ATHENS

welcomes those who carry those easily accesible cash...

...Sorry, the mess I talked about earlier was just a metaphorical one (seeing that we had arrived in possibly the most horrible city in Europe). I opened my eyes to see what I thought were the results of an early morning bombing raid. I was sadly mistaken though, as Ted told me that this was Athens. Yes, the cradle of Western civilisation and we all looked forward to leaving it as soon as possible. Everyone stepped off the bus with bleary eyes and sore backs, itching to find a place to rest. We were all herded into a nearby Hostel. Tanya and Jacinta found themselves beds, as this was to be the end of their travels, but as for Ted and I, we were off island hopping. We soon discovered however, that the next ferry to Santorini wasn't until 7:30PM, and as it was now 7AM, we had quite a wait on our hands. We (being the cheapskates that we are) decided that to get beds and try to sleep would be out of the question, and that the exploration of this massive ghetto was necessary. Having left our bags in the basement, we set off at about 8, armed with a few more accomplices from the Pink Palace bus. Our travel party consisted of: Ted and I, Tanya, Jacinta, Rochelle (an American girl who like us, wanted to go to Santorini) and another Australian girl who's name I again forget (so I shall call her 'badger'). Badger found a map of Athens and led us through the streets towards the touristy part of town. A long walk through the filth and pollution saw us only half way towards this safe-haven, and we were still amazed at how alien this place was to us. We could no longer rely on our own alphabet to get us out of trouble, and instead chose random directions to wander in. Eventually, the Acropolis came into view, and we began the steep climb towards the summit. About ten minutes later, and the lack of sleep and sugar had taken its toll, and we stopped for a drink at a tourist cafe. yum yum yum! Eventually, we found the Acropolis, and then died of fright when we found out how it would cost for a 'tourist ticket' for the various Athens sights. Our travel cards weren't acceptable as student ID, so that meant no discount. Arsebiscuits. Nevertheless, we managed to spoon out the various vital organs that I had left from this trip, and proceeded to stumble up towards the site, where there was much tomfoolery to be made. Eventually we left, and just slouched in the scorching heat in the middle of the street (mmm mmm mmm, shake your booty to the beat!...sorry). We also adjourned to the temple of Zeus, and the Old Roman stadium (after a 2 hour detour, and the interruption of some poor unsuspecting couple's wedding!). Another slurping round of drinks, and it was time to head back to the hostel. By now, it was about 4:30, and time to think about getting down to the grand harbour of Piraeus. I checked the email, whilst Ted and Tanya became emotional. We gathered our stuff together, and headed towards the nearest metro stop, with Tanya and Jacinta tagging along to wish us farewell at Piraeus itself. We would have left sooner, if it hadn't been for the massed ranks of Panathinaikos Football Club fans that had gathered around, chanting and generally looking menacing. We managed to persuade the girls that there was nothing to be worried about, as there were only Panathinaikos fans there, rather than rioting with others, and that it was perfectly safe. This meant however, that we couldn't use the metro, as it was being used to take fans to the game that evening, and we were prohibited from getting on by wack-happy riot police. We left, thoroughly confused and annoyed (by this time everything was getting a little groggy, having had only about 4 hours sleep in the last 2 nights). However, one fan spotted the Champions League logo on my shirt, and asked me (in English) which club I supported: "Urm...Arsenal...sorry for beating you this season. Please don't spank me." "That's OK man, you're a better team." "What's all this about?" I asked, pointing to the crowds, "Oh, last night Olympiakos won the league, and we're playing them tonight." "That's a pretty quick follow-up game for football" "No, it's not football. It's Basketball." "Ah." I said, a little taken aback at the hooligan attitude of contemporary Greek fans, their hatred of rival teams spreading to different sports. We tried to get a taxi to the port, but to no avail, as all the taxi drivers in the city seemed unwilling to make any money that night, shooing us away with every opportunity. At about 6:30, the situation was getting quite nervous, as we were still miles away from Piraeus, with the ferry leaving in an hour. The crowd eventually dispersed, and we made our way back down to the metro. Hallelujah! No more fans! We were free to make our way to the harbour. We squished our way into a corner of seats, and sweated for the half an hour journey to the other side of the city. We left, bought our tickets to Santorini, and found the boat. I said goodbye to Jacinta and Tanya, and made my way towards the Santorini Express. Ted however seemed uneager to board, instead preferring to say his very long goodbyes to Tanya: "Oh, my darling. I don't want to leave you; you're the only one who truly understands me. "Yeah" Tanya replied "Indeed my fluffy bunnykins! Let us embrace each other and never relinquish our love!" "OK" "Oh the pain of separation!" "Yeah" "Are you coming or not?" I asked him "Alas dear brother, no" he said "I cannot leave my darling smoochy-puss behind! I would sooner die than never see her again!" "Well, I'm off to Santorini. See ya at home" I told him. I boarded, accompanied by Rochelle, and found a good seat in the inner-deck. Ted then approached, a forlorn figure, and explained why he had rejoined me, "She's going back to Australia tomorrow morning, so there seems little point in staying in Athens" and we left it at that.

The Fleamarket...full of...well, fleas

The breakfast club: Jacinta, Badger, Will, Ted, Tanya, Rochelle

Effects of sleep deprovation

Tanya, Ted, Jacinta and Mr Acropolis

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!

The ancient statue of Brucius, amongst the urban sprawl that is Athens

Beckhaaaaaaaaaaaaam! In front of huge Greek flag

"Word to your mother!"

Crowd: "It's behind you!" Will: "Oh no it isn't!"

Hi Ho! The fine foreign legion on parade at the temple of Zeus

Finely tuned athletic machines...

The world's smallest mexican wave

Will and Ted in the city that never...washes

The journey to the southern Greek island was horrific. Still not feeling to good in the botty department, and with both of us suffering from severe lack of rest, and Ted nursing a broken heart, we tried to sleep it all off. It was no good. Clearly this boat had been made out of old vibrators hooked up to sub-woofers, thus making the act of sleep impossible. I interspersed periods of reading with cans of coke and visits to the lavatory, and let me tell you, it ain't fun standing over a hole in the ground for 15-minute periods, hoping for the best! Ted however slept like a baby for at least 2 and a half hours, muttering in his sleep. "...Koala bears...abboes...chuzzwazzas...golas....Crocodile Dundee in LA..."

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On to Santorini...