Greece- Athens

Athens is a very different part of Greece then Corfu. It is a large city, and fairly dirty compared to some other cities I have been to in Europe. When the bus arrived at 3:30am, I was so delirious, and still groggy from the Tylenol PM I had taken joust 6 hours before. We unloaded the bus and shuffled down the block to the hostel. The city was still very much awake and alive at this hour of the night, which most of us were pretty surprised to discover. When we reached the hostel, Mel and Jess and Alex and I got the key to our room and made out way to the beds. It was a very clean hostel, with two sets of bunk beds, (MY FAVORITE!) and threw our stuff to the corners of the room. I decided to take a shower because I was so yucky feeling from all the travel and knew that there would be no hot water in the morning when everyone else decided to shower before the walking tour of the city. After the shower, which was interesting because there is no curtain or glass, just a little lip in between the sink and toilet where the drain is, so its hard not to get water all over the bathroom. But there was good water pressure, and it was hot, so I was happy. ☺
After the shower, I passed out in the top bunk above Melissa and slept like a baby until 9am. We woke up, ate breakfast in the hostel, which was toast and hard-boiled eggs. After some much needed food in out bellies, we all got dressed and met Mike, the tour guide from Bus 2 Alps, downstairs for the walking tour of Athens.

It truly is ancient Greece, this part of the country. It is filled with an intense amount history, much of which has been destroyed in their several wars following the years after Christ. The Acropolis, which is the most religious site in Athens, is very neat to see, and quite a bit still stands after all the invasions of Ancient Athens over the last several hundred years. This was also the day of Independence, so there were celebrations going on in the city, which was neat to be apart of. We hiked to the top of this lookout point and watched the navy planes fly over the city in celebration. It reminded me of fleet week, which is held in San Francisco every year where the US Navy planes fly over the bay and do tricks. I have been a few times, and really enjoy watching the planes in the sky, so I was excited to watch it in Greece as well. I also took some pretty cool pictures of this; hope to someday get the pictures on here working again. ☺

After the walking tour was over, we went through the outdoor market in the city, where I bought some pretty neat things for some of you back home! I am very excited about them! We also had lunch at this little Greek place; Melissa and I shared a gyro and a salad, very tasty!

Nap time!! We all passed out back at the hostel for a little siesta, all the traveling and walking sure takes a toll and creates the need for lots of sleep and rest. I read my book for a little while, and then woke up to the pages pressed against my cheek, so apparently I feel asleep without putting my book down. Typical Carlyn. That night we all went to this restaurant for dinner, the entire group of 87 sat on the street outside in the spot where there were tables and chairs and enough space to accommodate us all. 13 Euros for a huge meal and unlimited wine. It was great! After dinner, some groups split off and went back to the hostel, the girls and I went to a club nearby and the music was loud! The drinks were a little expensive and the majority of us were ready to head back to the rooms since it was almost 2am by this point, so all of us except Molly and Jessica went back to the rooms. The two of them were into staying out and dancing. We took a taxi back to the hostel because the city is very, very unsafe at night and none of us were willing to chance anything. It was only about 7 Euros for all of us to get back, so it was worth it.