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Archive for May, 2005

May 12th, 2005: 8:53 pm

The Euro is a fast little sucker! There it goes!

May 12th, 2005: 8:52 pm

Wrapping up our time in Athens, we saved the best for last — the Acropolis.
Its right up there on a big hill, and can be seen from much of the city.
As a result, there is some uphill walking to get to it, but that’s okay. My
best advice for anyone heading to Athens, is to see other Archaeological
sites first, and then save this for last. You will be rewarded with an
overhead view of all the other places you have been! Its a neat and
different perspective after you have been down and amongst the places.

While there are several museums throughout the city (I think over 20), we
are seeing so many things over the course of our trip that we figure its
best to leave those for smaller trips, when we can soak up information on a
less-than-macroscopic level. And with that, we bussed out to Olympia, the
birthplace of the Olympics. The town itself mostly consists of hotels,
souvenir shops, and restaurants, all catering to the tourists, here to see
the Ancient Olympia site. This was quite a fair sized area, and the track
(stadium) could seat about 45,000 spectators (grass seating). Not bad
considering this was made in the mid 5th century BC!

We then entered a death spiral into what’s been the most miserable time on
this trip. We booked a ferry from Patras, Greece to Venice, Italy. We got
the cheapest tickets, which are "Deck Seats" (€50 each). A deck seat is the
equivalent to "standing room only", where you have nowhere to put your
stuff, and you just sleep on a bench on the deck (with your stuff)
overnight. Well, this would have been all and well in mid July, when the
evening temperature is still warm, but presently it is about 10 or 15°C at
night, and that is COLD with no sleeping bag and just regular clothes. This
ferry ride started just before midnight on Monday night, and ran until noon
on Wednesday. So by 3 a.m. we could not take the shivering any more, and we
weren’t going to go without sleep for 2 nights (not to mention that we did
not like our bags out in the open while we tried to sleep). One very
expensive upgrade later, we had a cabin room. At least it was warm, but
that sure hurt the travel budget. So here is another piece of advice —
find some other ferry company, if you are going to ferry from Greece to
Italy. We took ANEK Lines, and were miserable the whole time. Your wallet
practically evaporates money, and we encountered nothing but rude,
incompetent, ignorant staff. We probably wouldn’t take the ferry at all if
there is a next time, but maybe the other companies are better.

Arriving into Venice was something else though, and it was like entering a
whole new world. Makes sense considering its a different country, but it
didn’t sink in until we actually saw it with our eyes. Imagine a place
where there are no roads, no vehicular traffic, and occasional arteries of
water serving as the transportation lifeblood, and you have Venice! This
place is unintentionally beautiful — old buildings are decorated with roses
that the occupants grow on their balconies, walls are cracked and still
coloured happily, and a never ending maze of walkways and corridors exist to
entice your curiosity to find out what’s around the next corner. This is a
place you simply have to see to believe, and there’s really no other way to
put it!

We took a gondola ride, which is an experience that must be done if you are
going to go to Venice at all. We went at dusk, and it turns out that this
is the best time to go — its dim, yet bright enough to see all the places
they show you, and darker enough to give a more intimate feeling. Also the
water canals are a little calmer, as there is less ‘traffic’.

May 7th, 2005: 2:43 pm

One thing I forgot to mention was at the top of Likavitos Hill we aired our feet and sandals out in the winds up there.  I think we choked half the city.  Sorry about that!

May 6th, 2005: 6:23 pm

Its the Euro! Yay we can travel a few countries now without having to
change our money!!!

Its the Euro! Oh no its more expensive than our dollar!!!

€€€€€€€€€€

May 6th, 2005: 6:04 pm

We have now been travelling for 2 months! Time sure flies…

Athens is a city currently on the upswing. Never really a major tourist
destination on the European circuit, and having a bad reputation for things
like pollution and lack of pedestrian space, this city is now modernizing,
cleaning up, and trying to build on the success of the 2004 Olympics to
bring in more tourism. While the city is currently one of the more
expensive in Europe to visit, now is a good time to come, because I am
guessing that inside 5 years the tourists may be over-catered to here.

The city is a mix of new and old — very old. Many archaeological sites go
back to the 5th century BC, and are scattered throughout the city, as the
city has simply grown up around these locations. Our first exposure was
walking from the Sindagma (Centre) Square, and seeing the massive pillars
emerge from behind the city streets. Before we knew it we were looking at
the larger than life columns from the Temple of the Olympian Zeus.

We intentionally went and lost ourselves in the narrow roads of the Plaka
district, immersed in the Greek/European flavour of street shops and cafes.
Afterwards we saw the changing of the Greek guard, and the old Athens
Stadium.

Today we took a cable car up Likavitos Hill, which is fairly central and
provides an arial view over most of the city. This was one of the most
breathtaking views we have encountered on the trip so far. We were both so
surprised at the sheer size of the city! It isn’t that it is spread out so
much, but all you can see are white or tan apartment buildings all tightly
packed together! It is amazing!

Today we had an all day pass for the metro and public transit (€3), so we
also went out to see the Olympic Stadium from the 2004 Olympics. And when
we got there, we found the whole Olympic Park… closed. Apparently they
still need to learn how to cash in on the tourism industry, but for me it
looks like I will not get to see this area save for the fence closing me
out.