ATHENS

A panorama view of Athens with the foreground boasting ancient Greek ruins was truly an unforgettable experience. Forget the negatives about doing extremely touristy activities, this is something you should see when visiting Athens. They are touristy for a reason.

I had planned my trip to Greece far in advance. It was one of those “eff it” decisions where I wasn’t even 100% sure I would be able to take the trip. At the time that I booked the trip, I was still training for my chance at playing in the NFL. My old roommate and one of my best friends, Cam Saffle, was planning a Greece trip with his girlfriend, Amaryllis, and Cam’s brother, brother’s girlfriend, and one of Amaryllis’ friends. Amaryllis was born and raised in Athens, so she was going to be our local tour guide, which made me even more excited to go. While Cam and I roomed at Cal and played football together, we always talked about going on travel adventures together. This was going to be the first really big one. We had done a few other trips already, but none were as big as going across the country and then even further across the Atlantic, and even more so across Europe. They were planning on going in early July, which was perfect, because if I did make an NFL team, their time off would be in July according to some of my old teammates who were already in the NFL. I went ahead and booked it and hoped that everything would work out.

Unfortunately, my NFL dreams did not come to fruition, but it allowed me to set my focus on my passions for travel. I lost about 70 pounds from my [American] football playing weight and was ready to gain it all back in the form of Greek yogurt and sea food. At this point, I had only been to Europe once in my life for a Spring Break trip to Zagreb, Croatia a few years prior. I was always a tropical island boy, but after that experience, my fascination with Europe exploded. I had always had a distant curiosity about Europe since I hadn’t been there, but I was very in touch with my family history dating back to when my family members immigrated from France and Germany in the late 1600s. In addition, I absolutely adore Italian food. I mean a good cream sauce pasta with maybe some truffle and mushrooms, and I will do whatever you want. I have a theory that I must be part Italian somehow.

I had my trip perfectly planned out. First, I flew from San Francisco out to London where I had a strategic seven-hour layover and was able to take the train into the city and walk around for several hours before my flight to Athens. I’ll save the details for another journal entry, but for my first time in London, I left extremely impressed and couldn’t wait to get back. I don’t even necessarily like big cities like that either. It was incredible and now I go out of my way to plan extra-long layovers in cities so that I can go out and explore them. It makes it feel like you get an entire second trip inside your actual trip. Tripception. After London, I arrived in Athens at the ripe hour of 1:00 AM thanks to some slight delays. When I finally got my taxi and arrived at my hotel, I was anything but tired. I was so excited for my first day back in Europe. I planned to wake up super early and get started. Cam and Amaryllis were busy for most of the next day, so I was on my own for the earlier part of it. I tossed and turned and just simply could not sleep. The harder I tried to fall asleep, the further I actually got. Minutes turned into hours and the next thing I knew, it was 5:00 AM. I still could not fall asleep and eventually around 6:00 AM, I gave up and started getting dressed and stretching.

I made my way downstairs and was the first one to the delicious breakfast spread. After stuffing my face with assorted meats, fruits, and a vat of Greek yogurt and honey (literally an insane combo), I called my Uber and hit the road. I like taking Ubers when I can because there is no uncertainty or haggling on the prices. What it says is what you pay… or so I hoped. While sitting in the car, I was genuinely nervous because my driver, who was a grizzly middle-aged man spoke zero English and I didn’t have any cash on me after the taxi driver charged me a disgusting amount from the airport. My Uber driver started trying to talk to me in Greek and I sat there like an idiot not knowing what to do. I kept telling him, “I’m sorry, sir. I don’t know what you are saying.” Clearly pissed off, he shouted, “MONEY! MONEY!” I instantly started sweating. I really really really hoped that Uber worked the same in Greece as it did in California. Luckily when we arrived, everything went through, and I could finally let out the breath I was holding.

I was dropped off east of Athens in the hills where I wanted to see the Monasteries. The police had blocked off the road to vehicles, so I asked if I was permitted to walk, and they said that I could. I happily started my walk up the hills. Doing my incline treadmill walking workouts to lose my football weight really came in handy here. When I finally got up to the monasteries, it felt a little strange because I was literally the only person up there. I did not see a single person. I wanted to go into the monastery because there was a certain view I wanted to see. It looked so cool in pictures, but unfortunately, I just could not find my way in. It was totally locked up. On the bright side, the outside courtyards were stunning and were still very worth the trek up there.

