Saturday, April 17, 2010
ATHENS!!! Days 1-3
Hello Everyone..I know its been a long time since my last post..so here comes a major update. For Passover vacation I went to Greece with 3 of my roommates, Becka/Ilana/Emily, another friend on my program Sam, and my friend Nikki from high school. Our journey started with a Sheirut from the Student Village to the Tel Aviv airport. I unfortunately was "the one" to get personally searched and searched again at the airport in Tel Aviv. They took everything out of my bags and stuch that little metal dector thing in every item I brought..go figure it was me--just my luck. We got the airport with plenty of time so it was no big deal and we FINALLY made it down to the gate. We then boarded our flight to Athens, I took a 2 hour nap, and woke up more/less in Athens! A friend of mine, Hillary, who was on the Hebrew U program a couple years ago, also went to Greece for her Passover vacation so she gave us great recs and a plan for what we should do/see in Greece. After landing in Athens we took the metro to the city where our hostel was. The metro was our first Greek experience---and it was interesting. Not many pepole spoke English and they were mad at us for taking up so much room with our bags, luckily this crazy English speaking woman helped us communicate a bit and gave us some pointers about how to fit "in" with Greeks....including the #1 thing Americans should do in foreign countries..BE QUIET!! We eventually found our way to our hostel..it was in an amazing location in the city of Plaka, walking distance from everything cool in Athens. By the time we got settled it was dinner time and we went out for our first meal in Greece. It was unfortunately DISGUSTING but don't worry..our eating drastically improved from that point on. We went to bed early because we knew we had a full day ahead of us.
The next day we woke up early and went to a delicious crepe place for brunch. After that we walked to the president's palace and saw the changing of the guards, it was very similar to London. Then we walked to the main street for the Independence Day parade..its the July 4th for Greece. It was really cool and EVERYONE was outside in the center of the city. After the parade was over and the streets reopened we went to Olympic Stadium, it was really really cool..AND HUGE. I took lots of pictures! Oh and fun fact..in the states we have squirrels..in Israel there are cats..and in Athens..DOGS..THERE ARE DOGS EVERYWHERE! Its really weird! Guess where we went next..my favorite place in America..well second favorite to Dunkin Donuts..we went to STARBUCKS! I had my first Starbucks since being in America and it was delicious! Nikki and I were so so happy! After our little refreshment we went to a huge flea market and walked around for the afternoon. I bought a couple gifts and took lots of pictures of the city. Around 5pm we started hiking/walking up this hill...the highest peak in Athens..to watch the sunset. It was gorgeous..one of the most spectacular views I have ever seen! Check out the pics on facebook! Finally it was dinner time and we had a traditional greek meal at this really cute restaurant that offered us free wine. I ordered a gyro plate..and the tzatiki sauce was amazing! After dinner we got drinks at this outdoor bar on a rooftop looking out at the Acropolis. It was another great view! Then it was bedtime because we had a huge tourist day ahead!
The next day we woke up..had a great Starbucks breakfast (obviously) and headed to the Acropolis. We saw everything ancient you can possible see in Greece..only to find out..at the indoor Acropolis museum, that the majority of the ruins at the acutal site are replicas and the real stuff is in the museum. It totally crushed our spirits but at least we got to go to the museum. After the museum we had lunch..one of the many Greek Salads complete with a HUNK of amazing Feta cheese. I saw my friend Alex Edwards at the bottom of the acropolis after lunch..it was so so funny to run into her! There were so many study-abroad kids that we ran into throughout the trip that were touring Greece for spring vacation. After a day of seeing ruins and ancient things we decided to go to Chabad in Athens for a Shabbat. It was so so nice, great meal, great people, and it felt good to celebrate shabbat..we were missing Jerusalem a little bit so this brought us closer to home. We walked to Chabad and got a bit lost on the way and stopped to try to talk to a policeman but the language barrier was too much and then we saw these tall men in black hats and black coats and decided with was safe to follow them..haha turns out we were following a HUGE CROWD of jews leaving shul en route to Chabad..perfect timing! After Chabad we went back to the hostel and went to sleep because we had to leave for the ferry to Santorini at 545am the next day.
More on Santorini to come..love and miss all of you!
Kayla
The next day we woke up early and went to a delicious crepe place for brunch. After that we walked to the president's palace and saw the changing of the guards, it was very similar to London. Then we walked to the main street for the Independence Day parade..its the July 4th for Greece. It was really cool and EVERYONE was outside in the center of the city. After the parade was over and the streets reopened we went to Olympic Stadium, it was really really cool..AND HUGE. I took lots of pictures! Oh and fun fact..in the states we have squirrels..in Israel there are cats..and in Athens..DOGS..THERE ARE DOGS EVERYWHERE! Its really weird! Guess where we went next..my favorite place in America..well second favorite to Dunkin Donuts..we went to STARBUCKS! I had my first Starbucks since being in America and it was delicious! Nikki and I were so so happy! After our little refreshment we went to a huge flea market and walked around for the afternoon. I bought a couple gifts and took lots of pictures of the city. Around 5pm we started hiking/walking up this hill...the highest peak in Athens..to watch the sunset. It was gorgeous..one of the most spectacular views I have ever seen! Check out the pics on facebook! Finally it was dinner time and we had a traditional greek meal at this really cute restaurant that offered us free wine. I ordered a gyro plate..and the tzatiki sauce was amazing! After dinner we got drinks at this outdoor bar on a rooftop looking out at the Acropolis. It was another great view! Then it was bedtime because we had a huge tourist day ahead!
The next day we woke up..had a great Starbucks breakfast (obviously) and headed to the Acropolis. We saw everything ancient you can possible see in Greece..only to find out..at the indoor Acropolis museum, that the majority of the ruins at the acutal site are replicas and the real stuff is in the museum. It totally crushed our spirits but at least we got to go to the museum. After the museum we had lunch..one of the many Greek Salads complete with a HUNK of amazing Feta cheese. I saw my friend Alex Edwards at the bottom of the acropolis after lunch..it was so so funny to run into her! There were so many study-abroad kids that we ran into throughout the trip that were touring Greece for spring vacation. After a day of seeing ruins and ancient things we decided to go to Chabad in Athens for a Shabbat. It was so so nice, great meal, great people, and it felt good to celebrate shabbat..we were missing Jerusalem a little bit so this brought us closer to home. We walked to Chabad and got a bit lost on the way and stopped to try to talk to a policeman but the language barrier was too much and then we saw these tall men in black hats and black coats and decided with was safe to follow them..haha turns out we were following a HUGE CROWD of jews leaving shul en route to Chabad..perfect timing! After Chabad we went back to the hostel and went to sleep because we had to leave for the ferry to Santorini at 545am the next day.
More on Santorini to come..love and miss all of you!
Kayla
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