Day 18 - Athens

Today was fairly a calm day. I woke up late (9:30 am), grabbed a quick breakfast at the hotel, which consisted of two slices of bread with butter, a slice of cheese, coffee, and juice. Took my clothes to a laundry place about 10 minutes away. I misunderstood the receptionist when she told me where the laundry was. I thought she had said take a right on the 3rd floor, but she actually meant take a right on the 3rd block from the hotel and keep walking for 10 minutes.

I really wanted to buy a pair of shorts because of the hot weather. I went to the shopping district, and stopped by a few mom and pop stores selling clothes. I bought a pair from one store, haggled down from 15 to 12 EUR. Then I walked through the open market, where they were selling fruits, olives, spices, nuts, fish, and meats. The spices were sealed in plastic wraps, as they should be(!), to keep the freshness, as well as to keep out the dust. The fish sellers and the meat sellers were really aggressive, almost every one of them yelling something to me in Greek as I walked past them. Most likely about how fresh and cheap their goods were. This one guy was really yelling something very loud every so often. I imagined what kind of things I'd say if I were one of these sellers. It would go something like this, as loud as I can without breaking my voice:

"STEP right up and get you some FRESH caught mackerels! FOUR euros per kilo. FOUR euros. FOUR euros. FOUR euros. Salmon STEAAAAAAAK! Yes SIR!  HOOOOOOOOOO!" Sometimes you just make up random sounds just to be loud. You have to catch people's attention.

A different kind of spice stand

Olives in the market

I stopped by a random crepe shop to pick up a banana + nutella crepe and coffee (only 3.70 EUR for both!), and as I picked the only empty seat in the street seating, an old Greek man (maybe 70 years old) next to me started to chat with me, in broken english. I instantly suspected a scam, but decided to go along with it until I felt compromised. He asked me where I was from, and when I said Korea, he said, "What old make, Korea?" I told him they're known for their shipyards and their steel production, as well as cars, and electronics. He said, "Yes, yes, I know that. Samsung, LG, Kia. What old make, Korea? What old?" It took me a minute to figure out he was asking me about the history of Korea. As a Greek, his country is so rich with history, and he wanted to know what kind of history Korea had. I told him there were some palaces and temples in Korea. Not as grand as the agora or the Parthenon. Then told him about the fightings with the Chinese, about how we didn't have our writing system until 1400s. We also talked about Istanbul, Donald Trump, and the Greek Islands. He brought water for me, threw away my trash for me, and was very nice to me. He said he has a hotel business in the Ionian Sea. I kept on waiting for the sales pitch, but it never came. About 15 - 20 minutes later, I shook his hand and bid him farewell. His name was Maki. It felt good talking to a local Greek like that. That's the kind of connection I was looking for that never came when I was in Marrakech.

In front of the National Archaeological Museum. The young girl taking my photo wanted me to do fun poses

Ancient excavation site, graffiti, and a restaurant all in one shot