Athens, Greece

Elise and I flew into Athens on Saturday and it was just like I imagined it from the air....rolling hills and fields of crops right against the bright blue sea. Walking out from the airport felt a bit like Hawaii. We took the metro into the city, but went underground so we didn't get to see much of the city. We got a surprise when we walked out of the train station!

Athens isn't that nice of a city...in fact, it's pretty ghetto. Well, the streets are pretty clean, but the city is just run down. There are a ton of abandoned buildings and most of them look they will collapse any second. I came expecting as much (a few people told me this that had been) so I wasn't really disappointed, in fact quite amused.

The center of the city around the Acropolis, however, is very nice and a little paradise amongst the busy city. If our hostel was there, I would have no idea of the ghetto-ness.

On Sunday (yesterday), we got up to go to church, except when we got there, there was nothing to indicate an LDS church. We did however, attempt to chat with a little old man who was trying to tell us something verrrry important in Greek that we couldn't quite make out.....hope he found somebody else to tell! haha!

We spent Sunday walking around the city and checking out the sites. The Acropolis is amazing!! Well....minus all the million bars around it for rennovation. Apparently it's been like that since 2000. We hiked to a small hill for an amazing view...as you can see in the pictures.

This morning we went to the Port to arrange our island travels...we leave tomorrow for Mykonos and then will spend the majority of the week in Santorini. After that was all settled we went inside the Acropolis. The whole thing is actually many parts all over the city. So Greece is funny....everything seemed a little scattered and unorganized, but definitely worth seeing! I actually got in free with Foreign Student card from Spain since it's issued by the European Union. What a deal! I guess all that hassle before to get it was worth it! I plan on using it more too! Exploring all the ruins here in the city pretty much takes all day....not to mention lots of walking....Elise and I walked about 13 miles today alone!

Let me just end on this note...I love Greek food! So delicious! Skewed meat with lime, freshly-made pitas, fresh tomatoes, fresh feta cheese, yogurt with honey.....sounds weird, but it's amazing! I look forward to more delicous food....as always!! You know me....

By the way, my sister just informed me that there was an earthquake measuring 6.5 in Greece yesterday. Well, that was news to me as I didn't feel a thing! It happend about 3 pm and we were out walking around so we would have felt it, but didn't. It occured closer to Patras than Athens, but the report said they felt is as far away as Southern Italy....crazy. For more, click here.