The Parthenon is a marvel. There is no other way to put it. Despite undergoimg constant renovations of patch work that involves cranes and other construction equipment, the site is amazing. 400 BC. Now THAT is old. And actually, very quickly created - it took them a measly 15 years to build this icon but still has a design to it that baffles mathmeticians. The perfect temple, as the Greeks found out and demostrated, is built by taking the number of columns on the short side, doubling it, and adding one more for the long side. No one knows why they devised this equation but it works brilliantly. Additionally, none of the columns of the Pantheon are straight, it's all one big optical illusion. Everything actually arches in, even the horizontal pieces. The result is a concave temple, but to the naked eye, it stands perfectly erect.
The organized tour ends with the Parthenon and I head east to stop by the travel agency that has booked the next three days of my Greece trip. They hand over to me three ferry tickets, two hotel vouchers and a partridge in a pear tree. The next morning is going to be an early one, earlier than today. I have a 7:25am ferry which is 30 minutes away by train and I need to be there by 7am so they don't leave without me. Thursday I leave for Naxos, then Friday to Santorini then back to Athens Saturday night before I fly back to Rome on Sunday. Going to be a busy couple of days.
This is what I miss about Lucie and Peter's. Things were so slow there and everything deliberate. You worked when you needed to work, you relaxed when you needed to relax. This whole itinerary of moving about so much and feeling unsafe in Athens has me wanting to pack it all in and head back to the states. But, just as I thought about packing it all in four days into getting to Italy over two months ago, I remind myself that something new, seeing the islands, is just around the corner. I also remember Plaka, the old city of Athens, which I had lunch in my second day. Now that was what I expected Greece to be. Full of quaint roads and shops, people sitting outside enjoying the weather, a generally jolly atmosphere. If I were ever to go back to Athens, I would only stay in Plaka. It has a safe feeling, has lots of options for food and shopping and the merchants there are used to and welcoming to tourists, unlike the area imediately surrounding my hotel.
In preperation for my ferry rides, I make sure to download two new girlie books and one new movie to my iPad. The trip to and from Athens and the islands is easily five or six hours. There are cafès on board, but you are on your own for entertainment.
At 5:45am, well before my alarm is set to go off, I awake (mostly due to going to bed at 9pm again) and set off for the port. It is still pitch black outside and city movement is few and far between. Arriving at the port is completely different though. There are over twenty docks all with commercial ferries going one place or another. My dock is E7 and as I walk up to it, I can't help but feeling like I'm walking up to the Titanic. Now in the "we're all going to die" sense but in the "holy cow" sense. The thing is massive. Again, I don't know what I expected, but this is pretty cool. On board, there are two cafeterias and deck upon deck of cabins and comfy chairs. This is, of course, for first class only, but I'm more than fine sitting out in the open air, huddling into my jacket against the wind. I seem to be growing some of my old Pbiladelphia skin back. As the ferry, which seems like a most inappropriate word to use given it's size, pulls away from the dock, the sun rises over downtown Athens. Today is going to be a good day, I can just feel it.
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