having fun in Athens

I thought I should write a bit to amuse you with my adventures in Greece. (this post will the in English. Brasileiros – se voces quiserem receber em portugues, me avisa que eu mando por e-mail.) There won’t be pictures yet because I forgot to bring the camera’s cable…
The trip started with a gorgeous steward from Swiss offering me chocolate while we were flying over Athens – I think that set me on the right mood.

I arrived in Athens on Saturday afternoon and it felt like home. On the metro the people looked and dressed like Brazilians – it might be a climate thing!
That day I just walked around and had a lovely Greek meal. Next day: straight to the Acropolis. I have to say I was a bit disappointed. I was expecting something magical, but it was just real. I thought I would be able to imagine I was back in time, but the scafolding and tourists wouldn’t allow me to leave reality. The best bit for me was the Theatre of Dionisios, where you can actually sit on the steps. Then I joined the hostel’s tour to the Temple of Poseidon (about 1 hour from Athens), Sounio beach and Hot Springs. I thought it would be a good way to meet people and so it was! There were 2 girls from Wisconsin (reminder: I lived in Wisconsin when I was 17) who were on the same flight as me to Santorini at 5:30am the next morning. So lucky! I had been worring about leaving on my own at 3am, so now I’d be with other people. We arranged to meet at reception at 2.50am.

Also met an Aussie girl with whom I had nothing in common (except that she was also traveling solo), but she was friendly and opened to chat, so I found a good company on her. Back to hostel, we met later on at the roof bar. Her name is Mary, which I found quite funny – the holiest possible name, but she was far from being holy. She was talking to a few guys when I went up, so I joined them. Mary talks a lot and she likes telling stories. I realized later that the Aussie guy we were talking to is one of the guys who owns the hostel. He confessed in a whisper he couldn’t understand half of what Mary was saying. I laughed because I also couldn’t get the connection to some of her stories. He was going to meet friends at a bar and asked if I wanted to go along. I felt bad to leave Mary behind but I had only met her a few hours earlier and that was my last night in Athens… We rode on his moped to this Greek bar, full of Greek people. It was very exciting! He said he could have never brought Mary because his friends would give him mixed looks, but he thought I was cool and would fit in – which I did. I guess I am a very likable person! Although I still think he liked me because I said I had been to a Nirvana concert.

At the bar, as soon as I said I’m Brazilian people would welcome me with a friendly smile. I met 2 girls who were very nice. I think Greek women stick together, there is an air of companionship between them, they speak with their eyes. We also met a stock broker who was huge (imagine Pavarotti, but a bit smaller) and for me he personified the Greek men’s personality. He would burst out laughing no matter if what he was saying was good or bad. He was very drunk. Very patriotic (from Macedonia) – he would bang on his chest when talking of his country and started going on about Alexander the Great and some other historical figure. It was funny.

Daniel – that was the name of the guy who had taken me to the bar. I only asked his name when we were already there – after moped ride et al. Bizarre. But who cares? Someone is nice regardless of their name. There was nothing between us, he didn’t try to kiss me or anything – which I actually thought was quite nice (the thought he had taken me out because he sympathised with me rather than because he wanted something in the end). I got back to the hostel at 2am. He dropped me off a block away so ‘it wouldn’t be strange’, although this was the strangest thing of the whole night. But whatever! There were some people chatting outside and I think he had probably had something with one of the girls. I went to bed wearing my dress – only had 30 minutes! Got up at 3am with the girl from Wisconsin in the darkness of my bedroom whispering my name – my alarm hadn’t worked! If it wasn’t for the Wisconsin angels I would have missed my flight! And Thank God I forgot to lock the door when I got in at 2am! And that I had left all packed to go!

More on next post - I’ve written too much for a day!
xxx