on people that were waiting for their flights to board. After a little bit of confusion, I learned the word for Athens in Polish (Ateny) and eventually found my gate.
At a gift shop, I bought a Glamour magazine in Polish (to look at the fashions they show) and my first bottle of water. The label was entirely in Polish, so I was a bit surprised to find out that it was carbonated when I opened it later. I paid in Euros, but got back some Polish coins instead.
Around boarding time for my flight to Athens, I loaded into a bus with the other passengers and we boarded the plane via one of those little staircases on wheels. I slept the whole way and was surprised to find that I didn't have to go through customs once. The door I thought led to customs actually led to the welcome area, where dozens of people were gawking at the doors, waiting for their friends to walk through. I paused, but once I realized everyone was staring at me, I quickly walked around the 'barracade'. I looked around and around but didn't see Despina or Siena, until I went behing the crowd of people and saw the side of Despina's face.
We hugged and chatted on the way to Despina's house in one of the suburbs of Athens and were greeted by her mom, Elini, and grandmother [yia yia]. Elini fed us, Siena showed us her artwork, and we chatted until it was Greek "siesta" time. I took a much-needed shower and now I'm on the internet on Despina's tiny little HP Mini laptop. :)