What surprised me in Athens

July 2019. 

Last summer, we went to Greece. Everything started by a family challenge: who will succeed in organizing the best trip, and convince the family of going there during the summer? My dad and I were in charge of preparing a trip to Ireland. My mother and my sister would prepare the trip to Greece. Eventually, both trips seemed equally nice, but after a little lie of my sister during the draw, we agreed on going to Greece. 

I wasn't very enthusiastic at the idea of going to Greece. Rather contradictory knowing my love for traveling and discovering new cultures. Why? I don't know. I thought it would be too hot, too touristy, the food didn't inspire me. I also really wanted to go to Ireland. And yet!

I loved this trip. To be honest, while being there, I sometimes felt angry because of all the tourists, and I had the impression that everything was tailor-made for them (us). Yet when I think back to this trip, I have one only desire, it's to go back to Greece, and more particularly to Athens! 

Athens. 

I am not even sure if I had realized before starting the holiday that we would be going to Athens. I could only imagine those islands, full of tourists, who queue to take the perfect picture. To put it mildly, I wasn't expecting to enjoy the capital as much as I did. By displaying some pictures I took during the trip, I am going to tell you about what surprised me in Athens, that made me fall in love with this city. 

To begin with, I will tell you about something that strikes one when arriving there. It is nothing particularly interesting, but it is surprising. The number of cats. They are everywhere in the city. There are lots of them especially where they get fed by organizations or the inhabitants. 

Then, I was really surprised by the contrasts. By contrasts, I mean the coexistence of completely different worlds and periods of time. Indeed, there is an architectural mix between modern and antique, renovated and tumbled-down. Of course, when we think about Athens, we generally think about the cradle of the European civilization and philosophy. It seems evident that there are some important monuments in this city, such as the Parthenon or the Agora, but I did not expect to see these contrasts in the city centre.

On this last picture, you can see an H&M logo next to a historical monument. It is not rare to see such contrasts in the city. 

The atmosphere in the city is also quite contrasted, if I may say so. I felt like I was caught between China, for the smells and the traffic, Barcelona for the architecture, and the Middle East for the flea-market and the buildings. It was fascinating. 

To continue in this theme of contrasts, I was pleasantly surprised by the street art in Athens. When walking around, we regularly found some street art works, the one more sophisticated than the other. 

In the beginning, I hadn't really noticed anything. It is while spending an afternoon with my sister roaming the streets, that we found a first graffiti. So we continued roaming these streets, and we found other ones. We made it our main purpose, and continued to walk around the streets, on the look-out for any sign of colour, or pattern on the houses' walls. In the end, these hours which were initially destined to taking a nap, were better used with more creativity and spontaneity. 

If there is one thing that I can advise you to do while you travel, it is not to hesitate to get lost in the streets of cities. Generally speaking, this is when we get the best surprises!

The last thing which pleasantly surprised me, was the price of the food. There were many small grocery sellers, who would sell their goods for a few pences. 

Moreover, in Greece in general, there are always those "Gyros" that you can buy for maximum 3 euros. Those are simply kebabs, with a few tomatoes, cucumber, french fries and meat (optionally). I am almost sure that you've never felt so full for 2 euros. 

I can tell you that my brother was happy: Kebab every day, that's what we call real life! 

These are the things which surprised me when we first arrived in Greece. Since then, Athens has been one of my favourite cities I have ever visited. 

And you, have you ever been there?
If so, tell me what you thought of it, and if you were also surprised by those things! 

If not, I can strongly advise you to go there if you ever have the occasion! Otherwise, I hope you enjoyed the original city tour! 

See you soon, 

Mafral.