And Athens, as promised...

The problem with putting off a city’s post this long is that I’m faced with the obliging task of recollecting five day’s worth of travel after five additional days of traveling a completely different city—equaling ten days past of material that I’m too tempted to slump into a few pictures. Athens is too good to be cheated, though.

It’s an enormous city, really. The history behind so much of it is mind blowing. When you’re standing at the steps of the Parthenon, you almost feel put in your place, as if the massive marble columns looking down at you question, “And what about you? What great things have you done with your life?” which is likely an over-philosophical approach to my self-made proverbial columns that, no doubt, pleased the tourists simply trying to fit the Parthenon in the palm of their hands (sorry for gaping insignificantly in your photo op). 

As great as all the history and tourist-type attractions were, I probably had more fun meeting new people and enjoying the Greek nightlife that, like many European countries, doesn’t start till the earliest hours of the morning. And so, in sharing local dishes on awkwardly sloped hills, taking in midnight views of the Acropolis from rooftop terraces, making harmless bets and new acquaintances at nearby sports bars, and swapping stories until the glasses finally empty…such nights made for some of my most memorable in Athens.

There’s something shared between travelers, this sort of willing openness and sincerity, uninhibited by whatever you do or whoever you are at home. Out here there’s no burden of yesterday, no previously held expectations—a combination that makes for some of the least judgmental people you’ll ever meet with a shared understanding and appreciation for these moments because you are, more or less, doing the same thing they are. 

It’s a pretty great thing.