Around Town Again

Today was supposed to be an early start so I could once again cover a series of sites around Athens. After another tasty breakfast of toast, jelly/cheese, tomatoes and a hard boiled egg, I headed off to the Temple of Zeus and the Olympic Stadium--more large expanses filled with mostly randomly strewn large marble stones. I attempted to make my way from the Olympic Stadium to the Archeological Museum, but like most of my time here, the hostel map does not actually reflect reality. Heading down the road I thought was on the map led me to Lykavittos Hill which was in the far NE of the city when I needed to be beyond far N. To boot, like its name implies, the hill is quite a ways up in altitude and used up quite a bit of energy trying to figure out how to get around it. Up top though there was a large
cropping of what appeared to be Agave cacti--that's right, the plants used to make tequila. After an hour I did finally arrive at the museum to discover that it was closing in one hour due to another 24 hour transit strike. Good thing I moved my day trip to Hydra to Sunday. Hopefully there won't be another strike until after Monday.

Greece has a 12% debt with the EU and they've been called out on it. To remedy the problem the greek government had decided to make job/salary cuts and to raise taxes. Hence the last minute notice 24 hour transit strikes. Today I witnessed the protests in action. Roughly 12,000 Greeks marched from near Syntagma Square along one of the main roads in Athens carrying banners, flags and mega phones as they chanted. Last night a scuffle with the police ending in pepper spray and tear gas was reported. I was only near the marching long enough to collect a 30 second video before I navigated away.

The Archeological Museum was really nice. Among the many statues, bronze works, coins and pottery I was able to see two of the statues Rick Steves showcased on his 1/2 hour show on Athens (Running Horse and Greek god Throwing a Spear). The afternoon and evening held little to amuse me as the historical sites here close at 3pm in winter. I wandered around to the fruit and veggie market, picked up gyros at a local restaurant and hit the hostel sports bar for a Castleburg beer while I read a few chapters of Sense and Sensibility. I know my calves and ankles were thanking me for taking it easy on them tonight. Tomorrow's excursion to Delphi will be challenging.

Well Worn Paths

I attempted to get an early start in hopes of covering as many of the 6 major historical sites in the area (Acropolis, Ancient Agora, Roman Agora, Kerameikos/Cemetery, Temple of Zeus and Olympic Stadium). Breakfast took a bit longer as I sat with Frances and a new friend Stephen. It was hard to leave good conversation. Roughly around 10am I made it to the Acropolis to begin my day's discoveries.

It's hard to describe the expansive views and vast marble creations as you walk around on the highest hill in the area. The packed in city below sprawls all around dotted with ancient ruins and very modern glass buildings. What didn't make sense on the map a few days ago was much clearer now. I'm glad I went to the museum yesterday to give some perspective to what I was seeing today. From here I worked my way to the Ancient Agora to discover that this was where I had ended up a few days earlier when I was "lost." This time I knew exactly where to go. The Agora is HUGE. I must have spent a good 1.5 hours there trying to get around to everything. Towards the end my camera battery started to flash at me. I wasn't sure how much more time I'd have so I tried to cover things quickly so I could still make it to the Roman Agora and the cemetery. To come back to one or two of these would make for a long walk and "wasted" time.

Fortunately the Roman Agora is quite small in comparison and was easy to breeze through. What I didn't realize was how long it would take to walk from there (NE corner of the Acropolis) to the cemetery. I think it took close to 20 minutes. When I arrived I had 20 minutes to cover the entire town/cemetery. I was close to sprinting through the rocky, winding pathways up and down hills. I managed to get shots of the overall areas and what I think might be all of the explanatory plaques--all with a low camera battery. Now that's what I call impressive!

After a much deserved rest, I hit a local crepe restaurant for dinner. For E10 I had a Sprite, Tiramisu and a crepe with chicken, tomatoes, green peppers and mayo. Needless to say, I was quite full. I spent the rest of the evening researching trains, planes and ferries to figure out my next step on the journey. Hopefully this will include a day trip to Piraeus and Hydra on Sunday and moving on to Corinth on Monday.

Crowds Harassed and Helpless...But Nevertheless Persistent

We arrived in Bagan around 8am. Our first stop was to the only Christian church for worship. Apparently 2 weeks of not having an English worship service makes me bawl during communion. Perhaps I was simply that hungry for a word of life. I really didn’t think I would be feasting on Jesus here between Buddhism and Baptists. With little good preaching and no bible to read, I savor the moments that do come. Perhaps this is a tiny taste of what it’s like to be a persecuted Christian or a frontier people trying to keep faith, hope and focus on Jesus. It was all a very strange occurrence for sure.

In the afternoon we visited the Shwe gugyi and the Dhamayan gyi temples ending the afternoon with a boat ride on the Ayarwady River. On the boat I tasted some tamarind sugar wafers and toffee/brittle bars with nuts in them. Nothing like a sugar rush to keep you going.

Every site we stopped at greeted us with a crowd of locals flocking around us to sell souvenirs. After a few stops all I could think about was Jesus being harassed by the helpless crowds of people who follow him during his alone time bringing him to have compassion on them. I, however, had little to no compassion for these people. They pressed in on us as soon as the bus door opened and we set foot on the ground. Some of the more talented and experienced sales people made the effort to talk with us and share some of their stories before asking us to support them and their family. This is how I met Mu Mu.

Mu Mu is 35 and has 5 kids. When she asked how old I was (27), she responded that she had 3 kids by my age. Her nearby sales mates chuckled at this fact. Mu Mu lives near Bagan and speaks excellent English which she learned from the tourists over the years. She worked from 7:30am to 7:30pm. As we made our way toward the bus, she asked me to stop at her shop to purchase something in support of her and her baby. I was strongly considering getting a small lacquer bowl or a bracelet (as this was something on my purchasing list), but had left my money on the bus. When I told her that I was not going to buy anything a wave of sadness washed over her face. She offered to wait while I retrieved my money from the bus. Though I felt bad for not supporting her, I also didn’t want to encourage her to continue business near the temple sites. Being tired, wiped out from the heat and severely irritated by the relentlessness of the saleswomen, I had little patience for the repeated drain of “You are very beautiful. You buy a __(insert souvenir of choice)__ from me? Pretty lady! Good deal for you! Lucky money. You like? Just looking okay. You like necklace? You want bowl?”