Athena for a Day

Well, we made it to Greece! J and I took a very early 6:30am flight on Easy Jet, which involved packing in a whirlwind at 3am, leaving the house at 4:30am to speed walk over a mile to the train station and take a taxi to Orly Airport at 5. We could have eliminated some of the stress this morning by packing instead of drinking 2 bottles of Bordeaux wine and rocking out to Justin Timberlake last night, but where's the fun in that? It's amazing how quickly a 3 hour plane ride goes when you are watching the back of your eyelids.

We were exhausted when we landed, but the excitement and overwhelming stimulation of being in a new foreign country got our adrenaline going. We found our hostel with no problems, ditched the bags, and headed out again. We walked in the direction of the Acropolis which is only about 15-20 min. walk from our hostel. Along the way we came across a huge market that had meats, fresh sea food, produce, nuts, herbs, etc. The meat section was a little unnerving for us, as we are so accustomed to our meats being disguised as 'steak', 'drum sticks', and 'chops'. I'm not personally a big fan of my food looking back at me, but it was definitely a cultural experience.

We got our workout today by hiking to the top of the Acropolis where the Parthenon is perched in all its glory overlooking the entire metropolis of Athens. If you can just look past the scaffolding and block out the hundred other tourists up there, you can picture yourself as Athena or Aphrodite wearing nothing but a toga, eating olives, and sipping wine. After the exhilarating hike, we decided to treat ourselves to some authentic Greek cuisine: tzatziki (thick dip made of plain yogurt, garlic, and cucumber) and pita bread, cheese saganaki (fried cheese), and spanakopita (puff pastry stuffed with spinach and feta). We are planning on going to bed at a decent time tonight because we have to catch a ferry to Santorini at 7:25am. We are really excited for some beach time. It was cloudy and cool today, but I am fully confident that Greece has gotten the memo that we have arrived, and the sun will be shining brightly for us tomorrow. All for now!

~Michelle