Before we get to the culture....a few travel tips:
When deliriously tired I suggest you spare your exhausted brain cells from the following:
1) figuring out balcony doors...apparently with the handle pointed toward the floor...yes it actually is supposed to open from the top and look (to my American eyes) as if it's coming off the hinges...on a good note, I didn't actually break anything....just looked like a dofus when I asked for an assist the next morning, I can live with that...
2) some toilets with silver buttons on top....need to be pulled, not pushed....this, I managed to break...so even though I'm on the 3rd floor, and the hotel bathrooms are 4 floors down....I used them for the evening...call it self inflicted punishment for being a moron, or me doing my best to be kind to the poor soul who would need to deal with it at some point....seemed to me, midnight wasn't that time.
Woke up early, grabbed breakfast, and headed out to the tram (for the SF peeps, read MUNI...the trains, not the bus) rode that for about 20 stops and transferred to the Metro (read BART) for 2 stops.... Side note, Greece has to be the most trusting laid back country I've ever been in! No custom forms to fill out when I landed, and the metro "gate" is a scanner set up by the stairs, not a turnstile in sight...rumor has it there's an €85 fine if you're caught....I have yet to see anyone writing tickets...another random point of excitement for me, I can drink the water! Given the majority of my travel has been in Mexico, central and south America....this is actually very exciting and liberating for me...oh the little things. =P
So for a €1.40 I was able to travel the 11 miles from the hotel to the acropolis stop on the metro...yes, the name is that captain obvious, thank goodness. As is finding where you're supposed to head when you get out of the station...look up, the pillars, yeah, that's where you're going. I'm in awe I've got to admit. We can't get an electronic device to last a decade, yet, these stand centuries later...and a few of the amphitheaters, are still in use today. The language is older than I can fathom...the Gods, philosophers and empires I loved reading about made all this...and I get to be in it. Awesome. I need to google Greece vs. Incan time periods to see how he global history lines up.
There is grafiti EVERYWHERE...seriously, I feel if I stand still a bit too long, I run the risk of being tagged. Thankfully the ancient Greek structures are fenced off, and remain unscathed...or are quickly cleaned, not sure which is true. Sadly, this isn't the case for the bizantine churches. They're open to the public, and still used for services (again, so cool) they also aren't safe from spray paint...which I find extremely disheartening...murals,tagged, bridges, banks, trees, fountains..you name it, it's spray painted.
Walked through the flea market, and street vendors. Stopped at a sidewalk cafe for a gyro, local beer (mythos) and some Greek yogurt with peaches (yum) met a guy from Algeria who's here looking for work. He's taught himself English via rap songs...so, for those who love the stuff, you can now officially say: it's educational....I guess. Great guy, we're now connected on facebook. I look forward to seeing him using his degree in an amazing career soon.
While we were sitting in a square soaking up some sun waiting for our new friend to come back from getting a sim card.(thanks for the help on that!) mumcicle was propositioned...we think. Couldn't understand a word he was saying (tried both English and Spanish, no dice) but through his, ahem, shall we say "interesting" hand gestures....pretty sure he was suggesting the horizontal hokey pokey with mom....though his white shirt was a shade of grey, he took out a newspaper and laid it on the cement prior to sitting next to mom, and attempting to accomplish...honestly, not really sure what...but I found it funny regardless.
Got back to the hotel around 8:30, and the sun was just beginning to set. I was out within 15 minutes, still fully dressed.
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