Gyros and Cheese Pies

Arriving in Athens, we took a horrendous bus ride into the city. A sweaty hour later we arrived in a not so special looking square and used the metro to get to our hostel. Anyone who has ever had to use a metro system anwhere, would appreciate the cleanliness of this tube. They have added pieces of Athen's history to the walls and so it doubles as a museum in some parts. Impressive, refreshing and makes a difference when you arrive to a new country.
We checked into Athens backpackers which I would recommend to anyone. We met up with Andy Smith on our first night and so had a good little trio goin on for our Greek travels.
This hostel we all stayed at had a great rooftop bar that overlooks the city. They mix mean drinks and have a cool floor cushions so that you can share shesha and travel stories. We only had two nights in Athens so this is as crazy as we got in the city. Gotta have some stamina for sightseeing ya know! Together (and with some Canidiots*) we walked to the Acropolis. For all the hoo ha it was really disappointing for me. Whoever is running the joint needs to clean it up, put some signs around the place..just something. Of course it is impressive to see such old buildings on top a hill overlooking the whole of Athens. If you cast your mind back to its time its flabbergastering. Its just that after travelling so much and seeing so many well planned out sites, it can be a let down that you can only get information if you pay more for a guide...and I think that is a rort. Same goes with The Temple of Olympus Zeus. There is no landscaper assigned to this area clearly apart from the big crumbling temple, its a wasteland. On the counter of my negative spiel we a) got in to both for free although have no idea why and b) had plenty of fun enjoying modern Athens. Although Athens is quite large, there are some really fantastic squares or plazas surrounding the Acropolis area. We generally just enjoyed walking about the place, eating gyros (new favourite) and cheese pies. These two foods will be new home staples for us. Gyros are just greek style kebabs although they are made with thick pita, meat, salad, hot chips and tatziki and are just plain amazing. Cheese pie is any kind of pastry mixed with any kind of cheese and is perfect for a pastry garbage guts like me. We did indulge in a traditional greek meal although the names escape me now. Just think moussaka and souvlaki. That about sums up our short stay in Athens. From here we took the metro to the harbour at Piraeus and took a ferry to Ios, one of the greek islands. We arrived at night time but could still see that it was going to be good choice to stay for a week. A whole week!! woohoo!! one place for more than 2 days!! Well thats what was goin on in my head anyway..

I think from now on I really need to break up our stories into shorter blogs, so I will let you digest this short story before I begin the next....enjoy. trent and andy