June 30- July 3- Athens
Hey Mom and Dad!
We are in Athens. Everything is fine. Away from the square you would never know anything was going on. Our train took us right to the square from the airport and tear gas from last night’s riots was still in the air. It burned our eyes. The fairies are striking. Pray we can get to Santorini. Love you!
July 1
Mom and Dad,
We are currently taking a break from pondering our existence on the streets where Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle did just that, so I thought I would give you a little update. The alarm on my phone went off at 3:50, in the morning, yesterday. We woke up, threw our things together, and took our 4:30 taxi to the airport in Rome. Everything went smoothly. I had printed our boarding passes online, so check in was a breeze, and we took the hour and forty minute plane ride to Athens. From there, we took the metro train to the station closest to our hotel. This just happens to be the station, in the square, directly in front of the Parliament building, where all of the rioting and protesting is taking place. As we emerged from the underground our throats, noses, and eyes started burning. When we reached ground level, I realized the burning was caused by tear gas lingering in the air from the recent riots. A huge riot had occurred the night before, and the gas was still present. People were walking around covering their faces and wearing gas masks. The city workers were spraying down the square with water, and protesters were all around. You could feel the tension in the air. It was strange, and kind of scary. We practically ran away from that area, and luckily we ran in the right direction. Our hotel is only a little way down the street in a neighborhood called Plaka. We found it with no problem, and were able to check in early. Besides two accidental strolls (I'll tell you about the second) through Syntagma Square, we have felt very safe here in Athens. It has been very pleasant, and may be our favorite place of the trip. Because we had only slept for a few hours the night before, we rested in our hotel room for a while, and then ventured out to take a look around. Our hotel recommended a restaurant with good Greek food, so we went there, and the food was affordable and DELICIOUS! I had a Greek Salad and Cody had chicken and roasted potatoes. It is, BY FAR, the best food we have had on our trip. This was totally unexpected. I thought Greeks only ate gyros and lamb or something. Haha. After our meal, we attempted to walk through the National Gardens, which is Athens's version of Central Park. This is when we ended up in the thick of things again. According to signs, every entrance to the gardens was closed in accordance with police orders, except one. We were determined to find this one, so we began walking, away from the square and around the gardens. As we turned the corner we were greeted by swarms of police officers, and what looked like secret service members. There were hundreds of them, no lie. It looked as if they were waiting for something to happen, so we picked up the pace. We stopped once to see the guards at the Parliament Building change. It was weird; they did some odd kick routine and looked a bit like Flamingos with pom poms on their shoes. We eventually found ourselves right smack in the middle of the square amongst protesters. Cody grabbed a sign and started chanting something in Greek, but I snapped him out of it, and we got out of there (not really, obviously). ;) Needless to say we did not find the one open entrance to the gardens, and we decided not to search any harder. That was our last run in with any kind of protest or riot. Apparently a group protested last night, but it was peaceful. The neighborhood where we are staying is a peaceful little place in the heart of Athens. We walked around the streets with hundreds of other tourists, and looked in all of the souvenir shops, and cafes. We had some Greek yogurt with black cherries, it was yummy! The weather is perfect here in the evening. The breeze off of the ocean is cool, and makes the air feel light and clean. It is INCREDIBLY hot here during the day though. Cody and I agreed that the weather on the dusty, treeless, Acropolis reminded us of West Texas. After our walk through Plaka, we slept well. Our room has a queen sized bed, and is pretty cool despite not having an air conditioner, well there is one, but you have to ask to turn it on. We didn't know this until today. Maybe we will sleep soundly in a cool room tonight. My shower last night was cold, so the hot room didn't bother me too much :) This morning, we woke up, had the continental breakfast they provided, and headed to the Acropolis. In typical Emily and Cody fashion we accidentally entered through the back entrance, and were forced to wait in yet another sweaty line of people, but it was worth it :) The Acropolis is built on the highest point of the city, and is home to the Parthenon. It was built in 432 BC!! It was SO cool to walk through there and see what people that long ago could do without modern technology, and to think about the people whose feet fell in the exact spots where we were stepping. Most of the temples and ruins on the Acropolis were built in honor of Athena, the cities namesake. After fighting through the crowds up the hill, we found a patch of shade where we listened to our audio guide. Then we headed down the hill to the Ancient Agora, which was the hub of Greek politics and trade for centuries. It was inhabited as long ago as 3000 BC. On our way we climbed up Mars Hill, where Paul gave his famous speech to the Athenians. It was awesome to stand in a location with so much history attached. We continued on through the Ancient Agora, where ancient philosophers hung out, and where the civilized world was established. We saw a temple dedicated to the Blacksmith God, who was the father of Athens, we also saw how the ancient Greeks voted, and barbecued :) We were tired, and a bit sunburned, so after leaving the Agora, we stopped by our little Greek restaurant, where we are now regulars, and had the same meal we had yesterday. Haha. We did have a feta cheese dip that was different from the garlic spread we had yesterday. Haha. I promise we will eat something else before we leave. Our plan for tonight is to walk around Plaka and do some souvenir shopping. Tomorrow we will hit up the Temple of Zeus, the Acropolis Museum, and go on a city walk, guided by my iphone. Our trip is winding up! The Ferries aren't striking as of now. Pray that they don't go on strike again, so that we can make it to the beach!! We can't wait....well we could deal with a few extra days in Athens if we HAD too :) I love you and miss you! See you oh so soon!!!!!!! I e-mailed Mom the plane information. Please keep us updated about the goings on at home, especially about ya'll's house. I can't wait to hear!
