Welcome to Athens!

Hello Everyone!

Today was my first full day in Greece and it was absolutely amazing! After spending around 13 hours flying, 3 or 4 hours sleeping, and 2 hours death marching ar

ound Athens, I finally made it. All of the plane rides and airports, and the first afternoon and night in Athens were a bit of a blur, but thankfully I spent today (m

y first full day) exploring once again.

I woke up around 8am ready to face the city and find some sort of adventure. I sure got something when I grabbed my towel, after turning off the shower, only to find a dead bug fall out of it. So, I made sure to check over every inch of this towel befo

re letting come within a foot of my body. This towel looked a bit like a mini cockroach and incredibly creepy but I'll let you decide for yourself how creepy it really would be to find in your bath towel. See for yourself...

But after that, I met up with most of our group to go and find the flea market. I was determined to get there because flea markets are one of my favorite things in the entire world. It is a great way to experience the people, culture, and daily life of wherever you are! On the way there, we found ruins of an ancient Roman bath, 3 or 4 be

autiful churches (one of which was Russian), and a great little bread stand on the side of the road that sold a circle shaped piece of bread covered with sesame seeds (which was delicious). Finally, we arrived at the flea market! As soon as we started walking though I made a new Greek friend who was very friendly and welcoming.

Walking through the flea market, I found beautiful scarves, incredible antique books (that I got for a steal!), and a multitude of culture! It was my favorite part of the day. Our group of about 12 soon narrowed down to 5 as we all got split up in the crowds and shops, and as I stood in awe of the bookstores filled to the ceiling with books dating back to the 1800's. But our small group of 5 eventually found its way to a little caffe just a few blocks outside of the market. I ordered myself a cappuccino and some Neapolitan Spaghetti that was delicious. We all shared a little bit of our orders to experience a little more tasty food and were then on our way.

Then, we made our way back to the apartments to get ready for our movie night. On the way though, we happened upon our own little Greek carnival. We tasted some great snacks (a sweet gelatin-like cake, and some honey and sesame seed covered almonds and peanuts), watched some of the rides, and looked at the shopping stands lining the entrance. Then we wandered into the park next door. We found some beautiful statues and fountains, we found a odd new fruit that was fairly large, green, and squishy, and I picked an orange! Then we headed back to the apartments for real.

The entire group met up to watch the movie Agora. It was a great movie and gave us great insight on culture, ways of life, and religion in the 4th century CE. The hard part though was figuring out the volume on the television and the heat of the room!

After the movie we all went out for a welcome dinner and tried a bunch of Greeks appetizers, dinners, and deserts. My favorite was the pork made with honey and thyme. And at the end of the meal, we got a small surprise which was shots of a cinnamon flavored Greek liquor. It is only in Greece and only by one company and it was delicious. I liked it much better while sipping it though because you really get the cinnamon flavors and because when I drank the last part of it as a shot, it was much too much for me to handle. I then took a picture with the brother and sister that own the restaurant and we left for the apartments once again.

I would say that, overall, I found and explored quite a bit, and my first full day in Athens was full of adventures!

Oh no. I Just found another big cockroach like thing in our bathroom......