How Many Americans Does it Take to Navigate Downtown Athens?

Well, you lovely people, the answer to that question would be four.

This morning at about nine o'clock, a good chunk of us ventured to central Athens to do some research on our assigned site reports. It just so happens that this was our first adventure through the big city without the aid of Sir and Lady Kaplan. Mrs. Dr. and Ellie did accompany us to the metro station, but once they reached their stop we were on our own. Like the attentive honors students we are, we decided that splitting up would be a more efficient way of touring the city, so Bri, Corey, Ally-Rey, and I set off towards the Plaka.

I'm pleased to say that we all have our priorities straight, so our first order of business was to find a coffee shop. Thanks to the more relaxed approach Greeks have towards public dining, we were able to sit and enjoy frappe's (and a coke for me) for about an hour.

This concept of sitting and enjoying a single bottle of coke in a Greek restaurant is completely different from what I'm used to. After working in the food business for almost a year, I've become accustomed to the "sit down, eat, and leave" routine. No one want's to be that table that chit-chats for about three hours, nursing one cup of coffee. Here, it's almost like the Greeks expect you to be there for hours on end, just winding down and shooting the breeze. We're pretty much becoming Greek, it's so easy for us to get caught up in a great conversation without a care in the world.

After a much-needed boost of caffeine, we decided to at least get something accomplished. This was when we discovered that we do have the power to navigate ourselves around downtown Athens. Just give us a couple maps, and we're good to go. We may have looked like a group of tourists, but we didn't get lost once, so take THAT, big city.

Anywho, Corey's stop was first on our list, so we immediately sought out the Kapnicarea Monastery. It's this cute little church in the middle of a square in the Plaka. Unfortunately, Bri and I weren't properly dressed to go inside, but the outside was very pretty.


Second on our list was Ally-Rey's National Gardens, a wonderful little nature park in the middle of Athens. It's kind of like an oasis, you don't even notice the city when you're surrounded by a bunch of greenery. We have big plans to take a picnic out there one day and just enjoy the sunshine.

Since we were a bit pressed for time, Ally-Rey and I set off for my site, the Jewish Museum, while Corey and Brianna headed for the Olympian Temple of Zeus. Luckily, the Jewish Museum was wonderfully air-conditioned, giving us a break from the hot sun. 

It was an absolutely beautiful museum, with artifacts that date to before World War I. We had some trouble finding the beginning of the self-tour (elevator issues...long story), but once we figured it out it was pretty self explanatory. There were just so many interesting artifacts on display, and I really enjoyed reading about ancient Jewish customs. I've always found Jewish history fascinating, for some reason, so browsing through such an interesting museum was a great experience.

After a great day in the Plaka, we settled down for some gyros in this little restaurant. You remember the whole "Greek dining is such a relaxing experience" thing? Well, it's not so great when you're trying to get to class on time. We weren't exactly scarfing down our chicken pitas, but in the end our time to get home was cut a little short. We ended up second guessing our decisions on the metro, but it wasn't all that crazy. Eventually, we succeeded in boarding the right subway followed by the right bus home, so all was well. Hopefully our day will end with happy hour at the gelato place. A scoop of ice cream for 85 cents? Uh, yeah!

Alright, folks, this is Maddie, signing off!