Athina Hotel Olympia

... collumns and ruins rising up all around. Dates of 7th century BC are hard to imagine&#8230;700 years before Christ? This is the ancient history he was taught in school?<br><br> Wandering around I tried to imagine the grandure of what is not basically rubble. The temple of Zeus was the most awe inspiring. Huge masses of collumns which had toppled in 500 AD. One collumn has been re-created ...

... that ravaged Greece a few years back. The size of the areas that burned is staggering- we drove for two hours (40+ miles) before exiting the burned areas. We arrived in Andritsena and found most of the people to be unfriendly and the town to lack anything nearly as charming as described in the Fodors guide. Unfortunately, it was too late to drive on, and we had to spend the night there. We had an unpleasant run in with a gross old woman in a disgusting run down hotel. That just added to ...

... or really any information at all as to the motive, but they do know that it is so. <br><br>After we got to wander around the site ourselves, and some people decided to have a foot race in the stadium (the first sport in the Olympic Games) we were taken into the museum and shown the findings and artifacts and what not. We then left Olympia and headed to Mycenae--another 3 or so hour bus ride. Luckily these buses weren't just school buses or something like that, it was a ...

... hotel. Gradually the tavern filled with Russian nationals and we wound up surrounded by loud supporters of the "other" team. But everyone got along. The Russians were obviously happy to see their team win, of course, but the Greece put on a stoic face and proceeded to drown their woes in good company. I returned to the hotel at that point but the girls decided to go taverna-hopping along the waterfront for a ...

... Every piece of scenery here was a work of art. My photo did not do enough justice to the beauty I witnessed. "In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect. Trees can be contorted, bent in weird ways, and they're still beautiful." - Alice Walker The Cathedral at Patra wa s a clear reflection of the religious nature of the Greek society. The ...

... while (because the beers were 9 Euro each-I will never complain about New York again). Then, back to the room and to sleep. We had to get up early the next morning to get to our Ferry. The travel agent and his wife were nice enough to pick us up and take us there. So, Athens was a nice town, but it can be easily done in one or two days. The word on the street is that if you are going to visit Greece at all, it's best to spend time on the islands.

I'm not sure what we were expecting from Athens... Maybe another Rome? I don't know... Anyways, whatever that was wasn't what we met there... An unusual, chaotically beautiful city with this one and only atmosphere that you won't forget that easily... two sides of the city... this dirty and decaying one where you meet the real life of Athens and this ancient touch, the untouchable one... two faces and only one story... here are some pics of this dark side of the city...

... many things were closed over the weekend). I spent one day in Athens touring the major sights and neighborhoods, one day on a nearby island, one day crusing around the coast near the hotel, and one day chilling by the beach/pool at the hotel. We went into Athens on Saturday night to see the Greek Easter festivities, and one night, met up with a friend of Jen's and her Greek friends. The location and the ...

... are M.I.A. eventually we ended up back on deck searchin for a good sleeping location. we figured the landing of the stairs would do well. the constant vibrations made me want to puke.. so i settled for a plastic bench.. passed right hte **** out. We planned for the morning sun.. planning and drinking dont work.. i was awoken by the scoarching blaze of our worst enemy. After strugglin to fight its power for 10 min i jumped ship and ran to the other side of ...

... each ruled by a king - this was a big one. I visited the tomb of the king - and had lots of fun with the echo in the domed chamber. Then toured the walled city, of which little survives except foundations. The museum has a good collection of excavated finds and even decorated plaster work from some of the houses. After tour complete I headed to the coast ...