Athens

When we started dreaming about this year abroad, oh so many months ago now, one of the places Bill really wanted to go was Greece. To me, it seemed overwhelming with options, intimidating in language and culture, and I don’t like kalamata olives very much (but don’t tell Bill).

Then Maggie had a week off school coming, and we started hemming and hawing about where we should go. 9 days is long enough for a proper adventure, early March is still brown and gray in our close environs, and our plane ticket search from Frankfurt to Everywhere revealed cheap tickets to Athens. We’re going to Greece, then!

And we’ve had a super time in Athens so far. A lot of folks and forums warned us about it: loud, dirty, crime-y, gritty, busy, crowded. Yes, it is. But we’ve tried to open up to the city, love her for her who she is, pretend we’re in a romantic comedy opposite her and laugh through the shenanigans. It is an unpretentious place, but proud of its unparalleled history, and beautiful in decay and rejuvenation.

Our first day we just walked, heading vaguely for a park with a playground and marveling along the way. (One day the girls will ask why we stay in apartments so far away from playgrounds. We’ll have to admit we walk to parks on the opposite side of town on purpose so we can sightsee on the way without them noticing.)

Our second day started with an arranged walking tour of a few famous Athens sites. Hoping to grab the kids’ attention a little more, we chose one with a mythological theme. It was awesome! (And I think Maggie impressed our guide with all her mythological knowledge — thank you trashy chapter books about the gods as preteens in school.)

We started at the Temple of Zeus, the site of humanity’s birth, actually.

Then we walked through Hadrian’s Gate up the Acropolis, past the oldest theater in the Western world (thanks, Dionysus, for bringing the fun), to the spot where Athena and Poseidon competed for the city.

There’s a small crater where Poseidon struck the ground with his trident, creating a spring (unfortunately salty), and a tree still stands where Athena gave olives to the people. The other gods voted Athena’s gift the best (duh), so the city is named for her and all the temples at the top of the hill are dedicated to her. And Poseidon’s disappointed wrath was assuaged when Athenian women were denied the right to vote (since the sway vote in the competition was cast by one of those darned female gods).

Yeah, the Parthenon is huge and looks to be the most intense 3-D puzzle imaginable. Archaeologists have been working on it (and correcting their mistakes on it) since the 70s.

We learned a lot more about clever Haphaestus “earning” Aphrodite, gentle Persephone being tricked into living with Hades four months of the year, and Demeter’s celebratory spring season when her daughter returns each time. It was a really fun way to learn about Athens and all these sites!

Without an agenda for the rest of the afternoon, we resorted to our default activity: wander aimlessly. It usually pays off; this was no exception!

When we got to a natural area with zig-zagging trails uphill, we told the girls they could pick as many flowers as they wanted (for once). It distracted them enough to get to the top without complaining or asking why we didn’t take the funicular (which they didn’t know existed anyway)!

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And today we walked through miles and miles of dense city blocks to the port, just sensing how huge Athens is and how different certain pockets of it can feel. Now, island living, here we come!