Coming down to the end of the trip is a bitter feeling, the fights and the friends we made made this trip unforgettable. The last couple of days we visited Old Athens and The Gourmet Market, a museum and the the Panthenaic Stadium.
The day we visited and walked through the Gourmet Market was quite entertaining, I have never seen anything like that. We crossed the street and views some of the stalls on the outside, which had endless amounts of olives, teas, a coffee shop and mainly dry goods. After that, we walked in the fish market to view the varieties of fish that were there, never once did I think that a fish market can be so big. I worse slippers this day (because my shoes were uncomfortable), I had fish water on them. We learnt about the different types and breeds of fish that were available in the Mediterranean and Aegan seas, as well as the octopus and shrimp. After, the path led us to the meat area, where we saw chicken, beef, pork, and I do not just mean like on a foam tray with a plastic wrap that has already been precept and pre seasoned, these were WHOLE animals hanging. There were dead cows just handing around, I also learnt that there are many different types of meat that come from cow, and I got to see how each part looked. Same with the chicken, the hearts were sold separately. After that, we walked towards the antique stores, which I had actually walked into the day before, spoke to the owner and bought some items from him. I saw some really cool cocktail equipment and glasses, however I was running low on weight and they would’ve broken by the time I reached Miami. It was quite fascinating, that was followed by viewing the fruits and vegetables section, but first I got a greek coffee. The fruits and vegetable sections were priced considerably cheap- a bunch of bananas for 1 Euro. There was also a stall dedicated to just olives, and plastic bottles filled with wine, I found it weird that that is a thing. Never would I have imagined that.
We then walked through old Athens were there were plenty of souvenir shops, restaurants, and bars, even a Snow White themed restaurant. We also saw the flea market where I saw some vintage tennis rackets, which I just had to pick up, our tour guide, Katarina helped me bargain with the guy, I will get into that story later. After viewing this area and discussing the demographics, we had some free time and decided to go for brunch. At around 2:30pm we met in the lobby to head to a museum, Museum of Cycladic Art. The experience started with us losing Nia and Nicole, the Ruhi feeling unwell, then some drama between a few of us. However we followed the scavenger hunt (haha), jokes aside, I do think this museum was a favourite of mine, the art was intricate and inspiring. The outfits and the mockups of rooms were even more unbelievable sites.
All went well though. After this museum, I asked Katerina to help me bargain for the racquets for which, her originally told be 100 Euros (that’s what the son told me), then raised it to 150 (which the father told me), she brought him back down to 100. Prior to heading for the rackets, we stopped to buy some water and ice cream, and just sat there talking about living in Athens and Greece overall, she did mention that the average salary in Greece is 600-700 Euros and minimum rent is also in the same range, I was shocked.
After all that, I went back to the hotel and started watching a Bollywood classic movie, got Nia hooked onto it, then we went for dinner, originally it was supposed to be a Thai restaurant that I had picked, however the area was lonely, sketchy and the restaurant was closed, we ended up at a place called Frankie and then headed home.
The next day we were scheduled to go to the Panathenaic Stadium, which was an experience, being into sports, I was taken aback at the history, especially in the room with all the Olympic torches. We received the “bangaz” here as well for the audio guide. The fact that the Stadium had been built from AD times and still remains intact and a historical site is marvellous, of course with some renovations. The highlight of this day was actually racing with Kane and Marco, I was neck and neck with them, then there was a wardrobe malfunction, so I had to fall back, I would have won though. I then raced Nia and beat her. Listening to the history of that stadium and seeing thee thrones still present there was mind-blowing. I cannot forget to mention the tunnel which led to the Olympic torches, that was breathtaking, the architecture, the feeling you get when you walked through (I pretended I was walking to Centre Court at Wimbledon).
We headed back to the hotel, and somehow I ended up at the Beach club (I had no intention to because I had to pack). I went for a bit and had a really nice bruschetta, dipped my feet in the water and left. I took a walk after reaching the hotel, had to buy kebobs and some products from the pharmacy. We had our farewell dinner at a restaurant called Lithos, where we got the usual, Greek Salad (cannot get tired of that salad), Moussaka and a cake to celebrate Nicole’s and Bella’s Birthday. After that amazing dinner, we went to a Cuban bar and had a final farewell with almost everyone there. I then went back to the hotel to finish packing, then went back out to the same place, we rang in Nicole’s birthday together and headed towards the hotel. By that time I only had two hours to rest as my flight was at 5am the next day to Mykonos (a lost minutes decision).
Overall, I can say that my entire trip to Greece was unforgettable, I learnt so much about the country and their culture, experienced some good hospitality and bad, mostly good.