Ahoy,
I know I've spent this whole class not paying attention, I know I should have spent this whole class paying attention, but I really want to talk about Greece. It was such a better port than Croatia. I'm told if you go to Greece, you have to go to the islands. The islands are like a whole 'nother country. I only went to 1 of them, but it was amazing. First I'll talk about the mainland, since that was not as awesome.
Piraeus was out port, and it was 10-20 minutes from Athens. Athens and the Acropolis/Parthenon were cool. A lot of people were disappointed, but I don't think I was. It doesn't look as grand as you imagine it to be, but I don't think I had such high expectations.
There were ancient ruins (cool old stuff), but what was truly disheartening were the Olympic ruins. This is a term I''m coining, not anything technical at all. They aren't actually ruins, I just think of them as such. There were so many public spaces and parks in Piraeus and Athens. And they were all in such horrid shape. And you can tell all these places used to be monumental and awe-inspiring at some point not so long ago. But they've become so overrun with litter, no one would dare sit on the grass or benches. The grasses are all overgrown and trashed. It's awful. It's awful to think that they spent so much time and effort to develop these cities to use for two weeks. And then after those two weeks, neglect ensues. It's scary to think that there are cities all over the world with these wastes of space leftover from the Olympics. I've known some of the pros and cons about the 2016 Olympics coming to Chicago. I know that this is usually what happens after the Olympics. I've read about it, imagined it. I know that new and big facilities need to be built. There are urban planners that study specifically how an Olympic event affects cities. I know that it's a big event and cities need to be entirely revamped to accomodate it, but I had never seen the aftermath. Experiencing the spirit of the streets after the event had been over was a bit disheartening. There are pros and cons for if the Olympics do come to Chicago. It would so regrettable if Chicago were left in ruins like in Piraeus. It was just really interesting to see and feel the legacy and grandeur that was once very prevalent and is in a sense, fading into the sands of time.
Enough of my rambling. I'm usually pretty sure you guys get bored and lost when I start talking stuff about urban planning/sustainable development.
All the signs were in Greek. All the Greek I know is out of equations from physics problems, which is not a lot considering my grade in that class. A lot of people spoke English.
I stumbled upon a farmers' market type place that had a very Chinatown feel to it. The guys were yelling out prices and aggressive about selling you stuff. I hadn't really encountered that anywhere else. And the stores were mostly for housewares and normal stuff. There were practically no tourist shops, which were a welcome surprise. There were lots of snack shops that had things of crackers, peanuts, candies that you weighed out. And the coffee shops where you pick what blend and they grind them for you. I hate coffee, but it smelled sooooo good in these places. There was a prominent local feel to this part of the city, a nice change from the others.
We went on one of the school field trips out to the desert and mountains. There was so much driving. We drove out 2 hours to stop for 20 minutes at the Corinth Canal (so cool!). Drove close to another hour to get to Epidaurus for this ancient concert stadium with excellent acoustics. We stopped to look at this castle and fortress. We went to Mycanae to visit (possibly) Agamemnon's Castle. It was really pretty up there. You could see to the waterfront and all the mountains around the area. There were so ginormous! They think it was Agamemnon's because he was important, and they think it was someone important.
The food in Greece has been the best by far. The bakeries all smell so good and have so much stuff. I wish I could eat whole bakeries. The bread was delicious, spinach pie, tzaziki, more bread, hummus, cakes - all of it was amazing. Nothing was not good. I'm told the ouzo was gross, but I didn't have any.
Hydra was amazing! It's a car free island. No cars except for a few city owned trucks and a fire truck. They walked, biked, or rode donkeys (which I did). These donkeys were somewhat regal. They could carry a lot of weight, but their legs were so skinny. They looked like they were well taken care of. We got there by ferry at around 2030 and asked around for hotels. We found one right on the harbour for 20 euros each. It was such a nice hotel with a great view, and for only 20 euros. Some people had gotten hostels in the middle of nowhere in Rome for more than that. We climbed some mountains and it was so beautiful up there. The shops and restaurants were open so late on Hydra, whereas at Piraeus stuff had closed by 2000. There was a really casual and relaxed feel to the island.
decidedly returning,
JT
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