I do promise to post some positive things about Athens but this place is nuts.  How the birthplace of democracy turned into a mess of a socialist country is beyond comprehension.  Instead of being grateful that a dozen or so nations (and by association, many others) are bailing this country out of its economic mess, the people get angry because big government can’t keep the gravy train going.  They don’t want to retire later.  They don’t want to give up a thing to get this country back on its feet.  It’s a fact of life that people live longer than when many of these programs were instituted.  That means the government has to take care of more people for more years.  It’s not a bottomless pit.  Therefore, it stands to reason that you can’t expect to have about a third of your life catered to by the government.  So what do they do?  Go on strike.  Doctors plan a two-day strike this week.  The media is having a one day strike.  There is a general strike set for Dec. 15th.  And who else is on strike?  The ferry workers.  The same ferry that I had planned to take to Mykonos for three days of rest and relaxation.

At 4:56PM last night, I received an email from the travel agency informing me that the ferry workers decided to continue a strike from last week (I didn’t even know there was one – who can keep up with all the strikes, not to mention nothing was said when I picked up the ferry tickets) and there would be no way to get to any island for the next two days.  Their offices closed at 5PM.  Noooo!  Stuck for more days in Athens?  Then there was the no-refund policy of the hotel I had booked and calling Expedia.  Then there was getting a refund for the ferry tickets.  Then there was figuring out what to do for three more days because I didn’t want to stay in Athens.

Then there was the announcement late, very late, that the Greek government was ordering the workers back.  But no one knew if they would honor it.  So I set the alarm clock for 4AM to be able to call the Port Authority to see if the ferry would be going (it was set to leave at 7:30AM).  Tried to call.  No answer.   Went to the hotel reception to ask if I was dialing correctly.  They tried.  No answer.  They called the ferry company.  Not in til 6AM.  They said they would call me to let me know.  Went back to sleep (well, tried to anyway).  No call.  Called reception.  Said they would call me back in two minutes.  Reception calls.  Can’t get through to ferry company.  Will try again and call me.  Never called and I fell asleep.

At 9AM I went to the travel agency as they had requested.  They told me that they would refund the ticket for today but weren’t sure they could refund the second one because the strike was not set for that day.  Uh, but how can I use it when I can’t get there?  She made some calls and guess what?  The workers went back and the ferry did go.  Nice.

So they said they could book another one for tomorrow.  But I had paid for a night at the hotel, plus would have to pay for another night at the Athens hotel.

But, turns out there is a later ferry today from another port.  At 5:30PM.  Sold!  So I lose a half day in Mykonos but I gained breakfast at the hotel (which I would have forfeited to leave at 5:30AM), don’t have to rush around and deal with the bags on the crowded Metro, and the ticket was 6 euros cheaper so I got a refund.  All in all, a decent ending for a stressful situation.  As long as I can get the ferry back to the airport on Friday!

Most people know that I love Europe and that it is my dream to live there, even for a year or so. I’ve been to Europe quite a few times and if you asked me to rate the list of cities I’ve been to, I had always put Vienna at the bottom. Vienna is beautiful and has much to see, don’t get me wrong. But when I was there I felt the people were cold and it didn’t seem very inviting.  Vienna, you are no longer at the bottom of the list. Hello Athens. If someone were to give me the opportunity to move to Europe and told me it would be in Athens, I would turn it down.  Vienna, I would go.

Let’s start at the beginning. My flight arrived around 8AM Friday morning and I found the Metro to the city. So far, so good  Well, I needed to make a change in the city to the other Metro line to get to my hotel, the Novus. It was jam packed and I had my bags. Some guy made room although it wasn’t enough, so it was a tight squeeze into an early morning crowd. He obviously had ulterior motives as my wallet slowly creeped up my pocket. I knew what was happening and pushed it back down, much to his chagrin. He didn’t give up as everyone was packed as tight as sardines. But I was just as relentless and one step ahead, making sure the wallet stayed safely in my pocket. I just got off the next stop even though it was two stops away.

Fortunately, I had grabbed a map at the airport and was able to make my way to the hotel. The hotel is nice but in a really blah part of town. Check that. Most of Athens is a blah part of town.  For every beautiful classic Greek-style building, there are ten ugly 60’s Soviet-looking buildings that are blocks of concrete. Much of what is old and charming is in disrepair. And this is after the city was spruced up for the 2004 Olympic Games. I can now see why the Olympic committee was so reluctant to give Athens the games in 1996 for the centennial games. If Pericles awoke from the dead and looked at modern Athens, he would cry.

The people look miserable (living in a miserable economy). The metro is awful because it is always packed. The city is dirty with graffiti everywhere and trash piles heaping. You get people selling junk to you nonstop if you sit outside at a café. And scammers are out and about in every tourist area.

One thing about solo travel is it makes you wiser the more you do it.  I got scammed my first trip to London many years ago.  It was a lesson learned and fortunately was not an expensive one (an advantage of backpacking with no job, i.e., no money). So there is a scam called the “bar scam.” I had read about online that happens to single male travelers. Basically, some older guy, about 60 or so, approaches you and asks if you are looking for something or you need help. When you tell them where you are from, they always have a “sister” or “cousin” there. Blah, blah, friendly talk. You just know something is up. Because then they want to buy you a drink. If you go for the drink, there is probably some pretty woman at the bar and you are pressured into buying a drink, like a glass of wine. This will be the most expensive glass of wine there is (we’re talking about 30-35 euros per glass). But they don’t stop at one. The goal is to run up a huge bill and stick you with it. So far, the tally is at three attempts in two days and twice with the same person. It might have been four times but I didn’t stick around long enough to talk to the guy. I swear the next time I’m telling someone I’m from Iowa. Let’s see how many cousins they have there.

All this aside, there are some wonderful things to see here.  Of course it starts with the archeological areas and the great Greek food.  Now that I’ve gotten this out of my system, I’ll post more about them when I go through all the pictures I’ve taken.  Which I need to dump onto my laptop in case my camera gets stolen.

With all the commotion going on back in the States over airport security and the full body scans and invasive pat downs, one has to experience airport security at Ben Gurion airport to see how real, professional security operates.

Rather than rude TSA agents with little training, you get a sense that airport security in Tel Aviv are experts and work in a professional manner. There’s a reason why no incidents on flights from Israel have occurred.

You are screened with questions. Then your bags are run through a scanner. If anything seems questionable, next is a manual hand search of your bags. Then possibly having your bags run through the scanner again. You go through several layers of passport screening. And then you are through. With the exception of a hiccup when one of the baggage screening machines went down for a few minutes, the process was orderly and surprisingly quick. No removing shoes. No removing belts. No pat downs. No body scans.

There is no political correctness with Israeli security. If you fit a profile or answer a question in a way they don’t like, you are screened further. What’s going on in the USA is ridiculous because they refuse to adequately profile. So everyone has to be put through an ordeal and possible embarrassment. It’s a dog and pony show because we are reactive. Someone sticks a bomb in their underwear so let’s look at everyone’s underwear. Someone had some explosive liquids so we can’t bring anything over the magical amount of three ounces. Somehow 2.9 ounces is fine  But 3.1? Watch out. Does anyone really feel safer because grandma was groped by a TSA agent?  You feel a lot safer walking to a gate at Ben Gurion airport. That’s for sure.