Aθήνα

So I travelled all the way to Greece to be told that the ferries aren't running at this time of year so I booked a short-haul flight to Rome in a week. And so that's how I found myself stuck in Athens. I say stuck because I don't like archaeological stuff so much and it is much colder here than I thought (although I hear the rest of Europe is freezing).

Anyway I decided to make the most of it and went to the Acropolis, the Ancient Agora and some museums. And I went to some places where Plato's Academy stood so if Joyce reads this I hope she is jealous!

Even more interesting than that, I noticed large expat communities of South Indian, Chinese, Philippine and Arabic-speaking people. The Chinatown here is huge and I can see some similarities: the food and goods markets here are very similar to HK and they sell sesame-dough snacks that taste like HK snacks.

Relics more rare than ancient, crumbling stones in downtown Athens include supermarkets and non-touristy restaurants. I finally found a supermarket yesterday but it was out in the suburbs.

The driving here is insane. The car really reigns here and walking around downtown is perilous enough but outside that are just miles of road and big-box furniture stores. Most pedestrians just ignore the marked crossings and light signals and cross or run for their lives when they see a pause in the flow of traffic. I've learned to do the same...the parking is also insane if folks thought that parallel parking isn't of any use, it's king here!