Berlin Day 1-7

4 - 10 Aug 2013

Day 1: Arrival from Turkey
After I finally got my bag I headed out to the front of the terminal to find my bus. At first I was pleased to see an electronic time board that told me how far away the bus was but after about 5 minutes of it hovering around 11 minutes away, I lost some respect for it. I lost all respect for it when my bus showed up and it still said 10 minutes. Anyway, I jumped off the bus at the U-bahn stop and studied the map of lines to try and make sense of my directions. It didn't look good because the line I needed to catch had a section closed in the middle so I either had to walk that bit or make an elaborate series of changes to get around it. I went for the later and it worked but the early morning, transport woes, diesel/oil smell of the U-bahn and lingering cold were taking their toll.

Doner box
At the other end of the ordeal I emerged above ground with a killer hunger. The first place I saw was a kebab shop and they offered a thing called a doner box; a kebab IN A BOX! I had to try this so I ordered one and it was different, with its strange salad including eggplant, but it wasn't amazing. Still it filled a hole so I wandered on and found my hostel which actually turned out to be a flash-packers; a hotel that also has dorm rooms so everything was very nice inside.

First night
I met a guy from Hong Kong in my room and after we had a bit of a chat, we found the common room to wash some clothes in the free washing machine (score!) and make some dinner. I went to bed early and had a huge sleep.

Day 2: Exploring
After a lazy start I headed out for breakfast in the form of a 3 euro Vietnamese curry chicken box. Yes, everything here comes in a box and I love it! For 3 euro, it was bloody good and it's ready instantly, no need to cook anything, which is a bonus.

I kept wandering around in the full-on humidity and eventually found a camping store that sold a clothes line so I could replace the one I left in Athens. On the way back home I wandered back past the TV tower and Museum Island and happened to find a shop that sold the local specialty; currywurst. You can get them takeaway but I ordered this one at a restaurant with a beer and just people watched in the square. It tasted ok but it does hit the spot when you're hungry although the curry isn't spicy enough (or at all) for me.

Pub
After a snooze in my room I met another of my room mates, a Serbian, and we went to get another of those tasty Vietnamese boxes for dinner. Hey, they're 3 euros, taste ok and don't require any effort so don't judge me. Anyway, after dinner I went to the local pub for some beers with some Swedish guys from my room and then to the bar at a local hostel but much to our disappointment, there wasn't much going on there.

Day 3: Walking tour
Yep, my favourite walking tour company runs a tour in Berlin so that was this morning's mission. We saw the Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag, the mark on the road where the wall once stood, the Jewish memorial, the carpark on top of Hitler's bunker, the Luftwaffe, a still standing section of original wall, Checkpoint Charlie, the opera house, some churches, the university, the site of a book burning and finally finished on Museum Island. It was a great tour and I really enjoyed (or maybe appreciated is the right word) the Jewish memorial.

Pipes
There are lots of above ground, coloured pipes around the city and at first I thought they were some sort of art but the walking tour guide explained that they're actually functional because they're pumping ground water into the river. Berlin in Slavic means "marsh land" and the pipes are pumping (or transporting) this marsh water out in order for building crews to be able to work below ground level. I still think the pipes look cool.

Berlinerdom
This is an impressive church in Berlin on Museum Island and it's also the spot that we finished the waking tour. Two Americans that I met on the tour were keen on checking it out so I tagged a long. I thought I was all church-ed out but I'm glad I saw this one because the view from the top out over the city was amazing and it was quite impressive inside with its high roof, ample gold decoration, massive organ and ornate coffins (both in the main room and the crypt). The roof was also green from oxidised copper, something that I've seen a bit in Europe, and I can only imagine how blindingly shiny it must be when it's all polished.

Street festival
The Americans were going to a street festival that night and they were kind enough to invite me along so it wasn't long before I found myself surrounded by stalls selling various beers and amazing looking food. The celebrations only last for about two beers before the wind picked up, all the shops closed and it bucketed down with rain. We all made a mad dash for cover but we were practically soaked anyway so we just decided to walk back to the S-bahn in the rain. We went back to their hostel and finished the night at the hostel bar before I caught a taxi home, grabbed a late night currywurst and went to bed. All in all, a really fun day.

