Onwards to the birthplace of Democracy, Socrates.....and toga parties

On my flight to Athens I began to think to myself, what was I hoping for on the next leg of my trip? Rome was an awesome city, beautiful in many ways and I likely could have stayed over a week there easily if I had the time and money. But I didn't, so Athens it was.

I did however, find that I had a bit of a boring time in Rome to be honest. While the city itself was great, I felt that I needed a bit more pizzazz, a bit more of that randomness that you hope to find when you embark on a travelling adventure. Well, that was exactly what I got.

After arriving in the Athens airport around midnight I immediately had a problem to solve. The airport is located about 30 minutes outside the city and I arrived directly after the very last metro stopped running. Fear not though, there was a bus still running to the city centre and I quickly hopped on that.

The bus was packed to the brim with backpacks so I spent a good part of the ride holding one up due to the crazy driving of the driver. While doing so and reading my trusty Let's Go Europe handbook, the gentleman in front of me noticed that I was reading about the island he lived on and we struck up a conversation. Turned out his father had worked for the Greek embassy and he had lived in Canada for 4 years. Good start, I thought to myself.

After saying goodbye to my new Greek friend I embarked on the challenge of finding my hostel at midnight on the dark, mysterious and possibly dangerous Athens streets (ok, Im building this up just a little bit lol). While looking at my map a guy with an Italia shirt asked me if I spoke English. Yes, I answered. He asked me if I knew where to go to see Athens at night. I said, well, why not check out the acropolis, Im headed that way. While normally meeting a random stranger in a darkened alley would be considered dangerous, I figured that he looked harmless enough. So after robbing me of all my money....(just joshing that never happened, knock on wood that it wont) me and Guiseppe (need some Italian help on that name) ended up seeing a bunch of sites and got to know each other. We walked the city for a couple hours talking about our countries, cities and of course, what all guys like to ask each other, what the girls look like at home lol. More randomness, even better I thought.

The next day I decided to check out the Acropolis. On my way I ran into a Canadian couple from Edmonton at a restaurant, and we decided to check out the Acropolis together. Even more randomness, I love it. The Acropolis is a magnificent ruin, and probably my favourite of any that Ive seen so far on this trip. We walked around the area for a few hours and then parted ways where sadly I made my way back to my hostel, alone, sweaty from the heat, and back to my..........rooftop patio bar overlooking the acropolis booyah!

That night and the next night I spent getting to know my fellow backpackers on a rooftop bar, with 1 euro beers, overlooking the acropolis. Not to mention at night we ended up all going up to the rock right next to it and watched the skyline while drinking our heinekens and just chillin out. Not too shabby at all I must say.

After four nights in Athens I was definitely ready to leave the city. I had a lot of fun there but to be honest Athens isnt all that nice. Once you get past the acropolis most of the ruins are fairly wasted away and the city isnt all that pretty. So on my fifth day I had my bus booked to head up to Corfu.

Well, after a 10 hour overnight ride where I continually switched positions every five minutes, was freezing due to the air conditioner blasting in my face, and after being woken up every 2 hours for bus stops and ferries, I was in Corfu.

In Corfu my destination was the backpackers world famous (I should say infamous) hostel, the Pink Palace. Now everyone who knows anything about the Pink Palace knows that people go there to do one thing: Party. And thats exactly what I did. On my first day I rented four wheelers with a couple of people I met on the bus and we checked out some more beaches in Corfu. I later participated in a flip cup tournament that we brutally lost because one of our teammates was drunk BEFORE the tournament started. All of this not to mention the toga party on Saturday night with traditional Greek dancing. All in all a pretty fun time had by all.

But just like usual, after four nights I was ready to leave again. The Pink Palace is more like a spring break resort than a hostel and after a few days it gets a bit old. Its also massive, and people go there with like 5,6, 7 friends just to party. Definitely would be an awesome place to go with the guys back home but I wouldnt call it travelling due to the massive amounts of Canadians. Its pretty much Wakestock or Cancun transported to Greece. Not to mention my borderline alcoholic roommate who by my last day, due to his massive alcohol intakes, had already lost his shoes, his keys, fell into his bed and broke it, fell down the stairs and sprained his arm and cut open his feet being too drunk whilst cliff jumping. And after all that he was gonna get a job there cause he loved it so much...yikes, I dont think he'll make it out alive haha.

So Ive made it back to Athens where I have another overnight adventure sleeping in the airport. Gonna be real fun times. Ill be calling this one the Athens Hilton. The airport cops will be the butlers with their convenient wake up calls, my bag will be my lovely honeymoon suite, and the water fountains can be the luxurious pool advertised in the pics that doesnt really look as good in real life. At least Im headed to Sanorini though, where I shall chill on a beach for 6 days before making my way to Turkey to kick those terrorist b******s in the arse who just set off that bomb in Istanbul. Whats the deal with killing?

Hopefully the next time we chat Ill be in sunny Santorini sipping a pina coloda without a care in the world......and having some more random good times.

Take care everyone, Latro!