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•Greece• •Ελλάδα•


!@#$%

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first off, Greece was not what i was expecting

coming from the states, i thought that a country whose economy was in shambles would be a mess, might be dangerous, and would reek of uncertainty.

that was not at all what i experienced.

 

the people were super friendly and generally upbeat, cafes and restaurants and shops were open and often full, the place was thrashed with graffiti but wasn't crumbling.. their sites are preserved and taken care of, and there were TONS of asian tourists.

 

i took a lot of pics, and spent time in Athens and went to Santorini.

 

I'll start off with Athens

 

welcome

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the airport is nice, modern and easily accessible thanks to the 04 olympics. [thx for the correction Pet]

the metro is nice. i would've written on it but time just got away from me. i've also heard it's stupid hard, but i could see it was getting done

 

 

 

sites are everywhere. i rented a bike the first day to get the lay of the land and see what i wanted to do. this was a solo trip.

 

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Parliament and goofy guards

 

 

 

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ruins. everywhere, ruins.

 

 

 

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overexposed shot of a square/ Montesirraki? can't remmeber now.

 

 

 

 

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a sign of the economic times.. my first Euro 'dollar' Store sighting

 

 

 

 

 

ok, time to see that ol Acropolis.

to the nearest hill! [this was the bike i rented from Manos at athenbybike.com ..cool lil place]

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there it is.

 

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The city is large and in charge

 

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i was able to ride the bike pretty close to the Acropolis, but it's situated at the top of a pretty steep hill

you can get about as far as the theater of Dionysius on a bike

 

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the whole Acropolis complex is nice.

i fell asleep on a park bench and some lady who worked there woke me up

i thought i was getting kicked out, but she asked me to move to a bench further up the hill

where i napped v

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here is the first Olympic Stadium

you could see it but had to pay to get in

i'm not sure what the point of that would be

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as with many Euro countries, LOTSA gypsy kids begging

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ok i'm tired.

back to the hotel

 

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view from the hotel

 

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ok so the next morning i went for my ferry trip to Santorini . stupid early.

this excursion was the subject of a ridiculous amount of consternation, because i get terrible motion sickness, and just couldn't decide whether to go to an island, or a few or what.

in the end the trip was worth it but i paid a high price on the return, which turned out to be twice as long as they originally said, making for an 8 hour trip in rough seas. i will never, ever, get on a boat again. ever. meaning for some reason i'll have to get on one tomorrow. but seriously. never.

 

the ferry

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the port

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finally get to Santorini

and wow, i am glad i have a shuttle bus, cuz on google maps you can't get a sense of this elevation.

 

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gorgeous.

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did i mention how much i hate people?

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the greeks i encountered were coolio.

the girl at my hotel thought i was nuts for wanting to hike from Fira to Oia.

too hot she kept saying.

the old man up at the bodega disagreed. pointed me in the right direction. it was a great day.

 

 

view of Imerovigli from Fira

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cliff dogs!

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view of Fira from Oia

 

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they had collars so i think someone owned them, and when i approached they trotted off. they also had 4 puppies in tow. i left them alone.

 

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i like checking out the dogs on my trips.

 

this huge dog was lounging in the park near the Acropolis.

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this one bustin chills on the sidewalks of Oia

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word!

 

Nice thread !@#$% winning on the travels this year!

thanks, it was good indeed.

i don't think i ever hooked up a Jamaica thread. maybe i shall.

 

No riots? Remarkable timing on your end.

 

it was shocking how LITTLE unrest i saw. the day before i arrived there was a nationwide strike that even shut the airport for a few hours.

then about 3 days after i got back there was another strike day and massive protests

 

apparently there were a couple during my trip, but this is a big city and i just didn't happen upon it

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hmm. travel goddess?

that would be nice. i think i have to get to china first. at least i've been to all 50 states.

 

ok.

so this is Oia. the place is really beautiful.

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the tourists all stack up waiting for the legendary sunset

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frankly, after the caribbean and hawaii and indonesia etc, i wasn't impressed. that said it was a cloudless sky so that doesn't help.

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i wanted to thank the old man who gave me the tips on the hike so i returned to his bodega

but i only found some befuddled tourists trying to buy water with no gas. the guy was nowhere in sight.

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if you are into cruising, a mediterranean cruise would prolly be amazeballs.

but i fucking hate cruises.

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ok back to the ferry

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which was eight hours of pure hell

luckily my hotel room back in athens was nice and comfy

room service was cheap

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tourist time back in athens

 

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the acropolis museum

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old roman forum

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the parthenon

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seeing this place was cool.

like seeing the pyramids, you definitely get a sense for how old it is and all the people who stood where you are standing. i'm into this shit.

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even with the construction, it's a cool site.

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athena nike temple

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this many birds freak me out. i saw a lady like this once in paris, the birds were landing on her head. and shit (prolly literally.)

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market

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seriously, so much fucking graffiti

paris had started with a buff so when i saw it last it had gotten much cleaner.

not athens.

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and stuff.

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i can't remember what this is anymore

but it was in the acropolis museum so i bet it's fuciing old.

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nice museum though

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anyway.

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word, thanks everyone

 

 

theprotester i'm not sure exactly what you mean...

 

but i do lots of things independently. the first few times it was strange and sometimes lonely but i learned to love it.. over the years i've had some great travel companions, but also some crappy ones so they serve as a reminder of how much fun the solo experience can be.

 

i also come from what is widely considered a dangerous american city so it's made me pretty street smart and capable.

 

if you mean money-wise, i earn an ok living but mainly i am really ridiculously frugal. i live without things like cable and air conditioning (i also usually forego heat) and i don't spend much. i also don;t have kids so i can afford to spend money on myself.

 

 

if you mean the planning, i use tripadvisor and kayak a lot.

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Good to see Antifa doing its thing in Athens....fuck the Golden Dawn.

 

One of my best friends is Greek and goes there to visit family every year or so. One time she took her BF who came back saying "I think ****'s dad was trying to kill us. He was driving at about 70 mph on these one lane dirt roads that would follow a ridge line...while she was crying in the back seat and I was white knuckling it, I looked over and realized he was nodding off but he was still able to handle these fucked up goat paths like it was nothing. I don't think I'll ever get into a car with him again, that was too much."

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