Day 4: More exploring
I was meant to meet to Americans from last night but they didn't show up (EDIT 3/11/2013: they did send me a FB message that they weren't coming but I didn't get it until I went on a desktop computer i.e. when I got back to Australia) so it was a day of exploring alone. I had a peek inside the DZ Bank building, that looks mundane from the outside but is an architect's wet dream inside, and then headed over to try and get into the Reichstag but that wasn't going to happen without booking and waiting. Next stop was the Sony Center to window shop and people watch with free wifi thanks to Starbucks.

Alternative Berlin
This is a walking tour that takes you around Mitte and Kreuzberg (suburbs of Berlin) to see lots of the street art and there certainly is a lot to see. I developed a real interest in street art on this tour because I saw some fantastic pieces and the guide did a great job of explaining it all too. We finished up at the East Side Gallery, which is a refurbished section of the wall that has been completely covered in street art. Again, there are a lot of amazing pieces on this wall and you realise just how long the gallery is when you've been walking for 10 minutes and still aren't quite at the end.

To the beach
At the end of the East Side Gallery is a place called YAAM. It's an area of the riverside that's been covered with sand, bars and food stalls and turned into a rasta beach. It's a strange thing to see in the middle of the city but it's a great place to relax with some good food and that's exactly what we did. I had a half Yassa-half stew dish and with the spicy sauce, it really had a kick i.e. it was great.

After YAAM we had another beer in true Kreuzberg spirit, that is drinking on the street. The best way I can describe Kreuzberg is that it's covered in graffiti and street art but full of hipsters and alternatives instead of gangters. It initially seems somewhat unsafe but that's only the graffiti that makes you think that; it's actually a really safe and fun place to hang out.

We kept on wandering and visited a small bar decorated with old furniture, a tiny cafe with drum and bass blasting from a regular stereo and even joined a bunch of people sitting on the ground listening to a street performer. Finally we made it to a club called Suicide Circus where we stayed for the rest of the night and I was the first one to leave at the early-for-Berlin time of 5 AM. As I had to change room that night, I had an interesting time trying to explain to the hostel staff that I needed to check-IN to the hostel at 5:45 AM for the night that was almost over.

Day 5: Recovery
It's times like this that I'm happy I don't have to get on a bus for the next leg of a tour. I slept until 3 PM and then went for more Vietnamese noodles and did some other chores.

New roomies
I met two Dutch girls who were staying in my room and had a bit of a chat over dinner in the common room. The Berlin clubbing scene doesn't start until 1AM so we broke out the cards and played some drinking games in the room. As the clubs were a fair distance from from hostel and the transport system stops between midnight and 5AM, we decided to do the Dutch thing and hire some bicycles to get around. It was such good fun riding around the city and it's a good thing because we failed at reading the map and rode a bit further than we had to but in the end we arrived at Kater-Holzig.

This club looked like a movie where kids had taken over the world and built whatever they wanted; there was a bouncy castle out the front, everything was made from patched together pieces of anything, there were lots of coloured lights and everything was covered in graffiti. It is totally different from any clubbing scene I've seen before because there are lots of places to chill out and talk (and smoke) and a few music stages to dance (and smoke) but the whole thing is really relaxed and easy going; in fact you need to dress down to be allowed to get into the place. I still had a great time but the music, although electronic, isn't fast enough for me and I came home stinking of smoke.

Day 6: Back on the bike
I was moving hostel today so I could stay closer to where I had to meet the Intrepid tour. After dumping my bag at the new hostel I ran back to meet an Aussie girl I'd met at Suicide Circus and we hired some bikes to go see some of the city. It turned out to be a bit of a food mission because the first stop was at the Turkish markets (fairly similar to those in Istanbul) then to Burgermeister to get an amazing hamburger for me and then to an ice-cream place. We finished the afternoon sipping beers in the park and then at another riverside chillout bar. Another really fun day but I was feeling pretty drained so I went back to the hostel and slept for ages.

Day 7: Preparing for the start of the tour
I took the chance to do some blogging for my loyal fans (that's you) and then headed over to the meet point hostel for the Intrepid tour with a quick stop at a place that sells really good doner boxes for the breakfast of champions :D I checked into the hostel and had a chat with my room mate, an Aussie guy from Melbourne who was also a programmer. I had a bit of time before the meet so I went and grabbed my first German schnitzel, which was mighty tasty and I'll leave it there because the next blog post will cover the meet'n'greet.

