Friends, you can also follow Michelle’s blog for more fun stories & pictures from our journey: http://ardentadventurer.blogspot.com
For the first time on this trip, we got more than 5 hours of sleep during the night!It was a-ma-zing! And, our hostel actually has AC!Showers were a little shady though.As you shower, there are definitely people in the stalls next to you taking care of their “business.”Ew!
Our first order of business this morning - STARBUCKS!!!!I have to say, we were all SO excited to finally have a Starbucks.An iced, soy, latte with sugar-free vanilla never tasted so good!
With of the success of our caffeine fix, we were anxiously headed to ACROPOLIS! As we arrived at the ticket gate, we were hoping to pass for college students, I mean come one give us a break! Sadly, reality set in when they told us you had to be born after 1991! Guess the Greeks don’t give into our American Charm. As we hiked up the Acropolis we desperately searching for signs to help explain this monumental city, however by much surprise they informed us on the renovations and nothing in regards to the history of these ancient ruins! So, it’s sad to admit…but we’re kinda fuzzy on what went down in this city! We do know that in Greek God world, Athena ruled the throne!
Now’s the part where our day gets interesting. After several failed attempts we catch a taxi to take us to the “Church on the Hill”. From the first day, this impressive hill has captured my attention and I won’t leave till I conquer it. Fortunately, the girls were up for an adventure. First off, the cab driver has NO idea what we are talking about when we tell him where we want to go (mind you, it’s a GINORMOUS hill in the middle of Athens with a prominent church on top). Frustrating. We end up driving around and stopping to ask not one, or two, but more like 8 people how to get there. I’m pretty fed up with him at this point because he is driving in circles like a maniac running up our fare. Finally, upon passing another taxi driver a second time I take the initiative to yell to him and see if he can help. He tells us that our destination can be reached by a set of stairs only feet away from where we are and we decide to get out of the taxi. I open my door and am trying to figure out the cost as our driver rudely tries to drive off! I tell him to stop and that we are getting out and he tells me no and tries to pull off again while my door is open. I am livid at this point and tell him to stop and that we are getting out. I tell the girls to get out and we do so at once. He’s lucky we paid him at all! That was undoubtedly the worst cab experience I’ve ever had and I was glad for the hike we had ahead of ourselves to let off some steam! It was a pretty long jaunt, but so worth it! Not only did we get an incredible 360 view of Athens, but also got ourselves into a little pickle…and by us I mean Ashley and Lindsay! They decided it was a good idea to sneak into one of the back rooms at the church and put on the robes they found and take funny pictures. It was all fun and games until a loud crashing metal object alerted the church attendant who frantically runs over shouting who knows what in Greek at them. The girls shimmied out of their robes at lightning speed - I’ve never seen them or an old man move so fast! And we all bolted for the door and down the steps with the fear of God, and man, close on our heels.
It was probably best that this was our last stop of the day. By the time we plowed down the hill we were the epitome of weary travelers. Nothing a little gelato couldn’t take care of. J An hour or so later we are in yet another crazy cab headed to Piraeus, the port of Athens for our 9:30pm ferry departure for Mykonos. We are excited to spend 2 nights on this crazy beautiful island!
Things we LOVE about Athens:
- Black market shopping!
- Restaurants are desperate for customers! We were offered free wine & desserts!
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