Ιστορία της Αθήνας

Photo Credit: My roommate T.

Every Friday, an open air Farmer's Market takes place a few blocks away from where I live. It's a very neat market, with vendors yelling out (in Greek) what they're selling, and for how much. On the very first full day here in Athens, I went to it with my two roommates, to pick up some food for the apartment, and just to see what was available. We were just looking, when S. decided she wanted an orange. We stopped at a vendor, and in English and hand gestures, she asked the vendor how much one orange cost. The vendor looked confused for a moment, before waving her hand and saying "Dorean, dorean!" She was giving S. the orange for free. S. thanked her, and the three of us went on our way.

A few moments later, an older man I'd noticed standing near the vendor tapped me and T. on the shoulders. We turned, and he handed us each an orange, with a smile. We thanked him, and he waved us off, the universal sign for "Don't mention it". Without a word, he went one direction, and we continued in a different one. It was the first real interaction we had had with Greeks since we'd arrived, and I won't soon forget it. As the people at the Athens Centre keep telling us, the people here are laid back and friendly, not like the city-folk back in the States at all. I'm highly inclined to believe it, and look forward to getting to know the people here better.

Γειά σου!

As I mentioned yesterday, the Athens Centre took my whole group out to dinner last night. It was a very pretty restaurant, with pretty good food. I liked it all, though I wasn't as impressed with it as the one the night before. Additionally, so much stuff has happened just today that I don't want to ramble on about food again. Suffice it to say, it was tasty, I had very good conversations with the students I was sitting with, and came to realize why sitting next to both of the photography enthusiasts on the trip was probably a bad idea.

I don't even know what this face is, or why I'm sharing this photo, because it's ridiculous.

Today, we took a walking tour of central Athens, including the National Gardens and the Acropolis. Both are easily within walking distance of the place we are living, which is excellent. We walked past the Temple of Olympian Zeus, though the Gardens, to the Zappeion, which has a neat history. It was commissioned by Evangelis Zappas, and designed by Danish architect Theophil Hansen. It was to be part of the Olympic Games infrastructure, and construction on it started in 1874. It wasn't finished until 1988, by which time Zappas had passed away. His cousin, Konstantinos Zappas, was asked to finish the building. Today, it is mainly used as a conference and exhibition hall, but was used for the Olympics every time they have happened in Greece. It's a cool building.

See? (It isn't actually curved like that... that's just me and my software being bad at panoramas)

After that, we meandered our way towards the Acropolis, passing a hoard of police officers on the way. Tomorrow is Greek Independence Day, and so there was a small parade today, and there will be another one tomorrow. There will also be a lot of things closed for the holiday, but the Acropolis museum will be free, so I may go there. I walked past it today, on our tour of the Acropolis area. It is a bit of a tourist trap, but still a very cool area. There's lots of places to hike, and there's literally another monument or amazing artifact everywhere you look in that area. It's also a fascinating blend of the old and the new, of civilization and of nature. There are street performers and little cafes on one side, and this meadow- and ruin-covered hill leading up to the Parthenon on the other. It's really fantastic. I was able to hike up the hill and little bit, and get an amazing view of the city of Athens and the surrounding towns.

The view from here was really amazing. This picture does not do it justice, by a long shot.

A bit past the Acropolis, the businesses start. There's a whole bunch of little stands where Athenians sell their handmade goods in this little square. Then, past that is Monastiraki, where the Athens flea market is located. This is still a bit of a tourist area, but there were many more Greeks there as well, which was neat. You could buy nearly anything in that area, which was full of small shops, a bit like an open-air outlet store. I didn't end up getting anything, because I don't need much and will wait to get souvenirs for my family and friends, but it was still fun to people watch and window shop in that area. There was also an open square at the end of the flea market, which an amazing example of the layers of history present in this city.

Left to Right: Old Greek Orthodox Church, the Parthenon, and a modern shop

Today was our last day of orientation.Tomorrow is a Sunday, and also a national holiday, so there's nothing scheduled in particular. On Monday, at 9 am, classes start for me, with a walk to (and up) Lycabettus Hill. I'm looking forward to it, and am so glad to be spending the next 10 weeks in this laid-back, historical, eclectic, wonderful city.

Αντίο για τώρα! Τα λέμε σύντομα!

(P.S. There are more photos of the places I went and saw today. Click on the Photo Gallery link to find them. Cheers!)

Γειά σου!

First, a bit from last night: the tarverna we went to for dinner was AMAZING. Definitely a great way to start out the trip. About 2/3 of our group went to this little place, that I have forgotten the name of, that Katja took us to. She also explained to us the Greek restaurant custom of "sharing", which is exactly what is sounds like: about 4 people split appetizers and main courses, sharing the food. It ends up giving you more that you would have gotten ordering a main course for yourself, but costing less. I shared with five or six other students, splitting a spinach pie (Σπανακόπιτα [spanakopita]), a rabbit in white wine sauce, and a chicken in lemon sauce. All three were amazing. The rabbit, especially, was really good: I've never eaten rabbit, before. It looks like, and bears a lot of similarity to, chicken, but it is a chewier meat and has a bit of a stronger flavor. I was quite impressed. It was really really good, and split the way we did, only cost me like 4€. Then, I came home and crashed, because it was late and I was very tired from my 24 or so hours of traveling. 


Today continued to be wonderful. The day started at 10, when we went to the Athens Centre for Day 1 of orientation. We first had a lecture by Yannis Zervos, the director of the centre, who told us a bit about modern history and the cultural context for Athens today. Then, we had a brief talk by Rosemary Donnelly, the codirector, about the Athens Centre itself. Then we wandered about the centre a bit, going up to the roof. Where we saw this:

First View of the Parthenon!

Yep. The view from the roof of the Athens Centre is kind of amazing. You can also see a large part of the city, and the mountains behind it.

Overlook of Athens

Once we all made it off the roof, down a slightly scary narrow metal spiral staircase, we left on our tour of the Mets/Pangrati, which is the area of Athens where we live. Katja showed us around the residential areas, to the supermarket, post office, pharmacy, and the best cafes and tavernas, as well as taking us briefly through the weekly Farmer's Market, which occurs every Friday. She then left us to explore, and we split apart as a group. My two roommates and I walked back through the Farmer's Market, then shared lunch with part of the group. We then went back and bought oranges, potatoes, and artichokes at the market. Apparently, unlike in the U.S., when a sign says "6/5€" here, it means 6 kilo, not 6 items. So... yeah. We got 10 potatoes for 2.5€. It was awesome.


Anyway, after that, we returned home, I played with the photographs I've taken through the day (check out my photograph page for slideshows of all my photos), and have just been finishing all my unpacking and writing up my day. It's been really, really lovely so far...Athens is an amazingly pretty and eclectic city. I'm looking forward to getting to know it and its residents better over the next few months. 


Tonight, I have a (free!) dinner hosted by the Athens Centre, and tomorrow we have a walking tour of central Athens all day. I am looking forward to it, and expect to have lots more photos tomorrow. For now, though, I will leave you with one last view of the Parthenon.


Αντίο για τώρα! Τα λέμε σύντομα!