Thoughts about Berlin

• I feel like Berin has more places selling food than other cities I've been to
• It was humid! The first few days were full on with the storms each night offering some relief but by about day 4 it was quite nice
• It's cheap! Considering Berlin is still what I'd call western Europe, everything is surprisingly cheap
• Berlin wins points for having decent street signs
• The Berlin metro system (U-bahn and S-bahn) are fairly easy to use (anything would be easy after the Turkish metro) but it stinks of diesel so you really want to limit how long you need to spend down there.
• It's definitely somewhere I could go back to

Awesome sunset over the river

A great piece in the old meat factory (now clubbing) district

Something from a popular alley way

Also from the alley way

Another from the alley way

This alley had a lot to see

Seriously, we spent 30 minutes there

Berlinerdom (the church)

In the Jewish memorial

Pieces of wall with street art of dictators that are still around

Panorama of the Jewish memorial

Panorama from on the Berlinerdom

Can you see the pink and blue pipes?

YAAM!

The two sides of this bridge play rock-scissors-paper all night

The other riverside chillout spot we went to

Cappadocia, Turkey Day 1-4

1 - 4 August 2013

Day 1: Arrival
I took a shuttle from the airport because Goreme is about an hour from the airport and I wasn't feeling like there'd be any other option to get out there. The landscape is the main attraction with all the houses built into the rocks and it really makes a good first impression as you come into the town. I checked into my dorm room, that was naturally in a cave, and then headed out to find dinner. I settled on a restaurant that was on the first floor, so it gave good views, and had beanbags for chairs. I ordered the menemen (a type of omelette) because it was recommended to me and it was ok but kind of bland. I could also watch as the weather turned to crap and a storm rolled in.

Day 2: Green tour
There are 3 different tours you can do and the green one is the big one that gives you a bit of everything. The first stop is just outside Goreme on a hill so we could look out over the town. We were also told some cool stories like Cappadocia means the land of well bred horses, Goreme means invisible city (because it's all built into the rock) and the rock formations are known as fairy chimneys because of an old myth. The myth says that fairies and humans lived together for a while and at one point, a human wanted to marry a fairy but the fairies didn't like this so they all turned into pigeons. The humans then worshiped the pigeons and made houses for them in the rocks and apparently if you caught a pigeon and kissed it, it would turn into a fairy. True story.

Valley walk
We went for a walk through a valley that had houses (for people) carved into the rock and apparently a community of people lived there to escape religious persecution some hundreds of years ago. The walk was great because the scenery was nice but I spent too much time talking rubbish with everyone and forgot to look around as much as I should, whoops.

Lunch
We stopped for lunch at a small restaurant in the valley and I had the spicy beef kebab and apart from not being spicy at all, it was quite nice. The problem was the bunch of wasps that decided to be friends with us. They really liked the fish so anyone with fish had an extremely hard time trying not to eat wasps.

Underground city
The next stop was an underground city. It was an underground series of tunnels and rooms that again was used by an old community to escape some threat. It certainly wasn't a place for claustrophobic people because I was walking in a complete crouch with my head still touching the roof in a few spots. When you're in the lowest point, 8 levels underground, in a tunnel that's too narrow to turn around you could be forgiven for having a brief flash of panic. It wasn't that hard to imagine people living there but when you start to think that they rarely went to the surface and imagine how it would've smelt, it really doesn't seem like such a good idea anymore.

Jewellery shop
We stopped at a girly girl's candy store (a jewellery factory) but for the rest of us, there wasn't that much to see. We did get a demonstration about how they work the onyx on a lathe and polisher and then a question was asked; what does Cappadocia mean? The person who answered it scored the piece of onyx from the demo and guess who wrote the answer down because they thought it'd be cool for their blog :D

Turkish delight store
The final stop was actually a candy store or more specifically a Turkish delight shop. After pillaging the free samples tray and sampling the delicious pomegranate tea we decided that we couldn't leave without a box of chocolate apricot squares so three of us split that. Double pistachio Turkish delight was also a favourite but I exercised some self control.

Dinner
We went for pide (Turkish pizza) at a place called Firin Express and although it was nice, it could've used more toppings. I was eyeing off a sizzling chicken and rice dish, that comes out served over a flame, that one of the others had and after giving it a try, I knew what I was having for dinner the next night.

