Athens, Greece: Tour Journal
Day 1
Arriving in Athens was probably the scariest part of my trip.
Earlier in the day, I had missed my ferry boat from Mykonos to Athens by 5 minutes. This 5 minute error cost me 5 hours of wait time. So instead of arriving around 5 pm, I arrived in Athens after 11 pm. I first landed an hour outside Athens, so I had to take a long bus ride into the city.
When the ferry arrived, it was already dark, and a bus was getting ready to take off to get us into Athens. I hadn’t planned for this, and had no cash on me. Earlier in the day, I’d tried to use an ATM near my hostel, but it didn’t work. So standing in the dark, of who knows where, I decided to hop onto the bus and test my luck. I was helpless. I struck up a conversation with the lady next to me, who barely spoke English, but reluctantly talked anyway. I could tell she’d had had a long day, and she didn’t have much money.
A few minutes into the bus ride, a ticket worker walked around on the bus demanding everyone pay their 2 euros. I had no cash, and couldn’t speak the language. I was panicking inside. He held out his hand and kept asking me for money, so I turned to the lady next to me, and asked if there was anyway she could help me our? I felt so bad, but I had literally no way to pay otherwise. She hesitated. I could tell there weren’t very many other tourists on this bus ride, and after a short time, it felt like everyone on the bus was beginning to stare at me. The last thing I wanted to do was cause any sort of scene, or get kicked off the bus.
Fortunately, the woman reached in her bag and gave me a couple coins to give to the ticket guy, as he begrudgingly accepted. I don’t know what would’ve happened if she wouldn’t have paid. Judging by the atmosphere on the bus, though, I’m pretty sure they would’ve just kicked me off and let me find my way around whatever city I was in. I felt pretty bad about needing the couple bucks from the lady next to me, so I offered her all of my snacks. It was about the only thing I had of value with me that I could spare, but she refused. She was pretty nice.
Finally, after an uncomfortable hour of riding the bus, I was in downtown Athens. It was dark. I didn’t know what part I was in, and I hadn’t yet booked a place to stay. Earlier in my tour, I had realized that sometimes it’s easier to just book a place to stay when I get there, rather than plan early, and land nowhere near where I booked (case in point: Yosemite National Park, and Anchorage, Alaska).
But, before I could book a place to stay, the first order of business was to find an ATM. I needed money, some food, and some water. I hadn’t drank anything in I don’t know how long, and I was parched. It was blazing hot. I finally found a nearby luxury hotel, and asked the clerk at the front desk if he could spare me some water. He generously let me walk to the lounge area and fill up on some water from the back. After downing this as fast as I could, he gave me directions to the nearest ATM, and I began walking.
I continued to walk around in the dark, for probably a half hour until I found an ATM. It was on a dimly lit sidewalk somewhere in the city. It was pretty freaky. In fact, it was probably the scariest part of the trip. I got some money though, and felt much much better.
Later, I was able to find a hotel, with Air Conditioning to rest, and cool off!
Day 2:
The next day, I explored all the famous monuments. I explored the Acropolis, and the Acropolis Museum, The Temple of Olympian Zeus, etc. I also randomly met a friend of a friend on top of a rock outside the Acropolis, and had one of those ‘what are the odds of this?!’ moments.
I got some good sketches in while I was there, took in lots of art history, rode around on an electric scooter, and found loads of inspiration for future projects.