3/23/2023 0 Comments Ballet EveningLe Corsaire was a beautiful ballet! This time I got to be on the third level in one of the booths and leaned over the railing to watch the show. I had the box to myself and loved it! The orchestrations were beautiful, the sets intricate and colorful, and all of the costumes were unique. There were pirates and beautiful ballet girls. I've never been to a professional dance production and I was so amazed at how much I loved it! It was also sooo nice that I didn't have to worry about any of the translations and could just enjoy the storyline through the dances. I was captivated the whole time!
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3/15/2023 0 Comments SOlo Travel ReflectionI learned a lot about myself during this trip. I feel very confident now in my abilities to travel and to do it solo. However, there were still many lessons I learned from things that didn’t go according to plan.
3/13/2023 0 Comments Temple of Zeus/Hadrian's LibraryThe Temple of Zeus was pretty cool…but also a little underwhelming. A majority of the structure has been lost over time so there’s only a few pillars left you can see and the rest is covered in scaffolding. I had fun walking around in the early morning when no one else was there and played Go The Distance from Hercules. Then I headed off to the Roman Agora, also underwhelming as much of the structures have been lost. It used to be like an outdoor market for people to socialize and trade goods. It was really interesting to walk through, but didn’t warrant too much time. Next I went to Hadrian’s Library which I thought was so cool to see, even with only the back wall of the library left. You can see on the ground some of the outlines for the rooms where students of philosophy and politics came to read and study. It was fun thinking someone like me studying politics and human rights was here doing the same centuries ago.
3/13/2023 0 Comments Birthplace of democracyOn the last day I visited the Ancient Agora, where democracy was birthed. I can’t explain it, but while I was here walking around the grounds I had a chill and eerie sense. I know it’s silly but it felt very right for me to be there to see where they had first developed systems of voting and democracy. I took a long time here walking around and reflecting on what was done here centuries ago. They had a museum within a rebuilt replica structure that had some of the original tokens that were used for voting. I feel so privileged to have had this opportunity to travel here and that historians have taken such good care of history that we can continue to learn. At the top of the agora was a temple that is still in its original standing, though interestingly it’s not one of the main Gods you would think of having their structure last this long/well. Besides the Acropolis, this was my favorite spot to visit, and I felt that deep calling to continue the work I’m doing to help others. 3/12/2023 0 Comments Full Tourist ModeThis is the most geeky tourist I have felt while traveling, but I don’t care. I got up early this morning for my guided tour of the Acropolis, and was handed an iPod with one headphone so that during the tour we could hear the guide even when she was walking ahead of us. This was so cool and I totally get why people do this now! Our group was pretty small with only like 12 people, mostly from America. The group was made up of solo travelers or pairs. Our tour guide’s name was Artemis, and gave an AMAZING tour! She is a wonderful storyteller and got you really into the moment and could picture what people did and looked like back when it was all built and used. I’m so happy that I took pictures the day before, because while the others were focused on photo taking, I could really appreciate the history of what Artemis told us about.
in the theater towards the bottom, the seats have names marked in them for those fancy people that had permanent seats. Each of the chairs have different indent levels from the amount of turnaround from when the chair went to the next person, as they would just resmooth the stone and carve the new name. The ceiling to the Parthenon has been gone for a long time, as groups centuries ago bombed the structure, and with the armies keeping explosive powders in the Parthenon, it all went boom. It was interesting how across from the Acropolis you can see a large tomb marker for a Syrian prince that helped to finance and build a lot of the city. At the end of the tour, half the group split off to continue for a tour of the museum. The rest of us continued on to enjoy the day. Two of the women on tour were nice enough to take some photos of me and I took it of them. That’s the only hard part sometimes about solo travel, is getting photos of you at the places haha. But timed selfies work sometimes too. Overall, the tour was so amazing and I loved getting to dive deep into the history of the Acropolis. 3/12/2023 0 Comments Missed Tour - ProtestCrazy story. So I had a scheduled tour for the Temple of Poseidon. To get to the tour, I had to travel to a separate location where the bus was that would take us to the coast with the temple. It was easier they said for us to just meet them there instead of trying to navigate a large tour bus through the Acropolis area to all the hotels to pick people up, simple enough. I gave myself 2 hours to make it to the place where the meetup was. To start I called an Uber...this took about 20 minutes and then they cancelled. So I was like well there are tons of yellow taxis around, I'll just go grab one. I walk up the street to get a taxi, but they're all full. I finally find one and the guy told to just go take the metro because the pick up location was right where the station was. So I'm like okay fine lemme run over to the station outside the Acropolis, I looked up the route, I had 3 minutes until the metro I needed was coming and then I would have to switch trains. So then I run down, buy a ticket, and just make it onto the metro, but there were ones that were going two different ways and I wasn't sure if I got on the right one. Turns out, I got onto the right one, but it skipped the station I needed to go to. Well shit. So I get off at the next one, figuring I was at least closer and could try to get a taxi from here to the meetup spot. I had about 30 minutes until the meeting time and was 20 minutes away. When I walk up out of the station, I am greeted by a massive group of very angry looking protestors all in black with skulls shirts and huge gas masks. And they're walking right towards where I am. There's tons of police so I walk hastily in the other direction and duck into this fancy looking hotel. I ask them to get me a taxi but they said that because of the protests there were no taxis in the area. I go back outside to see if they're still there, but the protestors were gone. So I decide to go back to the metro to find another way to get there. As I start walking down the steps, my senses are hit with stinging and my eyes start watering. Turns out the protestors went to the metros to protest an accident that happened a week prior. I quickly ran back out as I couldn't handle the pepper spray they did to the station. At this point, I'm not making the tour. I go back to the hotel and ask them to order me a taxi, they told me to wait about 20 minutes for the protests to calm down. So I go wait in their cafe and try to relax and deal with the disappointment of missing my trip. The guide was kind enough understanding the protests and gave me a full refund. It was a very stressful situation, scary seeing protestors in a place I didn't know where I was, but I handled the situation well and got to a safe space. This was the greatest sign for myself that I am ready to be a solo traveler.
