Greece & Turkey SOLO! 2007

May 5, 2007.

Athens, Greece.

After 13 hours of sitting motionless in a tiny, uncomfortable and restless seat, I arrived Athens at 8:00 am.

Lesson learned: window seat is not always the best seat, especially for long haul flight with a discounted airline.  Always check the aircraft confirguration first and choose the aisle seat.

After stretching a bit, I jumped on the bus to the city and went straight to Acropolis to start my first day in Athens.

When I arrived at Acropolis, the site was already packed with people.  I managed to squeeze in and take some nice pictures.

After spending more than 3 hours on the site, I had a quick lunch at a traverna called "Smile", found my hostel "Athens Backpacker's" and dropped off my backpack, then I headed for my second stop, the Temple of Zeus.  Although the site was located in downtown area beside a busy main street, it still looked solemn.

I believed I walked 10 hours straight on this day with only a few stops for rest.  I did walk to the Panathenaic Stadium, the Presidential Residence, the Byzantine Museum, the War Museum, Syntagma Square, the Parliament Building, the National Garden and the Zappion Gardens on foot, in 5 hours.  My legs were cracked.

Back to Athens Backpacker's by 6:30 pm.  The dinner was B.B.Q ribs with garlic potatos for just 5 euros.  Woo...  It was the best garlic potatos I ever had.

The first night in Greece was a nightmare.  I barely got 2 hours of sleep because I was constantly woke up by the party animals starting at 2:00 am.  Ear plugs had no use, not with the noise level like that.  I ended up getting out of bed at 4:30 am and prepared myself to leave for the trip to Delphi.