leblogvoyage: athens

the ride from the port town of patras into athens, greece was seriously beautiful and, remarkably, entertaining.

I'm usually bored of looking out of a window after, oh, say, 5 minutes ... but this was different. we took a sort of commuter-express train along the coast from the town where the ferry dropped us off (patras) into athens. it was sort of a train/tram hybrid, and there were a lot of shady dudes hanging out on the tracks, doing who knows what. but the view from the windows was dramatically dynamic: picturesque coastline one minute, mountains and cliffs another, rough rural villages the next.

one of the first things we did in Athens (like every other city we've been to/go to) was to head to the central food market. athens' market was hectic and large, with each stall specialising in particularly narrow ranges of specialties, like "the olives guys" (who have who stands that only sell olives) and "the small fish guys" (you get it), etc.

the pita we got here was unmatched. the rest, eh, it was just "euro good," but not super remarkable.

this is one of the best ideas I've had - taking digital pictures of maps/info. instead of copying it down onto paper or pulling out a big, dumb tourist map, we just discreetly zoom in to the map/info pictures on our digital cameras (we hold them like we're checking text messages on cell phones while doing this to further help the tourist camouflage). it works beautifully.

this view of the Parthenon at night was everywhere around the city. look up and ... hey, 2,500 years of history.

we went out to dinner at a place in this touristy-but-you-gotta-see-it part of town call the Plaka (sort of like any "old city" part of any town - small, winding streets, lots of tourist junk shops, etc.). ann made friends with the greek dish moussaka ... and a stray cat we named Mr. Moussaka.
a: yeah, he jumped onto the chair next to me and fell asleep on my purse. I asked when the bill came if the cat came with the bill and the waiter said, "you like, you take cat!"

on sunday, we went to the market/flea market in a central part of town called monastiraki. we then stumbled into some ruins called the agora. they were more intact than the parthenon and, in many ways, more interesting.

ann got new sunglasses in italy.

here's the flea market

here's me with a giant donut. they were popular with the locals - and me.

this is souvlaki. it's a pita rollup with a weird kebab/hot dog hybrid meat in it that is spiced well and actually quite delicious. it's the "hamburger of greece."
a: this place also had the best fries ever!

we took a day trip to the island of Hydra. the ferry left early in the morning and took about an hour an a half.

hydra has been protected from cars and development for many years now, so it retains an "old greece" feel, however artificial it may or may not be.

the first thing we saw there was locals buying fresh fish right off of recently returned fishing boats pulled into the harbor. the cats (hydra is completely covered in wild ones) all gathered looking for handouts.

hydra is the island leonard cohen lived on in the '60s and where he wrote most of the "songs from a room" album (you know, "bird on a wire," etc.). here's me sort of recreating a photo of him on the island at the time that I once saw somewhere.

ann, crazy-cat-lady-in-training once again made friends with the wild ones.
a: I can't help it...they come to me!

meow!

the water was clear, but we suspected it was also quite cold.

this qualifies as a "beach" on hydra - a ladder over the side of the rock cliff. I love the Europeans sense of personal liability and their lack of public liability lawsuits. this type of thing - so cool, only a little dangerous - sadly would NEVER be OK in America. but here, whatever, swim, try not to die - it's up to you. and your responsibility.

the water was cold. and the air was about 62 degrees.

this was another "beach." but we kept it in mind ...

we hiked to the top of the island. it's a harbor and then a large, large hill.

this was the view.

this was the hike.

most people use donkey taxis to get their things transported around the island. we saw one donkey carrying huge loads of drywall and plywood!

back at the old swimmin' ledge.

ann decided to dip a toe in the aegean sea.

it was cold.

confirmed.

then ann went for the playful splash ...

and a half-dip!

I stripped down to my travel underoos.

and dove in.
a: so did I....I think looking back it wasn't much different to swimming in lake michigan when it is on the cold side. oh, but much saltier!

it was cold, but great.

another view of the sweet swimmin' cliff.

a post-swim walk around the other side of the island's outer ring.

to find a secluded second harbor.

waiting on the dock for the ferry home.

back in athens, the grocery stores stocked some unusual items in the freezer case.

out first athens apartment.
a: I think it smelled like a wet dog who just had a perm died in the attic. keith said he couldn't smell anything. I think his nose is broken. but maybe not, because we seem to have another run at a smelly place in jerusalem (this time sewage smell) and he can smell it :) oh, but our second place in athens was a dream...more pics hopefully to come!