After our time at the Meteora Monasteries, I was ready to experience culture in the city! So, onward we went to Athens.

I have never been to a city like Athens before. It is a modern metropolis in disguise. Historic sites so old as to have been built Before Christ speckle the city. Imagine sitting at a modern wine bar, looking to your left, and seeing the ancient citadel of the Acropolis perched on a rocky cliff less than a quarter of a mile away. Or, looking out your hotel window at night to see the Parthenon tower over the entirety of Athens, brighter than all of the city lights combined, pronouncing it’s majesty. The juxtaposition of ancient versus modern is hard to wrap your mind around, but you don’t have to think about it too hard because it is all right there, in front of your eyes.

Even just going on a run, starting and stopping in between the city’s traffic lights, we happened upon ancient structures less than 30 yards from the bustling street. You would think that there would be a gate surrounding these historic monuments for protection, but there was nothing in between them and the traffic. The residents of Athens paid them no mind, they went about their usual brisk walk to work and passed them as if they didn’t exist. Meanwhile, there I was, inspecting the monument’s cryptic symbols with awe because they were carved into the stone over 400 years B.C.

Walking around the city, we sadly found graffiti on more buildings than not. We were told that the city has tried to clean up the graffiti, only to have more painted on immediately afterward. The lack of respect some of the Athens residents have for their city because of this graffiti is incredibly disappointing. Due to this, when we were first exploring, my initial impression of Athens was that it was dirty. However, as we continued to explore, we found that the city is made up of beautiful niches, and each niche has its own personality. One section of the city is affluent, another section mostly hipster, another section is touristy, and another section is preserved in the Greek culture. I found myself falling in love with each of the city’s niches, and this made it easy to overlook the graffiti.

I realize that my explanation of Athens is incredibly lengthy, but there are so many patches to the quilt, so to speak, that I just want to do it justice!