Day 3: Walking
The plan today was to go walking through the many valleys around Goreme and my partner in crime was my new Norwegian friend. We started off going through Pigeon Valley, named so because of all the pigeon homes carved in the rock, and ended up at Uchisar castle. This is a castle built into the rock and it lives up to its name as it towers over everything and can be easily seen from a long way away. I suggested we climb the castle and the Norwegian called me a peak seeker, a term I quite liked and decided to steal for the blog. Anyway, we did climb the castle and enjoy the great views out over the surrounding valleys before heading off to Honey Valley (no idea why it's called that).

To get into Honey Valley we had to be a little inventive and this meant sliding down the side of the valley in between two hills and trying not to go face first. My Norwegian friend made it look easy whereas I was a little less elegant but still made it in one piece. The walk through Honey Valley and then Love Valley (also not sure about the name) was a bit harder going because there wasn't always a well-defined path but we pressed on and made it out the other end. We were lucky (or maybe he saw my Norwegian friend's long, tanned legs) enough to catch a ride back to town with a nice guy in an old, yellow Jeep.

Open Air Museum
Our legs weren't totally dead yet so we wandered over to the Open Air Museum where you can see various old churches that were carved into the rocks from many hundreds of years ago. Some of them were in impressively good condition and the whole museum had a cool look about it.

Dinner
We went back to the same restaurant as I was at the previous night but this time I ordered that fantastic looking sizzling plate but with beef and it tasted even better than it looked.

Day 4: Leaving
It was an early start to catch the shuttle to the airport but it wasn't all bad because I got to see the 50 or so hot air balloons lifting off and cruising over Goreme. The shuttle ride got a little interesting when two of the passengers realised that they were on the wrong shuttle (headed to the wrong airport) so we dropped them in the middle of nowhere and apparently they were going to be picked up and taken to the right one. Not sure if they made it but it would've been a decent achievement if they did.

Flying and related things
The airport security at Kayseri were surprisingly anal considering they're a small country airport in the middle of nowhere. I got to see the safety video with the kids again and at the end of the flight, just after the plane touched down, everyone clapped. This is something I don't get because it was a mundane flight, the pilots shouldn't be rewarded for just doing their job.

Pegasus took a while to unload bags in Istanbul, which I was stressing about because I had to catch a connecting flight to Berlin. It all worked out in the end and the flight was easy going with some great views but immigration in Berlin took forever and Pegasus took even longer to unload bags this time *sigh*.

Thoughts about Cappadocia

• The landscape is so impressive and different to anything I've seen before
• There's some great walking trails around the place
• The food is quite good
• It's cool to stay in a cave hostel
• I'm not sure it's a place I'd go back to but it's definitely worth going to once

Looking out over Pigeon Valley

The valley we walked in on the green tour

Atop the Uchisar Castle

Looking cool on top of the Uchisar Castle

Out at the "Star Wars" landscape area

Timed selfy in a cave house

There wasn't a lot of room in the underground city tunnels

Uchisar Castle

Looking back at Uchisar Castle with my Norwegian friend figuring out how to get into Honey Valley

Designed as pigeon homes but now they're more like wasp homes

The outstanding sizzling beef place. There was a fire going under

Looking down at Goreme at sunset

The Open Air Museum

A storm rolling in over Goreme

Balloons taking off at sunrise

The "Star Wars" landscape. It wasn't the site used but it looks similar

Istanbul Day 1-5 including Gallipoli

28 July - 1 August 2013

Day 1: Flying over
First things first, I had turkey on the way to Turkey. It felt like the right thing to do. Onto more serious matters like how much Turkish immigration hates Australians. I knew I need a visa but stuff isn't signposted very well in the airport so my first fail was making it half way through the massive passport control line only to realise that I needed to buy a visa before I entered the line so over to the visa counter I went.

Some countries, including New Zealand, don't need a visa to get in, others need to pay about 15 euro for 90 days and then there's Australia who needs to pay 45 euros (at least 3x any other country) for a visa. I thought everyone loved Australians until I went through this ordeal. I guess it's because so many Aussies come over for ANZAC pilgrimages that they want to make some money out of us. There's also the fact that we kind of killed an entire generation in the war.

