Greece

Leaving Istanbul Ataturk Airport took a while – we sat in queue behind many planes to leave, resulting in the plane arriving in Izmir for my connection about 35 minutes late – leaving 30 minutes for the connection. I talked to a flight attendant that assured me it was the same plane heading to the next destination – choosing to ignore the fact that transferring from a domestic flight to an international flight requires going through customs and, apparently in Izmir, outside of the secure area of the airport. So I rode a bus to a door, went up some stairs, ran around quickly following the one sign referring to “transfer passengers,” which pointed to an area within the secure area before exiting the secure area, heading up one story, sprinting a bit, passing through customs, hastily passing through security, and sprinting down to my gate – all to end up seven rows ahead of where I had been seated 30 minutes prior.

I had to put fluids in a bag – a policy that apparently came into effect this year, though the bag was suspiciously large. Claiming to hold only one litre, it easily fit my containers and the mesh bag I use for them, while the North American variety can barely hold the containers alone.
The hostel I had in Greece was great – except for the internet access! The rooms were large, clean, and had private bathrooms, mini fridges, and a stove. I figured our room become some kind of Canadian room – when I arrived there were three people from Kamloops (in two different groups) and by the time I left the room held three folks from Quebec (in two groups), one from Kelowna, myself, and an American. We decided that I counted as Quebecois having been born there and had some conversations in French and English. All the “roomies” were awesome and easily to get along with!

On my first full day in Greece I me up with a professor from Egypt I had met the night before on the hostel’s impressive roof-top patio (which features a great view of the Acropolis and Parthenon), went to the port, and waited on a dock until we caught a ferry to Aegina. The ferry ride on the Mediterranean was spectacular. On Aegina we visited the Temple of Afea then hit up a beach and went for a swim before retiring to a restaurant for some Greek salad. The birds flying along side the ferry were interesting to watch – but it must indicate a lot of food waste becomes available to them as the boats pass.

The next day I took a walking tour then met up with a professor I worked with last semester at the U of A. We wandered through the Acropolis museum then headed to a square for a neat cafe where we had some fruit juice.

In my final full day in Athens I wandered some ruins – the Acropolis first – which was quite impressive, and brought impressive views of the sprawling Athens. Next some ruins to the north east of the Acropolis whose name escapes me at this time, then to the Temple of Zeus, finding I was a few minutes too late to enter – fortunately the view through the fence on the walking tour the day before was quite good.

Three days in Athens I ran in the morning, generally choosing the same pedestrian road wrapping halfway around the Acropolis. Sunday morning I chose to complete the circle, passing around the Acropolis, by the Monument for Forgotten Soldiers, onto the steps in front of the Greek Parliament building, through the National Garden, past a gigantic outdoor theatre, and beside the Temple of Zeus – what a rewarding path it was to follow!

Now off to Dublin! I managed to score an exit row seat on both of my Scandinavian Airlines flights and currently have a ridiculous amount of leg room!