Athens - I See, I Go, I Terkezut

Hehehhe..... cool title huh! Ala ala SPARTAN gitus!

I have been telling everyone this story (in the office je pun), now let me story my blogger friends pulak.

Upon arrival in the Athens airport, we obviously were very extremely excited (biasa lar kan), as we exited the immigration, I realised the airport was new (10 years old) but wasn't as impressive as those of Bangkok, Hong Kong or even our's. Rasa strange sesangat masa tuh sebab dok ingat it will be like Paris or Amsterdam nye airport.

We took our luggage and immediate looked for the tourist information counter, this is a standard procedure for all traveler I assume; getting our barring right from the arrival point. We found one and asked for the way to get to the city ie the cheapest and fastest way (biasa ler tuh kan). Obviously like most country, train would be the absolute best. This is when I found out that there was a taxi strike in the city (ah..... dah sudah aku pikiq, leceh nih). Putting our best foot forward we head to the city.

As the train 'choo-choo-ed' away, I noticed the graffiti on left and right side of the track; wahhh... masa nih memang rasa tak sedap ati jek. I always feel (personally), if a country background is full of graffiti, it is a sign of danger - probably high unemployment rate, lots of vandalisme or something along that line. Iffy feeling rushed in... isk isk isk! Rasa cam permanently dalam area Chow Kit terus menerus.

Upon reaching our final Metro stop, we head upwards (out of the Subway) for civilization & fresh air (lama sangat dalam train - 45mins), the VERY first thing we saw was >>> ZARA SHOP! Yeay!!! Happy giler.... that was until we saw the surrounding area, FRU or police were everywhere... awat pulak nih (yang jenis pegang senapang nye tuh, suspense giler negara nih).

But nothing happened to us lar, we arrived hotel safe & sound... we brush the worries aside and buat derk jek and tito. Konon konon tadi tuh mimpis gitus...

My hotel is located behind the Fashion Hotel (the blue building pic - above) in Omonia Square, there's McDonald, KFC, Hondus Shopping Mall and plenty of cafes in this area, overall it's quite strategic.

We took Hop-On Hop Off as we feel this is the most convenience way, as some places are/might not be accessible. But the coverage for this pun tak seterror the merror as few countries we tried before but still ok larr.... no regrets.

The 2nd day we took the HoHo, guess what happened? The bus have to detour due to student strike. YUP! Kid you not, we manage to take a pic kot tada picaya.

During the rides I saw this, first thought "mintak mintak ler bus HoHo nih berenti kat sini" but nooooooo... hence I didn't buy any for Chawan. Sorry!

In one of my walk at the port, we saw this, ya allah... comei nye. never seen a Piaggio wearing a hoodie before.... hehhehe... cam Doraemon.

I saw this shop from afar at Monastiraki area, rasa cam lawa; leh buat souvenir permanent tuh. But what was amazing is that...

....it's hand painted, this painting style is popular in Rhodes apparently, cantek lar gak, so beli gak ler yang sedang nye size; warna apple green..... *glee*.

Seriously... Anyone knows how to play backgammon? One game I never ever understooded.

Terkezut dak? Look like those of Turkey's souvenirs right? In Turkey it is suppose to wade of evil. But in Greece, it symbolizes Athena's owl; a sign of knowledge. Lerr... cam tuh ler pulak.

Kat baju pun owl gak, sure my sis love it.

My sister asked me to buy this but the shop was closed, I took this pic from the glass window. Sorry!

Cute huh!

This is scary for me.... reminded me of the wives from Van Helsing....*seram*

For those who wanted to stay on Syntagma Square... this is the best I saw ler - Electra Hotel... look reasonable, not sure of the price though.

Recycle!

And RECYCLE!

and AGAIN!

This is a shocker.... ini macam pun boleh park kah?

Olskool!

Tram! I missed this mode... arghh....!

The last time I saw a similar was in Rome... ehehhe... sooo LOIKE!

Poseidon, where is Atlantis?

Where's the other 276 other SPARTAN? CAKAAAAAP!

Rapunzel sesat! Hahhaha.... Rapunzel with NO GPS.

Zeus is sleepy, nite nite..... Day 3 is on Monastiraki & ports :)

Tunggu.....

