- Welcome to Albuquerque! The surrounding landscape appeared as New
Mexico when landing in Athens.
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Low level light brown mountains covered with scrub plants were very
familiar; however, the olive trees did
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create a contrast. Delta flight 132 did not have their "A
Game" on - forgot the safety film and review, two
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hours late start due to entertainment system malfunctions, and thankfully,
we didn't upgrade on this one
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segment due to non reclining chairs and blank video system. Landed
an hour late and was ready to
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take the backpacks and fly out the exits.
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The Athens airport is simple and refurbished thanks to the past
Olympics. Logistically, the new light rail system
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was invaluable to avoid the traffic. Street patterns can best be
described as planning by using 'pick up sticks'
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game and pave where they land. Standard materials in the Metro light
rail stations is marble and glazed tile -
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always beautiful and long lasting.
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Blue skies and slight warm weather awaited the day of adventure.
Greece is a historical jewel on the Balkan
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peninsula holding thousands of years of history. Now, the city
of Athens itself is not as old - mostly built in the
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post 1940s with simple concrete structure buildings and more
reflective of old Eastern Europe instead of
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classical design. Endless colors of gray and light brown creates a
non impressive metropolitan devoid of color.
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In the heart of Athens is the very well known and very well photographed Acropolis
- a hill area with the
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Parthenon as the focal point. The ancient temple was started in 447
BC and is encompassed with Doric columns
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standing at attention. Additional column parts, wall parts, and unknown
parts are lined up around most structures.
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Seems the Parthenon will forever be associated with scaffolds - always
being restored or repaired. A current major
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project is to replace restorations from the late 1800s. So, new and
old share space on the columns and roof lines.
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Looks like using 'play-doh' with two colors - light and dark.
Yet, in spite of construction, rail lines for parts, and
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hordes of tourists, it is the premier icon in the World. It falls
into those categories of "has to be seen".
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After viewing other ancient sites, including the Temple of Athena Nike
(not to be confused with Athena Adidas
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or Athena Reebok) and amphitheatres (think Yanni's voice still echoes), it
was time to head to the coast for
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the ferry ride to Mykonos.
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One noted feature of Greece is lower travel costs - only 80 cents for the
Metro, 2.2 Euros for the hour long
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bus ride to the coast, 50 cents per bottle of water, and most importantly, 1.5 Euros for a real Gyro
sandwich.
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Arriving to the East coast port of Rafina was very easy - the port is very
compact and fully functional. One
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challenge was that Cyclades Fast Ferries company did not have an
operational ship today. So, they moved us
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to another line and refunded 70 cents difference - nicely handled from
friendly counter people that were dressed
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underneath with swimsuits (understandable with a large beach across the
street).
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Ferry rides between the islands is always a favorite decompression
technique. Lying down on top side benches
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and enjoying the constant breeze is pure relaxation. Halfway through
the 4.5 hour journey, the sun began to
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set on the horizon. Glowing sun was crosshatched with air
traffic vapor trails - reflecting the same golden
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reds streaks. A ferry captain is a no nonsense driver when
arriving at small island towns - able to dock on
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the fly and return to schedule quickly.
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