Well I would definitely say I have had many once in a lifetime experiences today. I saw one of the wonders of the ancient world. I walked up the acropolis. I shopped in a Greek flea market, and found my fav Greek store: the hippie store. Oh yeah, and I almost got pick pocketed. Will get back to that later.
So we woke up to sunshine, which was amazing. It was t shirt and pants weather, and we were pretty excited about that. We walked from our little hotel through the plaka(old town) and made our way to acropolis hill.
For those who have no idea what the acropolis is(ahem, amie and leah) ill give you the low down: the acropolis was an ancient city centre built on the top of a hill of cliffs. It's over a thousand years old, and there have been pretty intense restoration projects. The shining star of the acropolis is the parthenon, a giant collumned structure made of marble. Just google it.
I'd seen pictures, but I wasn't really prepared for what I saw. This thing is huge. I mean massive. Pictures do it no justice whatsoever. It was just incredible. If you ever have a chance, go see it. But be ready for a little hike. There's a path that goes up through a little forest and then there is the homestretch, a combo of winding paths and stone steps up the cliff to the Parthenon. We sat up there a bit after exploring the buildings to admire all the structures and the view, then peaced it when the crowds started unloading from the tour busses.
We then went to the ancient agora and theatre of Dionysus, part of the ancient town. The agora was ruins of a town that are now overgrown, making it more of a park. It was gorgeous.
We then decided it was time to get our shop on: that meant hitting the monstriaki flea market. The monstriaki flea market is a huge market that runs though a stretch of narrow cobblestoned streets. I found the best store ever: a tiny basement hippie store. Neat clothes, nice prices, and very popular with the Greek teenagers. We spent a few hours there shopping and people watching, and I pretty much loved that.
Interesting experience: so we were walking in a huge clump of people and someone bumped against my back. I felt my backpack slip open, and I reached back and grabbed it, and turned around. A man was pulling his hand back, and disappearing into the crowd, knowing I had caught him. Ali: 1. Pick pocketer: 0. It was still a wake up call though, because although he probably wouldnt have been able to get my purse out of my back pack easily (I had hid it under lots of stuff), it just goes to show how stuff can happen to anyone.
We made our way back to the acropolis and went to the new acropolis museum. It was really cool, they had glass floors that showed the excavations that where happening under the building itself. There where a whole bunch if reconstructed statues and frescos from the acropolis. There where also movies and models detailing the construction of the Parthenon and showing what it once looked like.
Pretty crazy day. Athens is an insane city. It's such a mix of old and new: you see a major road with lots of cars run past an ancient temple in a park. The streets in the plaka and nearby districts are all small, winding, and so typical European. So much history packed into an extremely dynamic place.