Greece: F-ing hot, literally and figuratively

Buying those 60 euro skyeurope.com tickets to Athens was the best decision I've made in months. Here are the highlights, summarized:

Beaches: Self-explanatory.


Old things: Athens is full of them. Usually, I'm easily annoyed by touristy things but Athens' temples, monuments, and other ruins are definitely worth seeing... even in 100 degree weather, surrounded by thousands of screaming children and American sorority girls wearing their letters in a lame attempt to demonstrate that they're down with the Greek alphabet. And yes, I'm including the 65 year-old man who gave me his number in the "awesome ancient stuff of Athens" category.

















Anarchists: Athens' anarchist neighborhood was the site of major riots last winter (see commemorative graffiti below) and the area continues to attract disaffected youth. In an effort to keep anarchists and other troublemakers under control, Athens has placed armed guards on every street leading into the neighborhood.


Nightlife: The temperature in Athens is ridiculously hot, which makes doing anything in the day a recipe for sweaty disaster. As soon as the sun sets, however, the temperature drops from blistering to sweltering. And it's only then (say, around 12:00) that Athens really starts to get going. I don't know at what point in the night I took the picture below, but I can guess by the blurriness that I was already deep into Athens nightlife (read: Greek beer). Opa!


The Evil Eye/Greek Hipsters: Greeks believe in the evil eye - basically, when someone directs too much energy at you, your body just gives up. You get exhausted, even ill. And what's the first sign that you've got the evil eye on ya? That's right - you yawn. In order to protect themselves from the bad energy you're now spreading, people around you need to make the sign of the cross twice and mumble something like "ptoo, ptoo." I learned this when, at 5:00 in the morning, I yawned in a bar. Bad move. The server saw me and did the aforementioned anti-evil eye thing. I was mystified: "Did that woman just put a hex on me or am I drunk? Or both?" Fortunately, the adorable Greek hipster standing next to me explained the whole evil eye business and assured me that my yawn had cleansed my negative energy. I was neither cursed nor smashed. Thank you, Greek hipster.