First off, thanks to everyone for the congratulatory messages. I appreciate the recognition. Thanks especially to DD and SN for your direct support along the way. Whether driving me to my starting points, offering great advice or letting me borrow some gear, it would have been a much worse experience without you. Let me know how I can return the favors.
Exploring Athens has been a good time. Initial observations (if you hate travel blogs, stop reading):
1) It's not totally safe. I'm staying in an immigrant neighborhood and the lines to the soup kitchen are out the door by 8AM, you don't see women out after dark, cab drivers lock their doors, I've heard stories of gunshots (not that I've heard any myself), its easy to get lost, and tonight saw a guy cuffed, getting escorted back to the police station which isn't far away. Even though I'm not staying in a tourist area, I'd like to think the rest of the city isn't like this, but I can't speak for other neighborhoods. There is very little swanky area in downtown Athens.
2) The Acropolis is incredible. The size of the Parthenon (the hugantuan temple with columns) and view from the hill is comparable to the views from Sugarloaf or Cristo Redento in Rio de Janeiro. This alone is almost worth the trip. PS: They just built a new museum to augment the Acropolis experience. I don't like visiting ruins because it involves so much imagination which I can use home. However, they show the glory of the monument with what remains. Mad sculptures of Greek history and mythology.
3) Cryptograms are everywhere. Translating Greek is a culminating event for every language I've studied. I've just about got the alphabet down and can translate words like "write" (graph), "people" (anthro..), "child" (pedi... easy now) which have close English parallels. Just looked up parallel: παράλληλο (parallelo). Easy peasy.
4) The riot threat level is still at red. The picture I posted on FB of runners waiting on buses is exactly where the action went down. Guards are still standing outside the capital with their gear on, tear gas canisters clipped onto their kit, carrying shields, batons, and pistols. They're big dudes and ready to bash some heads but you can tell they are sick of being there. They have buses as mobile armories. They are caged in and with additional gear strung up in case the situation gets worse. I took a picture and nearly had my phone ganked. The fact that I'm American and that the picture didn't show much got me off the hook.
5) The Greeks stink at English. I was 100% expecting this until an Aussie on my flight from Rome who looked exactly like Drew Carey told me that 85% of Greeks speak English. He did not mention that all they can say is "Okaeye" and "Khan ah hailp yeww?" Either way, their English > my Greek. So good on 'em.
I'm flying to Crete tomorrow morning to see what's going on in the surfing world. It's the Mediterranean so I'm not expecting huge waves. The off-season just started so I'm expecting very few open hotels and surf shops. The internet, locals, and travel agencies are all giving me different answers so I'm getting boots on the ground on the Greek islands to see what I can see and catch ferries as I need to. If anyone in cyberland knows anything about surfing Greece, get at me.
This is officially the start of a hiatus on fitness/working out. I know you all stay at home updating
Keep training,
LSF
Exploring Athens has been a good time. Initial observations (if you hate travel blogs, stop reading):
1) It's not totally safe. I'm staying in an immigrant neighborhood and the lines to the soup kitchen are out the door by 8AM, you don't see women out after dark, cab drivers lock their doors, I've heard stories of gunshots (not that I've heard any myself), its easy to get lost, and tonight saw a guy cuffed, getting escorted back to the police station which isn't far away. Even though I'm not staying in a tourist area, I'd like to think the rest of the city isn't like this, but I can't speak for other neighborhoods. There is very little swanky area in downtown Athens.
2) The Acropolis is incredible. The size of the Parthenon (the hugantuan temple with columns) and view from the hill is comparable to the views from Sugarloaf or Cristo Redento in Rio de Janeiro. This alone is almost worth the trip. PS: They just built a new museum to augment the Acropolis experience. I don't like visiting ruins because it involves so much imagination which I can use home. However, they show the glory of the monument with what remains. Mad sculptures of Greek history and mythology.
3) Cryptograms are everywhere. Translating Greek is a culminating event for every language I've studied. I've just about got the alphabet down and can translate words like "write" (graph), "people" (anthro..), "child" (pedi... easy now) which have close English parallels. Just looked up parallel: παράλληλο (parallelo). Easy peasy.
4) The riot threat level is still at red. The picture I posted on FB of runners waiting on buses is exactly where the action went down. Guards are still standing outside the capital with their gear on, tear gas canisters clipped onto their kit, carrying shields, batons, and pistols. They're big dudes and ready to bash some heads but you can tell they are sick of being there. They have buses as mobile armories. They are caged in and with additional gear strung up in case the situation gets worse. I took a picture and nearly had my phone ganked. The fact that I'm American and that the picture didn't show much got me off the hook.
5) The Greeks stink at English. I was 100% expecting this until an Aussie on my flight from Rome who looked exactly like Drew Carey told me that 85% of Greeks speak English. He did not mention that all they can say is "Okaeye" and "Khan ah hailp yeww?" Either way, their English > my Greek. So good on 'em.
I'm flying to Crete tomorrow morning to see what's going on in the surfing world. It's the Mediterranean so I'm not expecting huge waves. The off-season just started so I'm expecting very few open hotels and surf shops. The internet, locals, and travel agencies are all giving me different answers so I'm getting boots on the ground on the Greek islands to see what I can see and catch ferries as I need to. If anyone in cyberland knows anything about surfing Greece, get at me.
This is officially the start of a hiatus on fitness/working out. I know you all stay at home updating
Keep training,
LSF
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