Acropolis Now

I can't believe I was so stupid as to think the movie was called Acropolis Now. I mentioned this to a girl I'd met at the hotel who took a few minutes before realising I was serious and then laughed and pointed out my error - whoops.

Basically, I've done my bit of sightseeing in Athens which did include the Acropolis and the Temple of Olympian Zeus. Both of which are basically ancient ruins which were cool to visit but not like I haven't seen ancient ruins before. That sounds really ungrateful of the opportunity to travel and see new things, doesn't it?

Yesterday was an awesome day in Athens. Our ferry got in around late afternoon and I spent the afternoon exploring. I went to the Temple of Olympian Zeus and then I wandered down the main shopping street - Ermou - and haggled to get a 35 Euro bag for 20 Euro! That works out to 14 pounds which for a fake Prada handbag is a reasonable price to pay. Especially in half the shops in London you'd be paying at least 15 pounds for a shitty bag (unless you go to Primark but the bags there aren't that great).

I have found the Greek to be sleazy and rude! Over the course of the holiday I have obviously bought many things and have found the Greeks to be ungrateful to their tourist populatiom. They will be talking to another Greek person and ignore you until they are ready to serve you - which is normally not until their c onversation is over and I get the impression that half the time they continue the conversation on for as long as they possibly can just to annoy you. Makes me angry because without the tourists, especially on the islands, they wouldn't make much profit. In Athens the service isn't so bad but they are quite short with you.. I asked for a water once and smiled at the person serving me and they glared at me as though I had a disease and stormed off, returning with the water several minutes later as though it was a chore for them to get - yet they WORK at a restuarant! I don't get it.

As for the sleazy part, well... I decided that after I tacked the Acropolis today I would head down to the park with my book and read. I sat myself down on the grass and started reading only to have this old guy walk past me saying hello. I chose not to answer him because foreign country, weirdos, etc and I just couldn't be bothered with chit chat (although had it been a hot, young guy the story might have been different). Anyways, more old men walked past staring at me in a creepy way which made me think they'd been let out of the institution for the day. Seriously creepy. I looked down to make sure I was fully dressed (I was) so they had no reason to be staring except for the fact that they were old sleaze bags. Ew.

One thing about Athens, even the islands, that makes me sad is the stray dogs. There are so many dogs that just roam the street which don't have real homes to go to. Apparently the government is aware of the situation and collars them and feeds them but still it makes me sad to think that these dogs don't have a real home of their own to go to.

I had so much to write about Greece and Athens but now that it's come time to write in my blog I seem to be struggling!