Hello Athens! (And Pub Challenge 102)

Proof I do have friends! I only had to pay this random
guy on the train 50 Euros and he agreed to pose in a
photo!

Well, good to hear from you all! Looks like you're going to have to keep putting up with my posts...
I arrived in Athens yesterday after a mammoth bus trip next to an old Greek bloke who kept trying to talk to me even though it was absolutely clear that we couldn't understand each other.
Pretty much the first thing I did when I arrived, after hunting down my hostel, was to take a train to the airport. No, I haven't had enough and decided to fly back home. In fact I was picking up my mate, Jan, (no he's not a girl. It's a German name, pronounced Yun. Sheesh) who will be travelling with me for the next week or so. The great thing is he really knows his way around Greek history, so it's almost like having a personal tour guide.

Taverna Plaka, Athens

The airport, like any decent international airport, is far out of town, so after the 30 minute trip back in, Jan decided he wouldn't mind getting off a few stops earlier so as to walk the rest of the way and see a bit of the city as it's turning night. Seeing as he was the one with the heavy backpack (I having deposited mine in the room already) I had no objections. Navigating our way by the sun (I'm not even making this up), we worked out the approximate direction to the youth hostel and proceeded to slog our way through the streets, even cutting across part of the Acropolis hill. When I finally found us on the map I discovered that , before we veered off in that direction, we had already been very close to our destination. So basically we clambered over the ancient heart of Athens for nothing. Still, it was great fun. That evening we treated ourselves to a Guinness at a nearby pub then flaked out.

Greek Theatre on the Acropolis

Today, however, was our first day of sightseeing. Naturally we visited the Acropolis and the Parthenon, as well as the Agora (the old marketplace), the original Olympic Stadium and the Temple of Zeus. The day was filled with in-depth discussion about history and architecture, most of which I won't bore you with (unless you are particularly interested in the difference between Doric, Ionian, Attic-Ionian and Corinthian pillars...), however I will indulge in a quick history lesson. Athens, of course, is the birthplace of democracy. We're talking several hundred years BC people in this very city came upon the great idea that the regular people living in a city should have a say in how that city is run. Of course at the time "regular people" didn't include women, foreigners, slaves or gingers. Still, pretty good effort for a time when the rest of the world still thought dirt was the height of technology. And they knew how to build.

The Parthenon

Those temples, even what little is left of them often, are staggeringly impressive. Pictures simply don't do justice. The parthenon, particularly, perched as it is atop the rocky, cliff-encircled hill in the middle of the city, is mind-blowing. It's also relatively well preserved. It would have been moreso, however, had it not been for a war in the 17th century. There the Ottoman Turks had seized athens and used the natural defenses of the Acropolis as a fortification. Not expecting their enemies, the Venetians, to destroy such an iconic building of their neighbours, they used the Parthenon as a gunpowder magazine. You can imagine how that ended. They are, however, busy restoring the colossal temple to Athena with original fragments found around the area, and where they are missing from newly carved marble from the original source. It should look nice and quaint when it's finished.