We arrived in Athens at about 1:00 AM since our stupid flight was SO. DELAYED. When we arrived the airport was pretty much empty, which was only a little bit scary, but we headed out to the bus stop for bus X95, which took us straight to Syntagma Square (the main square in the heart of Athens). We had JUST missed the 1:15 bus (yes, very infuriating) because we were buying our tickets like the honest girls we are, so we had to wait for the 1:45 bus. By the time we arrived at our hostel it was about 3 in the morning. Ugh. Not to mention upon arrival we were greeted by a jerk who told us we had overpaid for our cab, to which I snappily replied, "Well seeing as how it's 3 in the morning we just wanted to get here." JERK. So anyway, we checked in and finally got to bed around 3:30!
The next morning, Hanna and I woke up bright and early to join a walking tour that was set up by our hostel. The check-in guy, Peter, told us about the walking tour the night before: "You vill see all of Athens hot spot, have snack break, maybe if you tell the guide and get other walkers to join you." Then his friend blew his cover and said, "Wait, aren't you guiding the tour tomorrow???" HAHA Did I mention Peter is actually from Hungary? So anyway, the other girls decided to sleep in and avoid the 13 euro fee and 12 euro entrance tickets so it was just me and Hanna, and we were not happy campers, having only gotten about 5 hours of bad sleep, since the air conditioning kept waking us up. But, the walking tour was AMAZING! It gave us a good chance to see ALL the sights in an efficient amount of time, and we also met a couple really cool people from our hostel. Peter was really funny (in terms of we were laughing at him, and not with him)... Hanna and I found out that Peter had actually only been in Athens from two weeks, and had never actually gone to any of the sights himself.... yeah, DOT DOT DOT haha so we teased him that he had actually just Wikipedia'd all his knowledge. And he kept saying, "maybe this is the basics" or "maybe this is all you need to know" haha!
As for the sights themselves: the Acropolis was crazy cool!!! The Pantheon, even though it was covered in construction materials, was really awesome to see, but it was suuuuuuper windy, and the rocks were like pelting our legs, so we hurried through... but then somehow managed to be the last people to meet back up at the base. Oh well. It was really, really hot that day so we were glad when the tour was over! Hanna and I went and got gyros and beer with two of the people we met at our hostel: Tom from New Zealand, and Emma from Australia! We had just managed to sit down at a place on the side of the farmer's market street and ordered beers in frosted mugs, when Aaron from Australia met us (he lost his friends and decided to join us for food instead) and the five of us ate and laughed it was so yummy! The gyros are so different from what we have in the States: no lettuce and no cucumber, but FRENCH FRIES instead!!! Yes, my heaven. SO delicious. After we ate, an Indian vendor came up and tried to sell us sunglasses. We all refused, but Aaron got sucked into it, and even though we tried to help him barter down, he gave in way too quickly and so was subsequently ripped off for fake Ray Bans haha. We were all given a free (and rather large) shot of ouzo, which I took like a champ even though I a like physically incapable of taking shots, and decided to head back. On the way Aaron bought a useless tomato toy (we were like, "you HAVE to meet our friend Sarah!!!" haha), it looked like it splattered when you threw it on the floor but then reformed!
Sarah and Saaya were still sleeping when we got back, and Hanna went in for a nap so I wandered into Victoria Square (the square right by our hostel) and found an internet cafe. Then I came back and had a beer with Tom and Aaron downstairs before heading up to shower. The girls finally woke up and showered and we got a quick bite in Victoria Square before heading back to the hostel for our "welcome shots" (of ouzo, yucky!!) in the downstairs bar. We were expecting to hang out with our friends in the bar, but they were nowhere to be seen... until the door of room #1 opened, and out stumbled Emma, hanging all over Tom, and Aaron, who wandered out by himself. They had been drinking in their room since I saw them at the bar for a beer!! Neville, another really nice guy we met from Ireland, had just been out to dinner with his friends and re-joined us at the bar. The bartender, Elia from Canada, persuaded Hanna and I to order some Espresso-tinis, which we happily ordered since I was exhausted to tell the truth and not in the mood to party. They were delicious. So for the rest of the night we sang and danced in the downstairs bar (because going out in Athens is apparently REALLY expensive!). Aaron was super drunk and starting singing about jellybeans after Hanna and I persuaded the poor guy to order a drink called the jellybean. He and Tom were supposed to be lovers but then Tom was hooking up with Emma hahah so Aaron had no other choice but to hang out with us. Sarah liked Elia the bartender, and Aaron liked Saaya, so Hanna and I were once again a couple for the night! Haha, unforgettable night.
The next day we slept in and checked out at check-out time, 11 am. Hanna and I headed straight for the airport since our flight was at 2:30 pm (Sarah and Saaya had a later flight into Santorini), and thank goodness we left right away, because we actually barely had any extra time in the airport at all! We got McDonald's as our first meal of the day (even though I swore to myself no more Mickey D's after the Big Tasty because everything else in the airport did not look yummy and was more expensive) but the evil lady at security took away our drinks!!! :( The flight was a small one, we had to take a bus to our plane and board outdoors!!
All in all, perfect stop in Athens!
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