Confusing metro/tram
The metro or tram or whatever it's called is the most confusing one I've been on so far. It does weird crap like

• Opening doors on the non platform side so you jump onto the tracks
• Doesn't go to the end of a line, it just changes direction at a stop and goes back the other way
• Has all the trains on the same line so you're never sure if you're on the right one

Feeling like a giant
I'm kind of tall and the Turkish kind of aren't. This became very apparent when I was standing in a tourism office asking for directions with my head tilted and cheek pressing against the ceiling.

Kebab time
I made it to the hostel eventually and chatted to a US couple who gave me some solid advice on where to go next; Cappadocia. I also chatted to a guy who worked for the hostel who offered to take me for a walk to a good kebab shop (while he was on the clock of course). The kebab didn't make my kebab hall of fame but it was certainly different with its paper thin wrap, super crunchy fries and pickles. Back in the dorm room I chatted with two Kiwis who were both keen to go exploring the next day; friends made!

Day 2: Galata Tower
After tackling the metro, failing a little bit and finally succeeding, we found ourselves at the highest point in central Istanbul; Galata Tower. We paid our 13 lira, jumped in the elevator with the crazy control panel and made our way to the top of the tower to squeeze around the 1.5 person wide path at the top. It was all worth it for the fantastic views of coloured roofs mixed with mosques and minarets covering the rolling hills.

Lunch
We made our way down to the riverside for a local specialty; fish sandwiches. Seafood isn't really my thing so I bought a kebab, that was totally different to the previous one, and a drinking yoghurt. The kebab was quite good, this one was in a bread roll, but I couldn't do the drinking yogurt because it was too bitter and just generally...um...too unusual for me.

Boat ride
The water in the Bosphorus (the river) looks so amazingly green and clean that you almost want to swim in it. I'm not sure why it doesn't look like the feral, brown excuses for waterways that I've seen elsewhere but I'm glad it doesn't. Anyway, boat cruises are a very popular touristy thing so we jumped on one and did a 2 hour cruise up and back, which was great because there was lots to see, a cool breeze and you could sit back and chat. A tip for the boat rides is to pay the captain the 10 lira when you get on rather than the 15 euro that hotels, tourist offices, etc. want to charge you.

Grand Bazaar
Back on dry land we went for a walk and wandered through lots of small bazaars until we finally found the Grand Bazaar. It was definitely huge but because it was a permanent building with shops I felt like it lost some of the chaos of a normal bazaar.

Blue Mosque
We found ourselves at the Blue Mosque at a time of prayer so infidel tourists weren't allowed in. The upside of this is that we could go see a free 50 minute information session about Ramadan, mosque architecture and Islam. I really enjoyed the info session and it helped a lot when we went through the mosque after because we knew more about what we were seeing. The mosque wasn't on the same scale as the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi but it was still quite impressive although not as blue as I expected. I was also wearing a singlet so I scored a covering cloth thingo, yay.

Dinner
We were persuaded into a restaurant by a champ of a guy who could fluently speak 5 European languages (plus Kurdish and Turkish) and accurately pick which one each tourist spoke just by looking at them. We ordered some hummus to share and I had a chicken hot pot thing that was served in a hot rock bowl and it was all fantastic. As seems to be the case in Turkey, you get free Turkish bread (possibly just called bread there :P) and a free tea with your food. It was so good to be back to good restaurant experiences after the crap that Athens had to offer. We finished the night with a beer on the roof of the hostel looking out over the city.

Day 3: Loner day
This was a no friends day so I took the chance to book some stuff, get a haircut and do some exploring. I know I normally buzz my own hair with the clippers but I smashed the plastic guide so unless I want a number zero, I can't really use them anymore. My travels took me up to Taksim square, the site of the recent protests, and there were certainly a lot of riot cops ready to go but unless the pigeons were going to riot, the cops wouldn't be doing much. One thing I noticed was that there are areas dedicated to different things so you'll walk through a street where every shop is a musical instrument shop, then another with all electrical gear and so on. It's quite strange.

Dinner
I went back to the same restaurant for dinner because there were other things that caught my eye on the menu. This time I ordered a chicken shish kebap and again, it was excellent. At this point I'd decided that the Turkish do good food.