After probably an hour or so of mindlessly wandering around, I finally saw my first person. She was a younger lady and walked up looking at me like I was some kind of idiot. Thankfully, she spoke English because she asked what I was doing up there and when I responded that I was taking in the sights of the monastery, she said I needed to head back down the hill as quickly as possible. There was a super high-level fire hazard and at any moment, they could fly in helicopters and drop tanks of water on me from several hundred feet up without knowing I was there. I promptly made my way back down the hills and proceeded on my way. It was funny walking past the police again, because they were the ones who told me I was good to walk up there. Maybe they wanted to mess with me, but something tells me they were not supposed to let me walk back there.

Instead of getting an Uber into the heart of Athens, I decided to get my steps in and walk. Feel free to map it in Google Maps, but keep in mind that this was not close at all. During my three-hour hike back into Athens, I passed some really cool sights. I passed right by the Panathenaic Stadium which hosted the first modern Olympic games in 1896, passed by the Temple of Zeus, and Hadrian’s Gate, before finally making my first stop of the day. I grabbed some Greek pastries from a local bakery and plopped down in the shade. I regretted taking my entire camera backpack with me instead of just taking my camera and extra battery. It would’ve made things much easier on my back. After a solid rest, I continued on to the Acropolis. After standing in line for a while with a family who was on their way to see their son play a basketball tournament in Israel, I hiked some more up to the Acropolis. I must say that this was the toughest part of the day. It was steep, hot, and my body was already defeated from walking so much before. Oh yeah, I also had pulled an all-nighter. Zero hours of sleep. I was running on Greek yogurt and honey at this point. After crawling to the top, I was in awe at the sights. A panorama view of Athens with the foreground boasting ancient Greek ruins was truly an unforgettable experience. Forget the negatives about doing extremely touristy activities, this is something you should see when visiting Athens. They are touristy for a reason. It was such a surreal experience for me to see things that old, because they are so old that it doesn’t even seem real. To me, medieval architecture almost seems older because we can relate to it easier. It’s harder to relate to some crumbling columns. It seemed like it belonged on a Hercules ride at Disneyland or something. One of my favorite things from the Acropolis, though, was seeing The Odeon of Herodes Atticus, an ancient theater right next to it. That thing is flat out sick. It reminded me a lot of the Greek Theater in Berkeley where I went to school at, but just eons older. I was imagining what kinds of incredible performances they showed there. My other favorite thing was The Erechtheion with its statues of women used as the pillars for it. Very exquisite and unique piece of architecture. I thought the Acropolis was so cool that I even took a selfie up there for the memories. I literally never do that, so that’s how cool I thought it was.

After finally making it down from the Acropolis, I met up with Cam and Amaryllis. We were going to be going to Amaryllis’ parents’ house where her mom was going to cook us all an authentic Greek feast. I told them that I was literally about to keel over and die and that I really needed a nap. Typically, this would be the last thing I would do on a trip like this. I am “sleep when you’re dead” kind of guy. However, considering that I was about to die, I suppose it was justifiable. I headed back to the hotel, showered, and passed out for a few hours.

When I awoke from my brief hibernation, I changed and caught my Uber to Amaryllis’ house. It was an absolutely gorgeous home with lovely and thoughtful décor. The house smelled incredible already with the feast having been prepared throughout the day. We all gathered at the table in the backyard, and they laid the spread in front of us. It was all sorts of Greek dishes and treats, most of which I didn’t even know the names of. However you pronounce them, they sure were delicious. Everything tasted so fresh. The assortment included dishes such as dolmas, fish roe salad, tomatoes stuffed with feta cheese, fava, and a glass of Mastika to wash it down. With a full belly and surrounded by lovely company, I sat back in my chair under the stars and thought how this first day couldn’t have been any better.

We thanked Amaryllis’ parents for their hospitality and left to go to sleep so that we could attack the next day with great energy as we were leaving for Mykonos the following morning. Back at the hotel, very satisfied, comfortable, and sleepy, I threw on some random black and white Greek soap opera and quickly dozed off to dreamland.