March 31, 2004

Athens, Samos...

Aegean Airlines took me from Rome to Athens on Saturday afternoon as I ended ten days of Italy. Katie Kincaid, fellow employee of the MMoCA greeted me at the airport and brought me to her apartment in a neighborhood just behind the stadium built for the 1896 Olympics and where this summer's opening ceremonies will be held. She lives with 13 other students from UW and Penn State who are "studying" at the Athens Centre. There doesn't seem to be much studying going on, but they all seem to be having a good time. I didn't make it to the Acropolis, but I did attend an authentic Greek Name Day party, go to a flea market, drink Ouzo and visit the National Art Gallery. (We also went out to eat at Friday's and saw "Runaway Jury", but nobody's perfect)

After three Athenian nights, I hopped on a ferry for the Northeastern Aegean island of Samos with almost no idea how long the ride would last, what I would find on board, or what would be waiting for me on the island. Well, the ride lasted seventeen (17) hours and I slept on the floor of the ferry for a few hours in between trying to decipher whether the PA announcements were being made in English, Greek, both, or neither. But after an uncomfortable ride the ferry finally pulled into port at 9AM this morning and things have been going really well on the island since. I bought my ticket for Turkey about ten minutes after arriving and will depart tomorrow at 4PM or so. After walking around for a half hour or so, I then found a pension to stay at where I think I'm the only guest and I have a little kitchen, a deck, and a bathroom all to myself.

I think the town I'm staying in is called Samos (like the island), but it's hard to tell. Supposedly the ferry dropped us at Vathi, but that town is behind the town called Samos... I think. Regardless, there's a weird feeling here. Tourist season is about to begin, so many of the shops are stocking up on merchandise or doing repairs, but there are no tourists. There are about eight moped showrooms for every supermarket and hardware and furniture stores are pretty plentiful too, presumably so hotel and resort owners can stock up. (Thankfully there is at least one nice internet cafe though.)

I think the past 24 hours mark the first day I've spent on this trip without even seeing a native English speaker. It's creeping me out just a little. My Greek vocabulary consists of about three words, but slow English and hand gestures go a long way here. Hopefully that trend will continue in the next few weeks as I travel up through Eastern Europe.

I still haven't been able to upload any pictures since England, but I have a few ideas and hopefully this weekend in Istanbul people will be able to visually catch up with me.

Posted by Peter at 08:05 AM | Comments (7)