Athens

I arrived in Athens on 7/20. I didn't hold much for expectation. It is:

hot
noisy
poluted with car fumes
busy
packed
touristee
did I mention, hot
oh, and I find that the Greeks don't smile much it seems

But on the other hand:

the views are nice
Acropoli is amazing and glorious - 2,500 yrs old
historic
Greek food has been wonderful
most everyone speaks English
most folks are friendly and helpful
it's hot
the ocean is so crystal blue in color

I only stayed a few nights; long enough to see the Acropoli and sort out my bearings. Acrolopis is just a sight to behold. Packed with tourists. How they built this thing is unbelievable knowing that they needed some serious tools back then. Now in the reconstruction, they use heavy machinary to restore the Parthenon - large mechanical wet saw drills to ore out circlular spires to match up the Ionic columns - but how did they do this back then? And with such precision. They also built the Parthenon columns at a precise angle yet not obvious if you don't know to look for it. They say that if the columns were 2 km high, they would create a pyramid. Stunning. It IS a work of art. Acid rain has been their most recent demise. Car fumes, polutants in the air. When will we stop using gasoline and polluting our environment? Marble is everywhere here and it is magnificant.

I chose to stay in an Australian run hostel with roof-top views of the Parthenon. It is majestically lite up at night like a theatre. I couldn't believe my first view of it. And from my hostel roof? Insane.