Athens

FINALLY....we arrived in Athens where we found out there were no more ferries to the islands. At this point, we were pretty afraid (after Mum's numerous emails about ATHENS RIOTING!!!!) Haha thanks for looking out Mum! But it was actually alright! We found a hostel...Hotel Zeus, and made our way out to see the Acropolis at night! We knew immediately when we were close because all of a sudden, there was outdoor cafe after cafe and music and tourist shops everywhere! We got our first gyro and WOW it was incredible!!! Way too good....and way to hard to resist! After dinner we started our way up the hill to see the Acropolis...unfortunately it was closed off at some point, but it looked nice all lit up!

On our walk back to the hostel, we only knew one way to go, but it was a BAD way! As if we crossed an imaginary line and without warning, we went from the nice cafe area to the slums. The music was gone, it was dark, there was trash everywhere, and tons of people sitting around on the streets. We were still with Zlatan, so even with 2 guys by my side, we were all quite scared. We tried to get out of it, but every corner we turned gave us a worse result. At one point...we looked ahead and said we are NOT going that way, so cut through a building when a mob of them came around the corner...im clutching my bag for dear life and walking as fast as i can. One of the locals says so us..."GO...before they come for you" or something to that effect and it scared the daylights out of us. We start almost running ... passed some prostitutes..when poof...our hostel is right there...in the worst part of town! It was safe inside though and i sighed with relief when we got inside! There were a couple girls in there using the computers and immediately said "You went left didn't you..we made the same mistake last night"....Thanks for the warning reception man!!

The next morning Brad and i parted ways with Zlatan and even though a bit disappointed to leave without seeing the Acropolis...mostly happy to leave Athens! We hopped on a ferry to Santorini, and being 14 hours, decided to take a nice nap on the benches...broke out our mats and everything! Then we spent the rest of our time playing Rummikub and reading our crazy book about junkies in Dublin!