South Europe: Part 1 - ATHENS

First Stop: ATHENS, GREECE (22-23 october 2004)

The Maersk Air flight landed at about 12.30 in the day in Athens, and though I had woken up at 4.30 in themorning to catch the flight from Copenhagen, I couldn't sleep much because I was chatting up with this Indian family who was on my row. The guy, Shibaji, is from Calcutta and had an energetic boy of 3-4 years . Anyways, Athens airport immrdiately filled one of the Olympic feel, with the many signboards and decorations still on the walls. It felt warm, for once literally :)

Something that would be difficult to miss is the sight of the pretty women. Greek women are quite pretty, and I was just about to be reassured of that over the next two days. Maybe it was just bright and warm in Athens, so we could see the women more clearly than in dark Copenhagen! On the 40-minute bus ride to our youth hostel (Hotel Zeus)from the airport, I was entertained by the covnersation between one of us (not me) and a Greek girl. Let me say this, the greek girl was strikingly beautiful and had one of the loveliest smiles I had seen in a while. All this woman talk is getting too much, right!

After quickly refreshing at the hostel, we set out for the Acropolis, which was only a 30-minute walk from the place. We had to walk across what-seemed-to-be one of the central marketplaces in Athens. So there were these shops longs hotdog chains hanging, and a whole lot of other meat in all shapes and sizes. If this would sound a lil bloody, just further up was an entire meat market, where butchers were calling out to outsell each other in the freshness of their meat. Fat Greek aunties and uncles were checking out the meats, and the marketplace reminded me of the vegetable market on Sunday mornings in Ahmedabad.

For the more historically inclined, we passed the Bath, Roman Agora on our way to the Acroplois. The stairs to the first level of the acropolis was half occuppied by people sitting under umbrellas, of the coffee shops. The stairs overlooked some kind of a valley and provided a distant view of the acropolis, so it certainly did seem a nice touristy affair.

The four of us took a small detour to a small hill, a hill of Marble. If one just wondered about the pristine smoothness of the marble (we ketp slipping), the view of the Acropolis (and the Parthenon) from the top of this hill was probably breath-taking. Would recommend anyone who visits the Acropolis in Athens to go to this hill for a view of the Parthenon on one side, and a partial view of Athens city on the other.

Once on the Acropolis, the Parthenon is the final destination, but before there were equally interesting remnants of history and architecture. The Theatre of Dionysos is quite a sight to marvel at, and one could just imagine what it would look like when things actually happened there. Reachign up to the Parthenon tires you a little, but the sheer size of it overcomes any fatigue. The Parthenon can basically be seen from the four directions, and each side was constructed to mean something special. The Porch with six idols is interesting to see. We spent a couple of hours at the parthenon, and then headed down and towards the city centre.

The city centre is a beautiful square and is called the Syntagma square. It also has the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, guarded by 2 uniformed gurds round the clock. The market and walking street is accessible from the square, and has musicians and choir bands singing. We headed into the Olympic Store, and the sheer variety of the Olympics memorabilia was impressive. The entire event was relying on these memorabilia sales in the next year to break even.

The night we walked through many of the city streets, crossed innumerable cafes and pubs, and settled at one of the street cross-sections on stone benches in an open area, with the Parthenon lit up in the distance. The night was marked with a very engaging discussion between the four of us on how change could be brought around in a country like India and our role as citizens in this.

The next day is Athens took us to some other less known places, but was full of fun and interesting sights, including the 1200 years old Olympic Stadium, the new Peace & Friendship stadium, the rocky beach (with a beautiful meditating woman), the 2-month old trams and the haphazard buildings all across the city.

All in all - the impression one made of Athens was different from expectation. Athens is a bustling metropolis, with modern age commercialization rooting out the rich history of the city, except for the few architectural evidences left behind. One wonders, if it was a matter of time, that all of this evidence would just be transported into silicon to be provided as only virtual experiences. Greece definitely is more than just Athens, but the true beauty of Greece probably remains outside of this centre of world history.


Cheers,
Satish