Love,
Emily and Cody
July 2
Hey Mom. I hope you are feeling ok today. I love you!! See you soon :) Santorini tomorrow...
July 4
Mother and Father,
Forgive me, it has been a while since my last update. Roman Catholic Europe must be getting to me ;) Our last day in Athens was spent visiting the Temple of Zeus, The Acropolis Museum, eating souvlaki, and going on a walking tour of the city. The Temple of Zeus is the ruins of what was long considered to be the largest temple in Greece. It is basically several huge marble columns standing in a barren field, but its vastness is still obvious. It was neat to walk around it, especially since Cody and I have learned a little about Greek and Roman architecture through our readings and listening’s. We felt smart as we pretended to know what we were seeing. Being in Greece makes all of the mythology and folklore we have read and learned throughout our life seem less silly and more of something that should be respected. Millions of people for thousands of years considered these Gods to be, well just that, Gods. After seeing all of the temples, statues and monuments erected in the honor of these deities, we have gotten a firsthand look at how seriously the Greeks took their religion. We learned more about the religious beliefs and customs of the Greeks when we visited the Acropolis Museum. This museum is dedicated to the preservation and display of artifacts found near the Parthenon, on the hill of the Acropolis, which was dedicated to the worship of Athena. It was remarkable to see how much detail has been preserved on statues and buildings that stood thousands of years ago. After spending a few hours in the cool museum, we braved the heat again and set out to find some lunch. After searching for a particular restaurant and failing to find it, we settled for a little hole-in-the-wall establishment, which had on its menu the dish I had been hoping to try, Souvlaki. Souvlaki is basically meat on a stick. This particular meat was pork, or so we think...hope. It was served in huge portions along with bread, some sort of cheese spread, French fries, more bread, and of course a Greek salad.. It was WONDERFUL, but much too much for lunch. After our huge lunch, we headed back to the hotel for some rest. After a few hours and we headed out on our city walking tour, which I had downloaded on my phone. It took us mostly to places we had already been, but gave us insight into what we had been looking at for two days. It was informative, educational, and fun, but we looked goofy sharing a headset, and had to walk really close to each other so that we wouldn't pull the earphones out. We finished up our souvenir shopping after the tour was done, and then headed to the hotel to get a good night’s sleep.
We love you! I will write again from Santorini!
Love,
Emily and Cody
Hey Mom and Dad!
We are in Athens. Everything is fine. Away from the square you would never know anything was going on. Our train took us right to the square from the airport and tear gas from last night’s riots was still in the air. It burned our eyes. The fairies are striking. Pray we can get to Santorini. Love you!