Day 4: Gallipoli
I figured I couldn't go to Turkey and not see Gallipoli so I booked the day tour with the emphasis on day because it's a 5 hour drive each way with a 5 hour tour. The driver was a nutter, he was flying around the deserted early morning streets and driving on gutters, tram tracks and basically whatever he wanted. We stopped half way out for some breakfast where the choice was limited so I had a feta gozleme (thin pastry sandwiching some cheese), a cheese toast (a hotdog bun with cheese in it and squashed paper thin) and a tea. The drive out wasn't just on highways as we also spent a fair bit of time on super skinny back roads dodging cows and dogs and squeezing past oncoming traffic. There are also a lot of sunflowers in Turkey and it's strange driving past a field of them where they all face exactly the same direction (usually down).

When we arrived in Eceabat (the closest town to Gallipoli) our spritely tour guide, TJ, jumped on the bus and woke us all from our zombie like sleep. He gave us a bit of a talk, then we went for lunch at a local restaurant before getting back in the bus and heading off on the tour.

We went to Anzac cove, (Brighton) beach cemetery, lone pine (the Australian Memorial), ANZAC trenches where there was only a 7m gap between the Turkish trenches, Turkish 57th Regiment Memorial, the Nek and finally Chunuk Bair (the New Zealand Memorial). TJ gave us great talks at each spot and it was great to see these places that made history. It was a big day but definitely worth it.

We stopped at another road house on the way home for dinner but it wasn't particularly good. So I'll revise my previous statement and say that the food in Istanbul is good. I have a feeling that we were speeding the whole way home too because I saw a few 70 and 90 signs but we were going a bit quicker than that.

Day 5: Leaving
I felt confident enough to tackle the public transport system to get to the airport so I set off in the morning and caught a ferry over the Bosphorus. On the other side I eventually found my bus in a terminal of about 50 buses and started counting the stops; there were 64 stops on the route and I got off at the 63rd one *sigh*.

Thoughts about Istanbul

• It wasn't that rare to hear cars driving past the hostel with really good sound systems
• I didn't see any locals wearing shorts or sunnies
• They're quite patriotic in that they fly a lot of flags (and so do Greeks now that I think about it)
• The bus had stops on the highway. People there are smart enough to not get stuck behind it though (take note Adelaide drivers)
• I noticed quite a few buses driving around with the doors open. I'm not sure if it's so people could jump on/off or for air flow
• Istanbul is huge (20 million people) and the suburbs go on forever. It's also quite developed with lots of new, high rise apartment buildings and the roads are quite good too
• I still had to show my passport for a domestic flight, arrrg!
• The Pegasus (airline) safety video is pretty funny because it's all done with kids
• Airport food prices suck. That's everywhere though, not just Turkey
• Turkey has a very young population, about 30, and I feel like we (ANZACs) must've created a generation without fathers

Turkish driving spirit
I've managed to reverse engineer the rules that all Turkish drivers must be taught.

• lane lines and speed limits are optional
• the right time to overtake is anytime
• the plastic, orange "no parking" sticks/poles are made to be parked on
• roadworthiness means does it drive?
• hazard lights give you a free pass to park anywhere (block roads) or do dumb shit

My Kiwi friends on Galata Tower

Posing on Galata Tower with the Bosphorus in the background

On the river cruise on the Bosphorus

The Blue Mosque, Istanbul

ANZAC Cove memorial

Australian trench tunnel entrance

New Zealand trenches at Chunuk Bair

The view of Istanbul from the roof of my hostel

Looking out over Istanbul from Galata Tower

The Grand Bazaar

Some bridge over the Bosphorus

Humus and puffy Turkish bread, but the bread collapsed before we took the photo

My chicken hot pot thing (it was amazing)

ANZAC Cove memorial cemetery

To scale recreation of just how close the fighting got; 7 metres. In Eceabat

Istanbul at night

Athens Day 1-6

23 - 28 July 2013

Day 1: Transport
I tried to sleep on the ferry from Sifnos but it didn't really happen. Once in Piraeus, the port, I had an easy time finding the metro because I simply had to follow the hordes of people streaming off the ferries. The trains were interesting because they were almost completely covered in graffiti and it wasn't just one, it seemed to be all of them.