Hyperlink credit : TripAdvisor, Athens Electra Hotel

Day 2 | Visiting Acropolis

Ah.... This is the joke that I have been telling my friend when he said "what's up there to see in Acropolis, I said " Atas tuh ada HQ polis Greece, kalau you nak tau - dah dok kat situ sejak few thousand years ago". Basically I told him that there's a Greece police HQ since few thousand years ago, Hhahahha...... Kid you not buddy! :P

Anyway, with abit of help from Mr. Google, we found out that the tix cost us EU$12/=, ahhhh....... the good thing about Greece is that..... it's EU$2/= per site, meaning...... meaning..... meaning... (sure dah bengang with my suspense by now, MUAHHAHHA.... *evil laugh nih*).... it's only EU$2 for Acropolis site, get it? NOOOOO??? Ahh.... let me explain furrrrtheerrrr..... (sebab initially I pun kureeeng paham).

Acropolis site cost me ONLY EU$2/=, but as you know there are few ancient ruin sites in Athens itself; THUUUUUUUS, per site cost ONLY EU$2/=, making a total of 6 sites visit ie EU$12/= tix(s) cost. GILER MURAH! CHEAP to the MAX! Shh..... I shouldn't be shouting about this, they might increase the price once the know they under charge us *wink wink*. Reason being, I remembered that I paid a bomb for Taj Mahal (orang yang baru balik tuh, please vouch for me here!), the Al-Hambra in Andalucia, Great Wall of China etc etc... Ini sudah baguuus....

The other thing that I find amazing is - post office located everywhere (kat ruin kat kaki bukit pun ada?!??! Ish! Bior benor), and this one is JUST next to the tix counter (boy! They sure love letter writing huh! Oldskol nye); and no worries, brochures are given there too (FREE). Just an advice, do read before going to Greece as the history goes a very loooong way; you get "blurred" half way when one trying to comprehend.

OK! Word of caution, please PLEASE wear you BESTEST walking shoe, do not and I repeat DO NOT buy a new shoe and attempt to wear for the first time in Greece! Get it?! Why? Because it’s a walking country, the best way to discover Athens is walk, walk and walk, by the way, did I say walk just now? Well…. W.A.L.K!! Comprende?

Am sure you have seen some pics that Acropolis is situated on top of a hill, hence, CLIMB you must (or crawl, whichever suits one better). Siap ko!

*Chawana, Travel Todd you memang akin menghadapi cabaran disini ler. As I go on, I will share other places’ road/walkway as well yek, so that you can gauge*

This one is Theatre or Odeon of Herodes Atticus (I’ve hyper link Mr. Wikipedia as well for your reading pleasure), what happen is that there was a concert going the same night, apparently the open this site for shows…. But obviously we are too late to book any lar, it was a soprano singer or something kot. With the ambience & acoustic, I foresee it’ll be great! This theatre is still being use till todate, it can fit 5,000pax those days, now? Don’t know, lesser kua as some “sits” might not be able to be sat.

I bet everyone knows this, or at least heard of this name before. Temple of Athena Nike. HAAAA!!!! Nike shoe factory is here if you want to, kalau korang nak tau…. AHHAHAHHAH….. Nike meant Victory, so; I guess that’s how the brand gotten it’s name. Not sure whether the designer/owner was Greek though. Anyway, those days the citizens worshiped the goddess in hope of a prosperous outcome in the long war fought on land and sea against the Spartans and their allies.

The semut (ants) of human, listening to their respective tour guides, we all do eves drop here and there :)

Behind this pillars, are the same - Temple of Athena Nike.

And now, hidden behind the columns, let me introduce to you.... The Parthenon!

The Theatre of Dionysus pulak is a huge open-air theatre in early Athens - not so well preserved (must be the war & earth quakes that collapse some part of it). Stated that It was used for festivals in honor of the god Dionysus ie the god of wine and the patron of drama. Konon nye able to hold up to 25,000 pax, AND ALL of them able to hear clearly what was being said on stage WITH speakers and amplifier. Woo yoooo…. Gempak dari MPO kite tuh…

FAMOUS, ICONIC, UNESCO = Parthenon. The Parthenon is dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena, whom the people of Athens considered their virgin patron. The one in the picture is NOT the Greek goddess, but if you insist- FINE! I can be one I suppose. MUAHHAHAHHA *cheeky*

The Greek Ministry of Culture is currently carrying out a program of selective restoration and reconstruction to ensure the stability of the partially ruined structure. There you go, that says it all! Apparently the this repair works has been going on for decade(s) (and more to come) to finish thus don’t rush youself there. Hehehe…

The Corinthian pillars or column, it's a marvel in those days.

Chak!!!

