"I wish you could know what it means to be me,
Then you'd see and agree that every man should be free."
Those were the words (possibly Nina Simone's?) that were playing in my head as the airport bus took me to the centre of Athens. I was on the move again, I had some moneys, I'd recently seen family and friends and I was pretty damn happy.
So now I begin the next leg of my journey: a sprint through Europe overland to get to Spain. My aim is Spain mainly without planes. This isn't a Europe trip, but just a long journey. Any sightseeing I do is purely incidental and coincidental (if that's a possibility). I think this is my favourite kind of travel - a mission.
I arrived in Athens at dusk and it's beautiful. Loads going on through tiny little streets and mad ruins dotted around the landscape. It's awesome. I chatted with my new roommates (suddenly I'm surrounded by Australian backpackers, as well as American, Canadian and English) then explored the place.
There's a lot of touts in Athens hassling you to rip you off. I don't like it because they don't smile. At least in Asia they have the decency to be friendly when they fleece you. Here they're sour faced and act like it's a real hardship for them.
I visited the Acropolis and wandered all around the ruins. It truly is brilliant. Larger than I imagined, and busier. I started off trying to take photos with nobody in them, but soon gave up and tried to take photos with as many people in as possible.
I also witnessed the changing of the gay guards, and visited the Temple Of Olympian Zeus remains. Basically everything in this country is remains. Apparently there's more of Greece in the British Museum than there is here. I doubt that's true but it's an interesting theory.
People kept telling me I had to visit the islands, and since there was so way I was going to I set out to leave Greece as soon as possible. I made an outrageous conclusion about Greece on my first day, and that made me content with leaving so soon. I decided that Greece is totally past its prime...like a bitter old man...and that's why everyone is so miserable here. I've started being over the top friendly to every Greek I deal with to see if I can crack a smile. Some of them eventually do, possibly because they think I'm retarded. It's funny.
So I caught a train to Patra, the main port to get to Italy. I thought about spending some time here, and maybe heading down to Olympia. But I reminded myself that this isn't my Europe holiday, and there was a boat leaving shortly so I just bought an overnight ticket to Italy. Now I'm using free internet in the tourist office. It's bizarre to think I only arrived a couple of days ago and now I'm leaving Greece. I don't feel bad...I'll be back to do it properly. The good things in this country have been ruins for thousands of years. They're not going anywhere.
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