Greece

Alison and I got to Greece and chilled in the hotel room our first night there. We found out that our ceiling actually had little lights in it that change colors and look like stars....we were amused! Our first day was LONG. We went to the Acropolis Museum, which opened this June, it was amazing and the artifacts were beautiful. There was actually quite a long line to get in, it is apparently the nicest museum in Greece and has all of the newest technological gadgets to keep everything preserved. The most interesting part wasn't even inside the museum. Before you entered you stood on a platform that was made of glass. If you looked down you could see the ruins that the museum was built over. (It made waiting in line bearable!) While we were wondering around the museum we stumbled upon a few AUC kids who just happened to be at the museum...the world is really small when you think about it!

After the museum we climbed up the Acropolis to see the Parthenon...and truth be told it was a let down. I had gotten so used to Egypt where you can go in temples and explore and look around. There are virtually no limits to what you can and cannot do. But in Greece we weren't allowed in the temples...we had to stand about 5 yards away from the Parthenon. Plus they had scaffolding up everywhere, and have had it up since 2000, to repair the temples. It was still really cool to see! The best part though was defiantly the view from the top of the mountain! After exploring all the temples on the top of the Acropolis we hiked all around the mountain and found the smaller temples that surrounded the Acropolis. These temples ranged from caves...to small groves. It was a fun scavenger hunt! Hiking around the mountain was defiantly more exciting than looking at the big temples on the top of the mountain. It was the only time that we were able to get up close and personal with the sites. Plus who doesn't love exploring caves and hiking?! Needless to say we slept well that night!

The next day we went to the Ancient Agora (It was Athens shopping center back in the day!), Hadrian's Library, The Roman Agora, the Zeus Temple, and Hadrian's Arch. The Agoras were the more interesting sites....mostly becuase I really like seeing where normal people would have interacted on a daily basis and where else would be a better place to study that than at the local marketplace?! This day was also filled with A LOT of walking. Probably more than the day before. But this did give me the perfect opportunity to get lots of pictures of some really awesome street art! (The street art in Athens was amazing! If you are a street art fan I would totally recommend a day trip to Athens.)

Our last day we REALLY wanted to see the water. So we took the metro to the stop that had a boat next to it lol yup that was the extent of our planning. We got there and saw lots of boats....but there wasn't a pier for us to look off of. So we returned home dismayed. After grabbing a quick lunch (and once again feeling really poor because we had to pay in Euros) we headed to the Archeological Museum. At the Archeological Museum in Athens, Greece I saw Egyptian mummies....I haven't even seen a mummy...and I have been living in Egypt for a month...but I saw one in Greece! :-)

We meandered back to the hotel where we picked up our bags and walked 3 blocks to the Suburban Train that took us to the airport. After sitting on the train for about 30 min...I was looking at the awkward map on the train wall and trying to make sure we were going in the right direction (I knew we had gotten on the right train...Platform 2 Line 2). A guy behind me asked me where I was trying to go...I said the airport....and his face fell. "You have to be kidding me" he said. "No I'm being completely serious...why?" I responded. "You are going in the wrong direction" he told me. Apparently the lady who sold us our tickets didn't tell us we needed to switch trains at the first stop. So we jumped off the train we were on. Waited 30 minutes at that station until a train was coming in the opposite direction ( and if you know me you know that I get REALLY anxious and nervous if I am going to be late to something so I was slightly freaking out). But the stop we were at was right by the gorgeous water! So we finally saw the water!!! We got on the next train...switched trains where we should have the first time and got to the airport one hour before our plane left. We got to our gate 15 minutes before our plane was supposed to leave....we were booking it through the airport. And after sitting there for 10 minutes they delayed our flight for an hour....our layover in Istanbul coming home was only 2 hours long...so that only left us with 45 minutes to find our next gate to head back to Cairo.

But all in all we made it back to Cairo safely and non of my souvenirs got broken! Although the trip to Athens was fun and I really enjoyed seeing the sites...I do not want to go back there. If I were to go to Greece again I would go to the islands. Athens was fun but there is not much to do after you have been there for two days.

xoxo
~S