Everything started off well, woke up at 7:30, had a warm shower, solid toast and tea and made my way down to the Olympic stadium. Unfortunately, it wasn’t open. I was going to do a lap in my dress shoes otherwise. I was really excited. Oh well.
It wasn’t a far walk from there to the Temple of Zeus which I saw at night from a distance but not up close. Since it was early I had the whole place to myself. This might have been the most impressive ruins yet. The columns were huge, only 16 or so survive out of around 120. They’re just staggering in height, and all together they must have looked really impressive.
I walked into Plaka and stopped by Hadrian’s Library, not nearly as impressive as I hoped. I had that place to myself as well, but it was more of a graveyard of ruins than substantial things.
I decided to climb up to the top of the Acropolis again since it was free. I spent maybe 20 minutes hanging out and looking around. I’m going to miss being able to just stroll up there.
I went back to the hotel to check out before taking the metro to Piraeus. Their subways are almost pristine. For a city so covered in graffiti, it’s amazing that the trains are spotless. Piraeus is sort of like a trashier Athens. It has a lot of the same feel to it, although less touristy, which was sort of cool. The majority of the people there I imagine were coming or going on one of the many ships leaving there.
I went across the street and grabbed a ticket for the next boat out. It was a fast boat, which in retrospect I didn’t really want. The inside of the boat felt like riding an Amtrak and you couldn’t really go outside, other than a little walkway which was mostly covered. The trip went pretty fast though.
I landed in Aegina and went right for the beach. It wasn’t exactly the beach I had in mind of a Greek Isle. In fact, it was incredibly small. Either way, I put my feet in the Mediterranean, which wasn’t too cold, but a far cry from warm.
I went to their archeological museum next. Aegina and Athens used to be rivals back in the day, with settlements dating thousands and thousands of years back. The museum wasn’t all that exciting, but the ruins outside of it were. They were just the outline king of ruins except for a pillar dedicated to Apollo. They were rather extensive, taking up most of that side of the island. But the best part was the view from the ruins. It was postcard worthy, just stunning. The water looked very blue and clear. The town had a very old European feel to it as well. Really small streets, fruit and flowers all around, the foliage was exotic. It was a nice little change-up from Athens.
Nearly everyone got around on motorbike, and you could rent one. The first guy I talked to about renting one wanted 15 Euros, which was pretty steep I thought for the hour or so I’d get to use it. The guy after wanted 10. I passed, probably saving money and myself from catastrophe.
I wandered along the small roads, the kind without sidewalks because of how close together the buildings are. There’s a lot like that here.
I walked to the opposite of the island along the water and stopped at a little pier and sat with my legs in the water. It got chilly after a while, but it was nice. The water was so clear, I just couldn’t get over it. I was worried about being able to tell my feet were in the water or not in the photos.
With the time for my departure fast approaching, I walked back into the main part of town and got some pistachio ice cream, which was really good. I also bought a small pistachio bag. The island is known for their pistachios. I tried to find trees, but the signs weren’t American friendly so I struggled getting around. I couldn’t tell if I was actually looking at pistachio trees or not. The pistachios are good, they have a different taste, maybe more of a twang to them.
My return boat was a huge ferry, with cars and trucks loaded on it. I had to take an elevator to the seats. The inside looked like a fancy lounge. But I wanted none of that. I went up to the roof for the whole ride. It was gorgeous. We went past a number of islands and just tons of boats. The sun was out so it was warm still. One of the more enjoyable things I’ve done in Europe.
I took the subway back and climbed up to the Acropolis to watch the sun set from the neighboring rock that I’ve been hanging out on. The sky turned all sorts of pinks and purples, another good experience. I went back down to the stadium to see if it was open now (my tour book made it seem like it would have been) but it was still closed. So I went back to the hostel to pick my stuff up.
I was 25 cents short of the 6 Euro fare to the airport. The guy at the desk gave me 50 cents (I thought I was only 25 cents short at the time, whoops) and I spent the next 15-20 minutes asking people if they’d trade 25 cents for a pound. Most didn’t understand English or didn’t want to. I finally found some Brits who gave me two Euros for free. What nice people, I was relieved.
I had to transfer trains after riding for a while since they all don’t go all the way to the airport but I was at the airport soon. I got there and I saw ‘gate closed’ next to my flight, which I didn’t really know what it meant.
I went through customs, got my passport stamped, and looked for the sign again to see the my flight departed. That couldn’t be right, I was sure that it wasn’t leaving until 10 pm. Well it was leaving at 20:00, which is only 10 pm to me, to the rest of the world it’s 8 pm. So I missed my flight. I was frantic, I didn’t know what to do. First I was stuck through customs and couldn’t escape. I had to be passed through about four people before I was finally back at the departures. Then I tried to find EasyJet to see what they could do. They said they could get me on a flight around 12:40 the next day, making me miss all my classes. Olympia Air would leave around 7 am but for way more. I didn’t know what to do.
After making some calls it became evident that I was stuck. The next flight wasn’t for about 11 hours. I just sat around dejected for a while.
Athens offers 45 minutes of internet free at the airport (why 45? And why stop there?) so I took advantage of it. Turns out my RedEye column ran today. I probably shouldn’t make bets anytime soon. That definitely brightened my mood. I sent out a couple emails about it and did some flight research. Mary brought up the idea of just going somewhere else for the money, which made a lot of sense. I started getting into that when my 45 minutes was up. It’s such a weird system, there has to be a way to get around it.
I went up to their archeology museum, which was probably the best (and only) museum I’ve been to in an airport (actually, if the brachiosaurus with my toe counts, that was better) and then went to McDonald’s. They have one of those fancy new ones like the Rock ‘N Roll one in Chicago. I ordered a large fry and a McFlurry with Cornett (it’s weird, sort of like chips of ice cream cone and Coco Pebbles. I have no idea how to describe it. I don’t know if they have M&M’s here, I was shocked, I’ve never had any sort of McFlurry I sat and typed up most of this. I was getting pretty tired, it’d been a really long day.
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