First day in Greece

After a long and boring flight, I arrived in Athens. Said farewell to a guy i met on the plane who was going to do volunteer work in Aegina, I took a bus for Syntagma square. I was excited to be on this ancient land, running on a road leads to a place that numerous historical figure lived. Syntagma square was quiet at 1:00 AM, and so was the old town of Plaka. I walked along stone paved narrow streets till i hit the sign of the hotel i booked.

I was tired, though not very sleepy. But I need sleep to charge some power for a long day walking around. When I recognized that the other side of the curtain was bright, it was only 7:40. Steal out of the room not to disturb a spanish guy who was still snoring(i had to be like this ever after lol), I opened the front door of the hotel, and enjoyed the chilly wind and the scent of morning. I walked along the streets of Plaka, it was like a maze. And then, the smell of butter led me to a cafe/pie shop. I enjoyed my breakfast and a cup of Greek coffee, which is my favourite and I do make it in Japan too.

I walked toward the gentle sloped street leading to a big hill covered by marble, the acropolis. I didnt want to use a map, and so I just followed my feeling climbing way up, to the sacred cavern of early classical time. When I passed the ticket office of the acropolis, groups of tourists appeared and was increasing as I walked up to the entrance of acropolis. The Partenon was indeed brilliant, but it was smaller than I imagined, and was covered by metal frames. Actualy it was a treasury rather than a temple. In contrast, Erechtheion, the temple complex with maiden columns had more presence than I expected. It is said the Erechtheion covers the place where Athena and Poseidon made their election campaign. Athena created a tree of olive and Poseidon hit the ground with his trident, made a stream of sea water. People of Athens argued about which deity should be the city's guardian, and Athena won.

I met a guy from Kyoto in there. A tip to divide Japanese from other Asian tourist is, look at the guide book they are using. The yellow covered 地球の歩き方 is a typical item for Japanese lol. The guide is full of coloreful pictures, but I dont really like to use it because the lack of information. We decided to take a look at the museum of acropolis, and found that it was closed and will not open for another year or two.

Then we climbed down the acropolis, walked through the Roman agora, headed for the square of Omonia. The national achaeological museum is just beside the square. We had dinner in a restaurant in Plaka, and tried oozo for the first time......then we both sweared it was the last time too lol.