Explore the wandering foot trails of my mind...: Athens

While studying abroad in Italy, I was determined to visit at least one other country nearby. Before departing the United States, I called my bank to put a travel alert on about half a dozen countries - Greece, Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Czech Republic - not knowing which ones I’d possibly have the opportunity to see. I ended up visiting Athens, Greece and Lugano, Switzerland. While Lugano was lovely (despite the rainy weather,) I have to say that my experience in Athens made more of an impact on me.

Before choosing Athens, I had been deep in study about the ancient civilizations of the Greeks, the Etruscans, and the Romans. I have long been intrigued by Greek culture, particularly of the Classical Age, because of my studies of philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates. While Rome is connected to my Italian ancestry, I learned how much Rome was influenced by the culture, art, and architecture of the Greeks, and even absorbed it into its own. I studied the timelines of Greece and the important events that occurred within each major age: the Bronze Age, the Heroic Age, the Archaic Period, and the Classical Period. I saw pictures of important ancient artifacts and sculptures, such as the Calf-Bearer and the Kritios Boy, the latter of which is significant as a transitional piece between the Archaic and Classical Periods. Both of these sculptures were contained at the Acropolis Museum in Athens. I wanted to see them for myself.

The night before flying out from Rome, I took a cab from my hostel to get my first look of the Colosseum. I felt sure that I would be coming back to Rome for a longer visit later but due to the unknown circumstances that life can bring, I wanted to seize the opportunity to get a quick look at it that night. I walked around its entirety, peeked through the gate to get a glimpse of the inside and as I laid my hand on its ancient stone, I promised myself I would be coming back.

My flight on Aegean Air was pleasant, and the view of the sparkling Aegean Sea outside of my window was stunning. As soon as I landed at the Athens airport, I took a shuttle to get to the neighborhood where my hotel, the Royal Olympic, was located. I walked past the entrance to the park which contained the Temple of Olympian Zeus and shortly after that, I saw the directional sign to the Acropolis. I quickened my stride so that I could get to my hotel sooner in order to drop off my bag and get to exploring.

My hotel, which I had gotten for an inexpensive online rate, was beautiful and elegant. I dropped my bag off in my room and immediately went back out to head towards the Acropolis. As I walked up the hill towards the ancient citadel, I passed some Jehovah's Witnesses. (I saw them in just about every major city I visited.) The two ladies were standing by a cart full of magazines and booklets. They made me think about the Apostle Paul from the Bible and his travels around Greece, including Athens. I imagined him in his ancient world, when the worship of different gods imbued every part of an active Greek's life, and how it must have taken him so much courage to persuade people to take notice of and worship Jehovah, the living God. I wondered if he might've stood near the same path that I was walking on, vigorously trying to talk to people as they were on their way to these great temples which are still visible today.

I also passed by vendors selling roasted chestnuts, corn, and other foods. It was the time of day when the sun was on the verge of setting so there was a rich golden glow on everything. One of the things that struck me the most was a unique scent which I could not place but was fascinated by. It was spicy and herbaceous and reminded me of incense. (I would find out later that it was a type of yellow flower which grew around the area at the base of the citadel hill.)

When I first caught sight of the Parthenon on top of the rocky outcrop which is the site of the Acropolis, my heart jumped and I felt a sudden tingle of excitement. (My experience at the Parthenon itself merited its own blog.) This place crackles with energy and overwhelms the senses. I walked up the meandering path surrounded by trees, shrubs, sandstone and marl, walking quickly with anticipation but slowly enough to absorb all of the sights, sounds, and smells. I arrived close to the top and stopped at the gate short of breath after the hike up.

Unfortunately, I had just missed the last admission, and they were not letting anyone else in due to time of closing. I was disappointed, but I knew I would be coming back the next morning and decided to continue to explore. I went back down the hill, bought a roasted corn on the cob off a grill from a vendor, and made my way to the Acropolis Museum to see some ancient works of art that had been found in and around the vicinity of the ancient wonder on top of that rocky hill. I saw pieces dating from the beginning of the Bronze Age to the Classical Age, including the Calf-Bearer and the Kritios Boy. I saw busts of the various Greek gods and goddesses of mythology: Athena, Poseidon, Dionysus and others. Those three are probably my favorites. I relate to Athena the most as she personifies victory, courage, the arts, literature and intellectual activity, and because she is represented by an olive tree and an owl. (I used to have a pet owl when I was younger, and I also love olives.) Poseidon is intriguing because he is the god of the sea and protector of water, and who wouldn't love the ultimate party god Dionysus, the good-natured purveyor of wine, theater and festivity? I probably spent three hours in the museum taking my time looking at and reading everything I could.

After visiting the museum, I went to have dinner at an outdoor bistro at the base of the Acropolis with my table in between a flaming fire and some green ivy. I sipped on crisp local white wine and made a silent toast to the glowing Parthenon on the hill, and after I finished my dolmadakia and grilled octopus, I decided to go take a little walk around Plaka, the oldest neighborhood in Athens.

Plaka is a charming maze of narrow streets, glowing lamps, and outdoor cafes at every turn. Sometimes I passed under a canopy of vines overhead which connected buildings on either side of the street. I browsed a shop that was being managed by a charismatic middle-aged man named Ares (like the god of war), and he taught me a trick for how to remember the Greek word for “thank you,” which is “efcharistó" pronounced “eff-carry-sto.” He told me to just think “eff, I can’t remember…” and that it might help. (It did!) I also learned and remembered how to write the word “city” in Greek (πόλη).

After a lively conversation with Ares (who also goes by the name of Harry), I bought some jewelry for my mom and sisters and started to make my way towards a little tavern frequented by the Plaka locals which Ares recommended, but I changed my mind when I realized it would be more challenging than I’d thought it would be to find it, and it was starting to rain. I turned back and settled at a tavern outside underneath some trees with a little water garden next to it and had some chilled ouzo, then a baklava, and finally an espresso as I listened to ambient Greek music. A calico cat with a big fluffy tail climbed out of a tree nearby and scampered past me. (A tip to keep in mind: chilled ouzo is better recommended as an aperitif to have BEFORE dinner, preferably something that is seafood. I knew about that but preferred wine at the time.)

On the way out of Plaka, I stopped at the gate of the Temple of Zeus and reflected in tranquil solitude at those ancient ruins. When I got back to my hotel, I went up to the rooftop garden and spent the rest of my night sitting by a roaring fireplace drinking two snifter glasses of Metaxa (a Greek spirit of brandy blended with natural flavors and muscat wine from the Aegean Islands) and gazed out at the rain, alternating my view between the softly lit ruins of the Temple of Zeus just outside to my right and the mysterious Parthenon on the hill (which I still had to look forward to visiting the next morning) on my left. After going up to my room and taking a hot bath (my first in more than a month after sharing a community shower with lukewarm water at my apartment in Siena), I sat naked outside on my tiny private balcony, privately surveying the city lights and traffic below me while I thought about the experiences I'd had so far. I had walked the paths of ancient Greeks and connected on a deeply personal level with this city that had contributed so much to world culture. It was one of the most sensory and profound weekends I’d had in a long time; maybe one of the best in my life.

Efcharistó, Athens.