It is strange how quickly one can begin to feel like they belong, in a city thousands of miles away from their home.  Athens has begun to feel like home to me.  On my last night I took a “volta” along the skirts of the Acropolis just like I did my first night.  That first night was so magical, and as I gazed up at the Acropolis I realized that the magic was still there.  No matter how familiar things become, there will always be so...

I had to leave my wonderful hotel room today… I think I was able to make up the price of the room by stealing food from the all-you-can-eat breakfast for later meals.              Back at a hostel, I met three great British girls, Lizzy, Beca and Vics.  They had all met during their gap year in Tanzania.  We went out to dinner and spent hours talking.  Although hotels are nice, I re...

Traveling in high season without reservations came back to bite me last night.  After calling every hostel in Athens yesterday, and finding no empty beds, I finally caved in and booked two beds at the Best Western.  My own bathroom, satellite TV, air-conditioning, all you can eat breakfast… how am I ever going to go back to a hostel?  Oh yeah… when I run out of money.            V...

Plaka is the neighborhood located just below the Acropolis. Its jumbled streets are as confusing as the mixed message that the neighborhood gives you when you walk past a authentic Greek restaurant sharing a street with a kitschy tourist-trap shop. I wandered the streets of Plaka this morning, trying to navigate my way to the Archeological museum. Luckily I ran into Mia, a girl I had met last night, she was able to direct us out of Plaka and to a metro station. T...

The long plane ride really helped to settle my nerves, by the time I reached Frankfurt I was feeling much better. I've realized that I can't turn back the clock, so I shouldn't waste time being scared or nervous.  Athens has been surprisingly easy to travel around. The Greeks take great pride in the fact that most of them speak not only Greek and English, but at least a third language as well... Because it is so easy to communicate I have to...