Erechtheion… that’s a mouth full huh! This a smaller complex with porch and columns known as the famous "Porch of the Maidens" for a simple reason as you can see - 6 draped female figures (caryatids) as supporting columns, each sculpted in a manner different.

The picture from afar, as I said, the complex is very small versus the rest.

Heading back and down to Plaka area, at that point we didn't know where we were heading, we just decide to follow out instint, tau tau sampai Plaka.... rasa pandai ler pulak.

I think they must be BORED waiting for other tour members, what else better to do, play a game of Chess. Next time I should bring a portable one, pandai gak diarang nih. Hahhaha....

Here’s the thing, did you notice that most of the temples/statue are dedicated to female… hemm… GURL POWER! Apa cite skarang man out there?! Hehehe….

By the way, I have always personally felt that the God & Goddess are mythical or folklore, but being there kinda acknowledge the existing of them in a weird way. Hemmm…. But I still have the doubt, anyone care to enlighten me? Are they real? Is there God, Goddess, Hercules? Or Atlantis?

Oh aside from this, normally the country in Europe that I have traveled before are chilly during this month of the year (even New Zealand which supposedly be entering summer); but Greece being in Mediterranean Sea kinda spells differently, it is still hot; BUT NOT that HOT lar. I didn’t even need to wear my new white light dawn jacket - UPSET!!! I bought 4 new jackets ok! F.O.U.R! *bawak 1 je ler…, idak ler I segiler itu nak bawak sampai 4*

OK! Let’s stop here, tomorrow I share on my first hand impression on Athens, the riot and the multiple strikes ok!

Till then.. Parakalo!

Hyperlink credit : Wikipedia, in2greece, mlahanas

Day 1 | KL > Doha > Athens (Woo hooo!!!)

First leg of the journey.... jeng jeng jeng.... this has always been the MOST exciting part of all trips, it's like - all your planning is becoming a reality.... dup dup dup (heart beating).

It was a 4-4.30 hours journey if I can remember correctly. All I can rknow is that I kept looking at the map and counting down... to a point I didn't watch ANY of the inflight movie. BADOH!

The face before all KONG-ED out... hehehhe... I thought I have better take a pic first before I lose my sanity to the excitement. Tangkap masa rasa MASIH glam.... (amboi Cik Kiah!).

Don't ask me to translate ok, everytime it reaches this screen I'll be cursing.... ENGLISH PLEASE!!!! ARGHHH...... Are they playing me out... Isk Isk Isk!

You SEE that! Did you SEE THAT! You saw RIIIIGHT!!!
YES! YES! YES!!! Athens, Santorini & Mykonos.... hemm.... it's kinda far huh! But it's worth it!
YEAY!!!! After 4 years of hoping & dreaming.... am reachiiiiiiiiiiiing...... Hi guys!

I can't believe this, I am IN GREECE!!!

Take NOTE! Look at their letters..... now I can OFFICIALLY say the ever so famous phrase :- "this is soooo GREEK to me!" Hahhahahha.....

That was our joke the whole trip. At the third last day there, I learnt the word "Thank You" - FINALLY. It's EFCHARISTO! Seksa nye nak sebut, why can't it be as simple as Xie Xie, or Merci, or Gracie. Sighh..... apa apa larr...

Am in the city... *yes!*, NOW it felt even more REAL! Like really REAL REAL, you know what I mean right? RIIIIIIIGHT?!??! (just say yes, it'll make me feel better, muhahahah.... seeking attention AND agreement). So next thing I need to do... during the night is.... :

1. Make sure handphone is fully charged
2. Canon S95 is FULLY FULLY charged
3. SPARE camera battery is FULLY charged AS WELL (kiasu nih)
4. Prepare my attire for tomorrow, base on place to visit (after all, I need to make sure that my clothes doesn't clash with the environment.... and I look fantabulous mar! Hehehhe VAIN-GLORIOUS GURLLLL!)

It's fast coming to dust and am so excited... even though the room was so-so only. After all, not that I have the money to pay at The Four Season Hotel right (they don't have one here anyway, ehhehehe.....). I figure, since I will be spending most of the day light outside, it's pointless to spend so much dollars on fancy hotel, to me; as long as it is clean and decent AND ofcos near central area where it's minimal cost to travel, am sooooooo FINE! Simple girl I am - I have to say that (PERASAN to the max nih!). Agree hor?

Let's go to sleep first, I have a BIG FAT GREEK DAY ahead tomorrow!

:)