Sunday, January 13, 2008

We promised each other that today we would actually get up at a good time so we could see some of the sights...but that didn't exactly happen. We felt bad that we were missing meeting so we decided to hit Mars Hill where Paul preached to the Athenians. LeAnne and Char pulled out the Bible once they had climbed to the top of the rock and read Paul’s speech in Acts 17 out loud to Nat and Amanda (and any men of Athens nearby). We drew lots of weird stares but that could be cause we are loud Americans. Mars Hill is actually the rock Areopagos that looks over the Agora. The Agora is an ancient marketplace that was the heart of the city for 1,200 years, founded in the 6^th century BC. This is where Socrates addressed his public, where democracy was born and where Paul preached, as mentioned earlier. We also visited the GIANT flea market in the area that is more like a sidewalk sale. We saw Gucci bags and Louis Vuitton belts…all for the low, low price of $20!!!!! Must not be real???!! We got a chance to see the Acropolis and Parthenon up close today as well as our first Greek Starbucks. (We never fail to find them). The ruins are AMAZING, huge and lots of solid marble everywhere. Some of the ruins are being taken down to be restored and built up again because of the erosion. There was also a giant amphitheatre in the area. We noticed an exceeding amount of bright blue sweatshirts from Land’s End…AMERICANS!!! But we were good girls and didn’t talk to any strangers, although Amanda did get pretty excited when she saw a Denver Bronco’s jacket later on that day. The top of the Acropolis has fabulous views and we were dying to get a glimpse of the little village again. Those Greek postcards you see?? They really are true!! The village of white houses is just too cute. We ordered take out gyros for lunch for only 1.70 EUR and went on our way to see…THE BEACH!! After all, this is what Greece is really about. So, confident in our map reading skills, we stepped onto the train to take the last stop which we were sure took us to the coast. Well, it did, sort of. If you happen to like looking at container ships, this is the place for you. It was the town Piraeus, the major port city and nowhere near the cute little beaches in the postcards. We had been advised earlier to take a tram from Piraeus so we asked for directions, got lost, came back, asked for directions again, didn’t believe the person knew what they were talking about, asked for more directions, got on the tram again and found ourselves heading back to the city after riding along the coast for just a short while. We were on a whole different tramline that wasn’t even on the map. Since it was already getting dark and we had wasted so much time looking already, we just took it all the way back to the flea market stop which had now turned into a ghost town. We had dinner at a place that specialized in live Greek music. Too bad they didn’t specialize in good food. There was just one other group there, guess we should have taken the hint. Always eat where the locals eat, even if it’s noisy!!! During dinner, the kitchen flooded into the dining room and soaked LeAnne’s coat. They tried to serve us bread and butter but we refused to eat it cause we had found out the night before that they charge you 1.50 EUR each for the bread if you touch it, even though you may never have asked for it!! So that got sent back. We then wandered all over town looking for an Internet café and finally got directed to one that was actually open. YAY!!!

Char and LeAnne