Europe Trip: Day 44, July 3rd

George slept in again, and I went on the computer for a little while. He dropped me off at the metro station, since he had a few things to do, and then agreed to meet me around 6pm that evening.

First I took the metro to the main train station, Larissa station, and bought my train ticket to Thessaloniki for the next day. Then I headed to the Acropolis and checked out the new museum. The Acropolis Museum had just opened the previous week and I had heard about it from Francesca and people had told me that it is supposed to be one of the best in the world. For the first 6 months (until the end of the year) it only costs 1 euro to enter! So I went in, and it was very cool. The entire thing was built over an archeological site, so they have some parts of the floor as glass you can see through to the ruins below. Then there are sections for each different area of the Acropolis, most notably the top floor is dedicated to the Parthenon. Everything was very professional, clean, and had some modern touches. For sure worth a visit.

Next I asked random people on the street how to get to the Plaka, a very famous district in Athens. My favorite was asking a Greek garbage man who was extremely friendly and helpful and had quite decent English -- you never know until you ask! When I finally found it, you notice that the style of the buildings is a bit different, and the streets are much more narrow, too narrow for cars, which is a gift from God in Athens. There are lots of cafes and a couple streets selling a lot of different things. I walked around for a while and stopped to get a drink, and a rest in the shade. I don't think Nordic people are meant to take the Meditteranean sun.

When I tried to leave the Plaka, I got really, really lost. After 30-45 minutes I finally found a street that I recognized on my little map and noticed that it could get me near Syndagma Square. So I followed it and found a pay phone, using my Greek phone card to call George. Unfortunately he didn't pick up, and as I was trying to call the clouds came out and it began to POUR. It was raining cats and dogs, and people were scrambling for cover. It rained for about 30 minutes, enough to create a couple rivers, which was fun to try and cross the street -- you got to test your leaping abilities :)

After the rain stopped I tried calling George again and he picked up, we agreed to meet up in about an hour. I went to the metro station closest to his house, and he and his girlfriend picked me up. The rain and clouds had left, leaving us only with the lovely humidity.

George had promised to drive me to the top of Lycabettus Hill, the highest hill in Athens and with what he told me was the best view in all of Athens. You drive up to a lookout area, and then can climb up some stairs to reach the very top, where there is a cafe and a church. We entered the church (St. George), but not the cafe. The view was very good and it was neat to see where everywhere I had been was with a perspective of the whole city.

Then we went to the same cafe from the day before to wait for the other CouchSurfer to call us about meeting up, but he never called. He had said he might not if he was still busy at work for the night. So when it got dark, I took a few pictures of the Acropolis all lit up, and then we drove back to George's neighborhood. We picked up some gyros and souvlaki again and brought it back to his house, where we ate.

I went to bed somewhat early, since I had to get up at 6:30am to get ready and leave for the train station. Another Couchsurfer was coming, last minute, and took a taxi to get to George's at night, some guy from Hong Kong. So I woke up enough to see him arrive, but didn't talk to him that night.