Today I went to see the temple of Zeus and The Panathenaic Stadium. Two more sights of wonder. All the walking is brutal on my leg but it's difficult to keep my enthusiasm level in check.
Years ago the Temple of Zeus housed the statue of Zeus which was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
The Panathenaic Stadium is built entirely of white marble and hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896.
I walked around the base of the stadium today then across the stadium field. As I made this walk I tried to imagine what it might have been like for an athlete all those years ago when the Olympic games first began.
Today I overheard a couple different groups of people talking about having to rush from one exhibit to the next and then they had to rush to the airport. Rush through the vacation. When do you get to stop and smell the roses. When do they stop and enjoy their trip? Afterwards?
This place is magical.
It is fantastic. I read about this in school years ago. I watched a documentary about it on TV. Today I walked around it in awe. Even in it’s present state the temple of an amazing sight. How I would love to have seen it before it fell into ruin and became the victim of an earth quake. Who knows, maybe I did. Maybe in a past life I was here?
The Panathenaic Stadium. This is where the first Olympic Games were held and where the first Marathon race in the Olympics ended and won by a greek runner. The crowd was said to have erupted like a volcano when the greek athlete crossed the finish line in the stadium. Before the Olympics this is where Greek athletes competed for millennia.
After today’s visit to the temple of Zeus and marathon Stadium I headed down the street to look for another backpack. I need a larger backpack. I asked someone on the street about this and got some advice. Then the nice person invited me to the bar he worked at. I had a uzo and OJ, met a girl and she asked me if I would buy her a drink. “sure” why not. After I got the bill I realized I’d been skinned out of some money, 190 euros. I wanted to get sick right there in the bar. “Welcome to Greece” I thought. The girl told me she wanted to come over to my hotel after work. I thought, maybe if she come over and we end up in bed it will make the loss of the 190 euros a bit more palatable.
She never came and the loss of 190 euros still stings.
Today was perfect weather. It must have been eighty degrees outside. No clouds. Very little wind. I’m sitting out front of the hotel right now. I’ve had some conversation with a couple other hotel guests, an architecture student from Boston and a rabbi from New Jersey.
It’s only taken a couple of days and I’ve become somewhat comfortable with the train system in Athens. 1.40 Euros will get you anywhere except the airport. I think the train going to the airport is a little more expensive.
So many of the Greeks in Athens speak English and that makes this place much more comfortable to be in, unlike Thailand. In Greece, most everyone under the age of thirty speak some English. People fifty and over speak very little if any English. It’s my understanding most of the younger generation here in Greece speak three languages.
Things making traveling easier:
1. Don’t be in a rush. Don’t vacation in a rush and this is what I have seen and heard, people rushing from place to place.
2. Having courage to go out and explore
3. The trains and buses are a much cheaper way to travel instead of using taxi’s
4. Make everything an adventure
Observation:
I’ve noticed a lot of tall women here, really tall. I have the impression they are not tourist. These really tall women still wear high heals. I was told once by a six foot girl wearing high heals while at a party “it’s a girls prerogative to wear heals. I agree, it absolutely is but if you are looking for a date I’d rethink the heels.
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