3/12/2023 0 Comments Socrates prisonAfter the disaster that left me without a tour for the afternoon I decided to go for a walk through this large garden area and stumbled upon the prison of Socrates. It was really interesting to read about his time here and to be in this space of a great philosopher.
3/11/2023 0 Comments Parthenon & PlackaThis morning I had a planned tour of the Acropolis Museum at 10am. I knew that it was all right around the corner, however when I got to the area I became confused where the lines and ticket offices for everything was. I saw a large line of people outside one area that had a sign with the Acropolis on it, so I went there to get in line to grab my ticket. Well, I got through the line and paid for a ticket, walked through the gates...and turns out I paid for a ticket to the ACROPOLIS not the Acropolis MUSEUM. I missed the time for the museum tour, which luckily had been free, and now had a paid ticket for the Acropolis which I have a tour of tomorrow paid for. So I decided to just go with the flow and walk around the Acropolis and take tons of pictures today so that tomorrow during the tour I don't have to worry about getting pictures I can just enjoy the guides tour (this later turned out so well). The Acropolis area and architecture is breathtaking and feels impossible how long it has all lasted. Visiting Williamsburg in America I've always felt oh this is so old and historical being 200 years old...now being somewhere where things are 2,000+ years old is shocking. I spent a lot of time on this trip in reflection, and just thinking about all the people these past thousands of years who have walked these same steps. I took a lot of time just walking up to the main area and marveled at the Parthenon and views of the ancient city. It felt so crazy that I actually did this solo and am here, I don't think if you asked me in high school that one day I would do half the traveling I've done now I would not think its possible. After a long walk around the Acropolis, I went down and stopped at a mans cart who was selling the gold 'tiaras' and bought one and an arm band. I figured I may as well go full tourist, and I love a gold tiara/hair piece. I grabbed an amazing gyro just outside the Acropolis and had a nice conversation with the waitress. Then I went to the Placka, which is the large area of ancient streets for shopping booths. It was really cool walking around the stores, all with souvenirs made in Greece which they are very proud of and talk about. I went to a clothing store and bought a beautiful white and blue dress that was handmade by the woman who owned the store. It was interesting getting to hear her story and the care she puts into her pieces. I also grabbed a bracelet, I collect one in every country I go to, and a really comfy sweatshirt. I definitely got my steps in and all my shopping out of my system. 3/11/2023 0 Comments Wine Tasting with SomMoleirThis was the most fancy I felt during the trip. Shoutout TripAdvisor because you can find the best trips and tours on here. I signed up for a traditional Greek wine tasting with a sommelier. I got back to my room and dressed up, then headed to the restaurant where I was seated at the top of the restaurant and had a perfect view of the Acropolis. There was one other woman there that was in Greece for work and another young guy traveling on vacation. It was nice there only being three of us, we had good chats the whole tasting about travel and our lives. Over an hour and a half we got to try 9 different wines. The sommelier paced out the selections well and gave nice explanations to what we were trying. Unfortunately we all thought we were going to get a lot more foods, and halfway were only given two tiny pieces of cheese and a mini-pastry. Safe to say, we all got tipsy, but the views were incredible, the wine amazing, and the overall experience so cool!
3/10/2023 0 Comments Arriving in GreeceIt was a bit hectic getting to the flight in time to Greece. We had class an hour and a half before our flights (mine to Athens and Brittany to Switzerland), so we had to hustle to get there. Thankfully I made it to the gate around 5 minutes before boarding haha. Definitely stressful and don't recommend, but it worked and after a quick hour flight I was in Athens!!! The airbnb host had set up a taxi service for me which felt very fancy. This was great because I didn't have to worry about haggling and how to make sure I got into a safe taxi. I was dropped off at my airbnb which was right next to the museum and in front of the Acropolis. It was perfect as I never had to take a taxi and could walk to all of the major places within minutes. This is going to be so fun!!
I start the first day by just walking around the Acropolis area and sitting the Aeropagus Hill overlooking the city. For dinner I stumbled upon these steps street that had tons of outdoor seating restaurants going down the street. I decided on a random one and ordered some tatziki with bread and a gyro for dinner. I can't wait for the rest of the weekend!!! |