Greece Days 1 & 2: Dublin, Fat Ladies, and Temples

It's the end of our second day in Athens… We just got back from Plaka, kind of the metropolitan area of the Attica region of Athens after a half day tour of Athens today. We’re having a great time so far…

It was somewhat of an adventure getting here. On our flight from Newark to Athens got diverted and had to land in Dublin because someone on our plan got sick and they had to make a medical emergency stop. No idea who it was or what happened to them. Our short stint in Ireland was nice, we spent about an hour and a half on the runway but as we touched down we got to see how green it is, just farmland as far as you can see…

Sidenote, the flight(s) to Greece are EXTREMELY long and tiring and if I ever choose to do that to myself again remind me to get a tranquilizer first.

When we got in yesterday we were extremely tired but we managed to walk around a bit. Our hotel is in Plaka and so there are a lot of shops, cafes, and stands all around us. We bought some imitation Botella paintings by a painter who was shouting out to the people who walked by, “You like fat ladies? I got picture of fat lady!” He also told Hamid that he got a fat black woman to pose nude for him because as he put it, “American women, they are more open. If they like you they say okay. If they don’t they say, fuck you!” They’re really not that great of imitations, but they were cute enough to buy.

We called it a night early though since we were already going on only a few hours of sleep and we knew the tour bus would be here to pick us up at 8am today. We got to see the Temple of Olympian Zeus, which Hamid was apparently so excited to see…

And then we went up to the Acropolis where we saw the Parthenon and the Erechtheion. It was so crowded up there with tourists and the wind was insane. But besides the temples, there is a great view of Athens from up there that is worth almost being knocked down by senior citizens multiple times.

And we’ve learned so far that Greeks can tell that we are Persian, in fact someone told Hamid you look like a Persian, and the reminded us not to forget that we have the blood of Alexander the Great in us. And also, the word for blowdryer is the same in Greece and Farsi – “seshooar”. Very important.

Tonight, after an extremely long nap, we headed out to the surrounding Plaka neighborhood around our hotel. Last night when we walked around it was Sunday night and all the shops were closed. Tonight was a different story. Every little street was lined with cute little shops and restaurants. As we made our way down our little street a man saw that we were debating which street to turn down and he asked us what we were looking for. We told him a restaurant with music and dancing and he not only suggested a place we go but walked us all the way there up to the door. He told us he's been living in Athens for 52 years and this is his favorite restaurant. The restaurant he took us to was Ithaca Restaurant and the owner and waiters there treat you like you are a long lost cousin they have not seen in years. They kiss you they hug you, they don't even let you look at the menu, they ask you what kind of meat you like then they say, "Okay I know. I bring you something special." And they did, they brought Hamid what he called, "The best lamb I have ever had."

And I think that is a good note to end on for tonight!

Love,

Negar and Hamid