Did someone say rooftop bar?
Checking in at the hostel was easy but the two things that stuck in my head from the welcome spiel were "rooftop bar with happy hour" and "free shot". The hostel I was staying at actually owned a few buildings so I had to walk over to the other one that had the bar and on the way I stopped at a souvlaki place for something to eat. They served one of the better kebabs I've had on this trip, so good in fact that I went back to this place at least once a day for the whole time I was there. The bar was awesome for a few reasons: cheap (and good) beer, lots of people to talk to, a killer view of the Acropolis and a nice breeze (very important when it was that hot).

Day 2: Recovery
I caught up with some Welsh girls I'd met at the bar and as we'd all overdone it a bit, we dedicated the morning to recovery and generally feeling sorry for ourselves. The worst part for the girls was the 7 hour ferry they had to catch that evening out to the islands; definitely glad it wasn't me.

Exploring
I spent the afternoon wandering around the streets of Athens with a Canadian, an Aussie and an Englishman. We window shopped in the various market-ey streets, enjoyed pieces of fresh coconut and found an out of the way cafe to have a refreshing beverage while talking about the typical backpacker topics; what do you do in the real world, where have you been and where are you going.

Winning formula
When you've got something that works, why mess with it? This was pretty much the idea behind this rooftop bar for me because I went to it every night I was in Athens. So, after a kebab from the great shop, I headed back up to rooftop bar to do it all again except with some more self control this time. I met a Canadian girl who told me a joke that I have to share:

*A pirate walks into a bar with a steering wheel sticking out of his pants*
Bartender: What's with the steering wheel?
Pirate: Yaarrr, I dunno but it's driving me nuts.

It also turns out that she didn't know how to find her way back to her hostel so being the gentleman I am, I helpfully escorted her home. Gotta keep good karma when you're travelling.

Day 3: Actually doing stuff
So today was the day I actually started doing some touristy stuff. I teamed up with an Ottawan (Canadian) to tackle a bunch of the major sites. The first stop was the Parthenon museum where we saw a bunch of bits that'd broken off of the Parthenon (one of the busted buildings on the Acropolis) and saw a video about the history and restoration plan of the site.

Acropolis
After the museum we went up the Acropolis and saw the many dilapidated buildings on display. It was good having seen the museum first because we actually had some idea about what we were looking at then. I was amazed by the fact that they managed to build something so accurately and so big that long ago. I'm sure lots of people died in the process but it's still awesome they managed to do it at all. There was also a great view out over the whole city from up that high too.

On the walk back down we diverted and climbed up a rock that gave a good photo opportunity of the Acropolis. We'll call this rock the slippery rock of death and anyone who's been on it will testify as to how slippery and hot this thing was; definitely not a place to look elegant as you walk across it. We did meet two Aussies on the rock though so there's a silver lining there.

Zeus temple
The four of us then made our way over to the Temple of Olympian Zeus, which was fairly anti-climactic because it's just a bunch of pillars with a few fallen over. Still, we had a chat and took some photos.

Restaurant fail #1
The two Aussies took off to do other things and the Ottawan and I stopped for lunch at a restaurant. The guy who tries to get you to come in was nice at the start but as soon as you sit down it all turns to shit. Basically, the food was crap, the service was terrible and it was expensive. This definitely wasn't the case out on Sifnos but then Athens is obviously different. I should've just got back to the souvlaki shop :P

Segway tour
So I've wanted to ride a Segway for a while, apparently my Ottawan friend did too, and there was a dude promoting exactly that; job done! We had a brief orientation where they taught us how to ride the things and then we were off for about 90 minutes of tearing up the city. The tour took us to quite a few places we'd already seen but the guide had some cool stories and we did check out a few new places too. The most important thing though was that the Segways were FREAKIN AWESOME. You can get them moving fairly quick but mostly they're just an easy and fun way to get around. Coming through all the pedestrian streets is great because everyone looks at you (and moves out the way) and you don't get hassled by any of the hawkers.

Rooftop bar
I was back again but nothing noteworthy happened. At least not that I could remember the following morning when I was making notes for the blog.

Day 4: More touristy things
I met two Canadians at breakfast and together we went to explore the remaining sights that we hadn't seen. We went to the Roman Agora, Hadrian's Library, the ancient Agora, Kerameikos, the Temple of Olympian Zeus (second time for me) and finally to the...

