First Day in Athens!

Backtracking now. Wayyy back to our first day in Athens. Hopefully y'all can track with us as we try to catch up on blogs. :)

Ok. Let's set the scene. Had gone to bed at 3:30 the night before on the roof of our hostel after a delightful evening stroll through a park next to Topkapi Palace with our friend Tim, a visit to Husnu's restaurant for apple tea and desserts, and wonderful conversation very worth staying up for with Tim and Ahmed (one of the hostel receptionists) about all sorts of things. It never ceases to amaze us how people from all parts of the world, from all sorts of backgrounds and beliefs can come together and unite on the common thread of travel and international experience. Anyway, it's 3:30 am with Aya Sofia gleaming right in front of us, nothing but two little streets and an empty lot of land beetween us and it. Alarms set for 6:30 (yes. very little sleep). Starts raining on us at 5:30, so we go inside and don't fall back asleep (yes. even less sleep). So, the very tired, dazed and loopy pair carry their luggage downstairs and wait for the shuttle to go to the airport. Goodbye Mavi Guesthouse. Goodbye awesome receptionist man, Yusuf. Goodbye french friends, Georgian friends, Husnu the Sofa restaurant manager and Tim from Australia. Goodbye old downtown two blocks away and already so familiar after three days. Goodbye Istanbul... the city that surprised us at how much we really, exceedingly and stupendously enjoyed it. We both would love to go back.

 Just to give you a taste of what our hostel manager was like. Such a kind man. :)

The very tired, dazed and loopy pair had a smooth sailing (and fairly goofy) check in and flight to Athens. We got in and were greeted by the lovely and friendly friend we have been staying with, Erica. We were so exhausted, but trying to be fully there and take in all the new information! We hit the ground running and went on the metro right after getting back to Erica's lovely apartment. We stepped off at the Monastraki stop and (cue trumpetting music)... SHOPS. ANCIENT MOSQUE. FRUIT STAND. ANCIENT CHURCH. MAN SELLING BALLOONS. oh wait, on top of that hill is the ACROPOLIS. What. We probably looked so touristy just standing there. I'm not sure what we were expecting, but it was not that! Haha. We sat on a wall and people-watched for awhile (we still think the Monastraki area is the best place to people watch.) Then, as it started to rain, we meandered our way back on shaky-tired legs to the apartment to unpack and pass out. :) It's about a 45 minute metro ride and some time wandering around lost-ish to get "home".  It was a fantastic ending for the Istanbul chapter and beginning for the Athens chapter of our grand adventure.

Pictures from the Monastraki stop

Fruit and vegetable stand.

 Mosque. Yes, that is the Acropolis in the background!

Byzantine era church

Graffiti & Coffee. Athenian Essentials.

This city is beautiful. It's true. And it's a great mix of metropolitan modern lifestyles and landscape with ancient landmarks anchoring the bustling city center. However there does seem to also be an over abundance of graffitti. Everywhere. Not even the tree trunks are spared. We did not expect that at all. In fact, it is so common that we have actually gotten used to it over the past week and are no longer annoyed and intrigued by it. We will be posting a graffiti album soon of some of the best or most interesting graffiti. Some of it is actually really cool and artistic. Some is clearly from boredom. Or maybe someone just happened to spazz out with a can of spray paint in their hand. Not really sure. But it is definitely a part of the landscape. One of our favorites is the graffiti on the metros. Each metro train has vibrantly painted graffiti all over it. It's super cool looking. (Side note: Tay took a bunch of awesome pictures at a University today, including more grafitti, but that's a whole story in itself for another post, so those will be added later.) FINALLY SOME PICTURES! :)

Another surprising thing is the amount of coffee that is consumed and available here. We thought America was impressive with Starbucks every couple blocks. Coffee is part of the culture here even. Not only does everyone drink coffee at all hours of the day, but there are also so many different coffee shops to choose from in any square mile. Each one is decorated quite trendy, no matter the price or quality of their coffee and no matter the size of their little shop hole. Not only is coffee consumed as an essential fuel in little to-go cups, but coffee drinking is also an event.  Cafès are populated with groups of people (rarely one person and their book) sitting around little tables, often on a patio or under an outdoor gazeebo, drinking coffee and talking for hours. You would not think there is an economic crisis with the way coffee is consumed.