04 - 11 September 2020: Athens (Greece)

In the beginning, there was chaos. This is how Percy Jackson begins his narration of Greek mythology, which we listen to on our journey past Mount Olympus to Athens, so that we are not completely unprepared for our hike to the Acropolis.

Our first impression of this city is also chaotic, as we arrive in the middle of rush hour and its road system was already announced as a jungle: Between spiral-shaped one-way streets and mopeds that snake past all traffic rules in shorts and shirts, we are definitely at the bottom of the traffic food chain with our standardized driving style, but our adrenaline level reaches new heights. This level does not decrease when we have to look for a new accommodation at short notice, as the landlord of our (probably too long-term) booked apartment forgot about us. Within fifteen minutes, we end up in Thissio instead of Exarchia and are even closer to all the ancient stones that we want to visit here.

In Athens, we also let ourselves drift through the city at least on the first days starting in the late afternoon: past the Agora to the lively Monastiraki Square, further to Syntagma Square and through the National Garden. Along the observatory, where we once again met a turtle, we watched a taxi sliding on the centuries-old smooth stones on its way to the Acropolis, and followed the winding streets of an original fishing village in the middle of the city, where besides cats there are also some residents and great street art. Fortunately, we were able to take the funicular up Mount Lycabettus, with a fantastic view over Athens, and at Vouliagmeni Beach, we could dive into the turquoise sea and let our gaze glide from sea level to the sky, digesting all the diverse impressions that this city has made on us in the few days, even though we have only scratched the surface so far: This liveliness and the parallel existence of a millennia-old eventful history and signs of crisis and new beginnings make us certain that we will come back.