29th to 31st of March, 2022.
Anna Maria and Rafaela are two lovely girls. I like them immediately. And Marcelo! Oh! The sweetest dog I have ever met! You fall in love with him instantly. As soon as he looks at you, BAM! You are gone!
I start to chat with the girls and it is great! Then I ask Anna Maria if she can shave my hair. I cannot wait any longer: I need to get ride of this stupid hair! It is the first time Anna Maria cuts somebody’s hair and I am glad to do that for her. After a nice shower I feel much better.
The girls are going to their tango dancing classes! Classy! They look amazing in their outfits and high heels! We will not see each other again tonight (most likely) because they are going out for some more dancing, after the classes, with the people from the group. After they live, I warm up some of the lentil soup Anna Maria have prepared for me. How sweet! Not the soup, Anna Maria! Laugh. And the soup is delicious!
I cannot resist and start to watch Spider-Man: No Way Home. It is mostly great, with all the nostalgic appearances, BUT they simply screwed up Doctor Strange! He is a completely idiot in this film! Why? He was always such an intelligent and responsible hero until now, then all of sudden, he becomes so fool, as he knew nothing about his powers. Plus, the end is even more stupid: it completely unjustified and discarded the WHOLE movie. Bite me, Marvel! I am glad I am done with your films!
Next morning me, Anna Mariaand Marcelo go to explore Athens. I am not much impressed by the city, I admit. But also I kind of had the feeling that I would not like. So no big surprises. Marcelo loves it! And everybody loves him. It is like he is a star!
It seems to me that, apart of the Acropolis, nothing else it really worth it in Athens. And because I don’t pay the 10 Euros ticket, I feel only OK with the rest. I even sent an email to their team, asking if they could grant me a free pass. But there was no answer.
I enjoy my day with Anna Maria anyway. We spend some time at the National Gardens, which are great and for free, so enjoy it! And we chatted a lot.
Anna Maria goes directly to her University after our tour and I come back home with my dear Marcelo. At the beginning, I think he will not come with me. He is missing Anna Maria so much, so he does not move. Unless if it is in the direction she left. Laugh. But after a few minutes, and a lot of talking, cuddling and promises that he will see her again later, he finally comes.
Back at home, I want to cook some of the Greek past Kassi gave it to me. I try to do it myself, but after I failed a bit, Rafaela saves me and the dish. It tastes delicious after all. It is called Kritharaki. After spending the morning with Anna Maria, I have a lovely evening with Rafaela. We have some nice and deep conversation. Anna Maria goes to a concert with her friends so I don’t see her again today.
Anna Maria and Rafaela are twins and they have a beautiful relationship. I think it is great how they support, love and respect each other. Plus they are the kindest Greek people I have met here in Greece, together with Kassi. They are all of that I have heard about Greek hospitality. They are just the best! And they are both so mature for their age! I know I was not a pumpkin head when I was 20, but that was 12 years ago! Nowadays, this new generation is so freaking shallow and stupid. But not these girls! They give me hope about the youth.
I decide to give Athens another chance next morning and go to explore the city a bit more. I pass by the Agora and even though it might be a nice site to visit, the back part of it is abandoned. What a shame! The same is happening with the Acropolis itself! I took a long walk all around the area, outside the grounds, and it is covered in long grass and some areas are so abandoned that nobody could ever guess that those part belong to the Acropolis of Athens. It is a crime!
As I said, the other sites through the city do not call my attention. And it is so full of people, the light is never good for a photograph, and the Temple of Oympian Zeus is so depressing that I think that not even a view from the gate is it worth it. But you make your own decisions.
The Monastiraki Square it has some charming old buildings but it is impossible to take a good photograph with so many people everywhere.
During my walks today, taking a look of how Agora it must have been, and how Acropolis is abandoned, I was thinking (again) in how sad we become. People have no principles at all. They care about nothing. Nothing but money. Nothing but buying things. Everything has a price and you must buy, buy, and buy. The majority of the people who come to these sites, have no respect at all. They know nothing about them and about how the world used to be back them. It is like Oscar Wilde said, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, back in 1890: “Nowadays people know the price of everything but the value of nothing.”
Back at the girls’ apartment, Rafaela baked a delicious chocolate cake for me! It is so yummy! They order some Gyros and we decide to Watch Encanto. I don’t like it. I don’t see anything good about it. It is like I have not watched anything during those 100 minutes. Why people like it so much?
Next morning I have to take a marathon to get out of Athens. I walk to Athens Train Station and grab the train to Megara. Hitchwiki website can be a bit tricky sometimes about directions, so take a good look at Google Maps (not that you can totally trust on Google Maps either) before getting to your hitchhike spots. Oh, Loki! The gas station where I am about to hitchhike it sucks!