Olympic stadium
I didn't know what to expect here but the photos looked cool so we paid our 3 euros, grabbed our audio guide and wandered around the stadium. It turned out to be really good fun which I attribute to a few things; it was cheap, the audio guide was quite good but most importantly, I was doing it with great friends. We climbed up and down the stairs, wandered through the entrance tunnel, saw the room of Olympic torches (Melbourne and Sydney were in there) and ran around on the running track. I'd definitely recommend this if you go to Athens.

Restaurant fail #2
We stopped for lunch at a restaurant during our travels but the experience wasn't any better than the previous time. We had terrible service again, stale bread and food that wasn't anything worth mentioning (I know I just did, ssshh). Athens just couldn't give me a good restaurant experience. The souvlaki shop never let me down though :D

Rooftop bar
Yep, back to the bar again. The difference this time was instead of going to the sports bar round the corner after the rooftop closed, we decided to gate crash a local party on a nearby rooftop. It was good fun because we had free drinks and got to mingle with locals, something that's actually quite hard to do when you're travelling (or so I've found).

Day 5: Loner day
All my friends had left so I used the day to go buy some more clothes, do some washing and book whatever it was that I was doing next. In my wandering I saw the Parliament building; it's nothing special but I can tick it off the tourist list. I also wandered down some seedy looking streets and saw some interesting things. The first was a bunch of dodgy looking guys dressed as ninjas, superheros, etc running away from something in a way that seemed like they'd just robbed something or someone. The second was a guy with a cricket bat and a crowd of people throwing fruit at him so he could smash it back at them; I'm not really sure what was going on but I decided to take a different street instead.

Rooftop bar, again
Same thing again but this time, after the Sports bar we headed over to Gazi to hit some clubs. There was free entry and the music was ok but the indoor smoking killed it for me. I managed to lose the group so I decided to walk home, which isn't hard at all once you can get a view of the Acropolis because you just keep walking toward it until something looks familiar.

Day 6: Leaving
I wanted one last kebab from my favourite shop but it wasn't open :( I found some food at another shop and then caught a very hot and sweaty metro to the airport for my flight to Istanbul.

Thoughts about Athens

• I loved the hostel with the rooftop bar: Athens Backpackers. The bar is a great place to meet people because you know everyone is there to chat and not like in a common room where they might just want to be alone with the wifi.
• Athens is a very slippery city; there were lots of times where we almost went ass up on smooth rocks, mirror finish footpaths, tramlines or gravel covered streets. I'll admit it was the first time I'd worn my thongs out and about and they aren't exactly doing well in the tread department.
• Mikinos and Ios are breeding grounds for colds. Every person I met who'd come back from there was sick and as an added kick in the pants, they were all put into my dorm room :(
• You can feel the crisis; there's not much cash around and most shops want exact change and can't handle 50 euro notes or bigger
• The metro is clean and easy to use
• The town centre is small enough to walk so don't bother with a multipass metro ticket
• There are heaps of Aussies

Thoughts about travelling in general

• My focus has definitely moved toward meeting people, the sights are just a bonus
• I feel like I'd rather hang out with good people in a crap/mundane place because it's much better than being in the best spot (great sight, special monument) on your lonesome. This is definitely my extroverted side coming through
• Two Aussie words that Canadians/Americans love/hate are thongs and  sunnies
• I've found it quite interesting to see how differently people value things. I've met some that always carry their passport on them to keep it safe, others who never carry it because they're worried it'll get pick pocketed and then those who just ask "who'd want to steal a passport". Some people are trusting and leave stuff everywhere whilst others lock everything all the time.
• I've been really lucky because I haven't had to endure anyone snoring or having sex in my room yet. I have heard horror stories though.

Dirty feet after a run on the track at the Olympic Stadium

Enjoying the audio guide in the King and Queen seats with a Canadian friend at the Olympic Stadium

Photo op on the podium at the Olympic Stadium

Jump shot at Kerameikos

Crikey! That's a big croc!

Climbing on the Roman Agora with the other Canadian friend (they don't care)

On the Segways with my Canadian friend (yet another one)

Selfy on the slippery rock of death with the Acropolis (just) in the background

3 Aussies and a Canadian at the Temple of Olympian Zeus

The Parthenon

Being thoughtful at the Theater of Dionysus

Healthy street food; coconuts

Panorama looking into the Olympic Stadium

One of those awesome kebabs

Panorama of the Acropolis

Looking out over Athens from the Acropolis

The infamous rooftop bar