July 1
Mom and Dad,
We are currently taking a break from pondering our existence on the streets where Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle did just that, so I thought I would give you a little update. The alarm on my phone went off at 3:50, in the morning, yesterday. We woke up, threw our things together, and took our 4:30 taxi to the airport in Rome. Everything went smoothly. I had printed our boarding passes online, so check in was a breeze, and we took the hour and forty minute plane ride to Athens. From there, we took the metro train to the station closest to our hotel. This just happens to be the station, in the square, directly in front of the Parliament building, where all of the rioting and protesting is taking place. As we emerged from the underground our throats, noses, and eyes started burning. When we reached ground level, I realized the burning was caused by tear gas lingering in the air from the recent riots. A huge riot had occurred the night before, and the gas was still present. People were walking around covering their faces and wearing gas masks. The city workers were spraying down the square with water, and protesters were all around. You could feel the tension in the air. It was strange, and kind of scary. We practically ran away from that area, and luckily we ran in the right direction. Our hotel is only a little way down the street in a neighborhood called Plaka. We found it with no problem, and were able to check in early. Besides two accidental strolls (I'll tell you about the second) through Syntagma Square, we have felt very safe here in Athens. It has been very pleasant, and may be our favorite place of the trip. Because we had only slept for a few hours the night before, we rested in our hotel room for a while, and then ventured out to take a look around. Our hotel recommended a restaurant with good Greek food, so we went there, and the food was affordable and DELICIOUS! I had a Greek Salad and Cody had chicken and roasted potatoes. It is, BY FAR, the best food we have had on our trip. This was totally unexpected. I thought Greeks only ate gyros and lamb or something. Haha. After our meal, we attempted to walk through the National Gardens, which is Athens's version of Central Park. This is when we ended up in the thick of things again. According to signs, every entrance to the gardens was closed in accordance with police orders, except one. We were determined to find this one, so we began walking, away from the square and around the gardens. As we turned the corner we were greeted by swarms of police officers, and what looked like secret service members. There were hundreds of them, no lie. It looked as if they were waiting for something to happen, so we picked up the pace. We stopped once to see the guards at the Parliament Building change. It was weird; they did some odd kick routine and looked a bit like Flamingos with pom poms on their shoes. We eventually found ourselves right smack in the middle of the square amongst protesters. Cody grabbed a sign and started chanting something in Greek, but I snapped him out of it, and we got out of there (not really, obviously). ;) Needless to say we did not find the one open entrance to the gardens, and we decided not to search any harder. That was our last run in with any kind of protest or riot. Apparently a group protested last night, but it was peaceful. The neighborhood where we are staying is a peaceful little place in the heart of Athens. We walked around the streets with hundreds of other tourists, and looked in all of the souvenir shops, and cafes. We had some Greek yogurt with black cherries, it was yummy! The weather is perfect here in the evening. The breeze off of the ocean is cool, and makes the air feel light and clean. It is INCREDIBLY hot here during the day though. Cody and I agreed that the weather on the dusty, treeless, Acropolis reminded us of West Texas. After our walk through Plaka, we slept well. Our room has a queen sized bed, and is pretty cool despite not having an air conditioner, well there is one, but you have to ask to turn it on. We didn't know this until today. Maybe we will sleep soundly in a cool room tonight. My shower last night was cold, so the hot room didn't bother me too much :) This morning, we woke up, had the continental breakfast they provided, and headed to the Acropolis. In typical Emily and Cody fashion we accidentally entered through the back entrance, and were forced to wait in yet another sweaty line of people, but it was worth it :) The Acropolis is built on the highest point of the city, and is home to the Parthenon. It was built in 432 BC!! It was SO cool to walk through there and see what people that long ago could do without modern technology, and to think about the people whose feet fell in the exact spots where we were stepping. Most of the temples and ruins on the Acropolis were built in honor of Athena, the cities namesake. After fighting through the crowds up the hill, we found a patch of shade where we listened to our audio guide. Then we headed down the hill to the Ancient Agora, which was the hub of Greek politics and trade for centuries. It was inhabited as long ago as 3000 BC. On our way we climbed up Mars Hill, where Paul gave his famous speech to the Athenians. It was awesome to stand in a location with so much history attached. We continued on through the Ancient Agora, where ancient philosophers hung out, and where the civilized world was established. We saw a temple dedicated to the Blacksmith God, who was the father of Athens, we also saw how the ancient Greeks voted, and barbecued :) We were tired, and a bit sunburned, so after leaving the Agora, we stopped by our little Greek restaurant, where we are now regulars, and had the same meal we had yesterday. Haha. We did have a feta cheese dip that was different from the garlic spread we had yesterday. Haha. I promise we will eat something else before we leave. Our plan for tonight is to walk around Plaka and do some souvenir shopping. Tomorrow we will hit up the Temple of Zeus, the Acropolis Museum, and go on a city walk, guided by my iphone. Our trip is winding up! The Ferries aren't striking as of now. Pray that they don't go on strike again, so that we can make it to the beach!! We can't wait....well we could deal with a few extra days in Athens if we HAD too :) I love you and miss you! See you oh so soon!!!!!!! I e-mailed Mom the plane information. Please keep us updated about the goings on at home, especially about ya'll's house. I can't wait to hear!
