Jetlag in Athens, Greece

SEPTEMBER 14, 2012

There are some good ways to see Athens, Greece and there are some bad ways.  This was one of the bad ways.

The government building at Syntagma Square

A day earlier, my parents and I packed it up and headed to the airport for what would be their first international flight since my dad returned from the Vietnam War.  We were to fly to Athens, then rent car to head north near the border of Macedonia (F.Y.R.O.M.) in an attempt to find the villages my grandparents were born in.

Arriving in Athens, my mom and I had basically not slept since we woke up in Michigan 20 hours ago.  It was 10:00 a.m. local time.  Long day ahead.

By the time we were through Customs and ventured to the hotel it was 13:00.  Logic would have rationalized a nap.  But who can nap with this kind of nervous energy.  Instead, we ventured out like Yankee zombies and headed to the Acropolis, the token landmark of Athens.

Three things struck me immediately on the taxi ride to the hotel.  The trash is everywhere, everyone is smoking, and there is an incredible amount of graffiti.  Not just run of the mill “J Dogg was here” type graffiti we have in the states.  Rather, there was a huge amount of political statements mixed with some genuinely cool street art.  And it was everywhere on every building, every home, and every monument.

The Acropolis is, of course, known as the famous location of the 1987 Yanni Concert.  I think there were also some famous other Greek events before that.  I’m just to damn jetlagged and smelly to focus on that right now.