This is day that I discovered that my shoes might be a problem. We woke up early and went down for breakfast, after we rendezvoused in the lobby and took the Athens Metro system to the Acropolis then walked about fifteen minutes to the site, it was uphill. Upon arrival, I understood why most greeks looked so slim and fit, THE STAIRS. The Acropolis experience was amazing, the view up there was gorgeous, and to learn the history and inspiration behind it all was even more mesmerising. The Parthenon has so many details carved into the walls and pillars, it was captivating, I think I spent a lot of my time observing that and trying to throw Nia’s tripod off the hill. I did get a picture of me in front in my Jamaican T-shirt. In this process, I ended up meeting a lady who was from Jamaica, from a familiar town about an hour and a half away from me. In no world did I expect that, her daughter actually goes to FIU. How insane is that?
We did do something illegal here, which was take out the FIU flag for a group picture, we then discovered an interesting water fountain and refilled water bottles. On the way down, we decided to walk to the restaurant, it was a pleasant one. Lunch was at a spot called O’Thanasis, we were served a Greek Salad as an appetiser, it was so fresh, and I am not one to consume tomatoes plain, but this trip changed that, they tasted so pure, not fake. I ordered the Beef kebabs, and I still think about them to this day. I also learnt that Starbucks has a line of “souvenir” mugs. I have nothing else to say about that matter.
After lunch, we took a walk back to the New Acropolis Museum, I have found a new love for museums after this trip, most people have this impression that they are boring, however, I found the museums we went to, as outdated as these artefacts were, they were all so important to the history of the country and the richness of their beautiful culture. I spent my time in that museum away from everyone in my own world, taking my time and observing everything, the most interesting item I thought were the broken statues, there is a story as to why they are broken, some of the pieces got lost, some were found and repaired, some were destroyed in war.
After roughly an hour or so in the museum, I was trying to arrange to play tennis on really clay courts, so I took the subway back with Katerina and asked her to speak with them. I ended up taking the subway on my own only find out that you cannot use the courts unless you are a member. Then I found out that our hike was cancelled so I took my time and walked back to the hotel (roughly forty minutes). I stopped for some ice cream and met some of the group for dinner at a pizza place which was nice. We then went out to a bar.
The next day, we had a fairly early morning to get to Delphi, the drive was about three hours, it was a gorgeous drive, the scenery was mesmerising, words couldn’t describe it. Upon arrival, we made a pitstop in a small town and grabbed lunch after taking pictures for a while. We finally reached Delphi, the landscape the whole way was unbelievably gorgeous. We had a tour of the Temple of Apollo. Then we went into the museum, where it was more guided than the other museum visits we had. I popped my water bottle and the whole museum heard… oops.
We then stopped in a small town called Archova, where we had a late lunch/ snack, that was a highlight of the trip, I could live in that town, after taking in the view, I went to join some of the group at a quaint cafe with some homemade ice cream. However, I ended up ordering a Scotch with Ruhi, funnily enough (and this happened over the course of the trip) where they serve it in a highball glass rather than a rocks glass.
On the way back, I watched a movie and again took in the views. When we arrived in Athens, a couple of us went to get Indian food, because why not. Savoured it, made the mistake of ordering CHAI, not a chai tea latte. Ended up sprinting back to the hotel after that.