Love,
Emily and Cody
July 2
Hey Mom. I hope you are feeling ok today. I love you!! See you soon :) Santorini tomorrow...
July 4
Mother and Father,
Forgive me, it has been a while since my last update. Roman Catholic Europe must be getting to me ;) Our last day in Athens was spent visiting the Temple of Zeus, The Acropolis Museum, eating souvlaki, and going on a walking tour of the city. The Temple of Zeus is the ruins of what was long considered to be the largest temple in Greece. It is basically several huge marble columns standing in a barren field, but its vastness is still obvious. It was neat to walk around it, especially since Cody and I have learned a little about Greek and Roman architecture through our readings and listening’s. We felt smart as we pretended to know what we were seeing. Being in Greece makes all of the mythology and folklore we have read and learned throughout our life seem less silly and more of something that should be respected. Millions of people for thousands of years considered these Gods to be, well just that, Gods. After seeing all of the temples, statues and monuments erected in the honor of these deities, we have gotten a firsthand look at how seriously the Greeks took their religion. We learned more about the religious beliefs and customs of the Greeks when we visited the Acropolis Museum. This museum is dedicated to the preservation and display of artifacts found near the Parthenon, on the hill of the Acropolis, which was dedicated to the worship of Athena. It was remarkable to see how much detail has been preserved on statues and buildings that stood thousands of years ago. After spending a few hours in the cool museum, we braved the heat again and set out to find some lunch. After searching for a particular restaurant and failing to find it, we settled for a little hole-in-the-wall establishment, which had on its menu the dish I had been hoping to try, Souvlaki. Souvlaki is basically meat on a stick. This particular meat was pork, or so we think...hope. It was served in huge portions along with bread, some sort of cheese spread, French fries, more bread, and of course a Greek salad.. It was WONDERFUL, but much too much for lunch. After our huge lunch, we headed back to the hotel for some rest. After a few hours and we headed out on our city walking tour, which I had downloaded on my phone. It took us mostly to places we had already been, but gave us insight into what we had been looking at for two days. It was informative, educational, and fun, but we looked goofy sharing a headset, and had to walk really close to each other so that we wouldn't pull the earphones out. We finished up our souvenir shopping after the tour was done, and then headed to the hotel to get a good night’s sleep.
We love you! I will write again from Santorini!
Love,
Emily and Cody
Our tired, swollen feet. Ha!
DELICIOUS Greek Salad.
Guards at the Parliament Building doing their changing ritual.
Parliament Building
Hadrian's Arch near the Temple of Zeus
The Temple of Zeus
Greek Yogurt YUM!
Plaka
The Ancient Agora
Graffiti
Stray animals populate the streets of Athens. It was WILD!
The Acropolis, from below.
Theater of Dionysus
Theater of Dionysus
Theater of Herod Atticus, still used today for concerts
Theater of Herod Atticus
Walking up to the Acropolis
Mars Hill where Paul gave his famous sermon to the Athenians.
On the Acropolis
The Parthenon
The Parthenon
The Erecthion
The Parthenon (we were obsessed)
Temple of Athena
Another stray animal. I'm telling you they were EVERYWHERE!
Cody on Mars Hill. It was AMAZING to stand where The Apostle Paul stood!
The Stoa of Atalos which serves as an awesome museum of ancient Athenian artifacts.
Toddler Potty. haha.
Spartan Shield
Voting Mechanism
Corinthian Column
Ancient Well
The Parthenon, Did I mention Mom and I made a model of the Parthenon when I was in elementary school? I forgot to tell her it was due until the night before. That made for a stressful night, but the memory made this moment more enjoyable :)
ANOTHER STRAY DOG!!
Temple of Zeus
Souvlaki HUGE LUNCH
Burnt newspaper stand in Syntagma Square. Many businesses had been looted, and everything around the square had been vandalized.
Parliament Building
Syntagma Square across the street from the Parliament Building. Notice the signs and the tents. Protesters were camped out in the square.
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