After quitting my job and my apartment I finally left Austria last Friday. Since I found a really cheap flight with Sky Europe (22 Euro), I made Athens my first destination. For the first 4 nights I stayed at Kostas’ place in Kipseli and we had loads of fun! Among the highlights were eating in tradtional taverns, going out in Psiiri (pretty cool drum’n’bass party on the first night), drinking my first Rakomelo at the CouchSurfing meeting before watching anarchists attacking police with molotows in Exarcheia, going to a party till 7.15am the next morning (and going back home in a way too crowded car), playing Go at cafes and other places, having Suvlaki on the roof of a house on the way up to Acropolis overlooking the city and smoking shisha and drinking Raki in a small Turkish bar.
On Tuesday I moved to Natalia’s and Dinos’ place, where we had a really fun game evening accompanied by quite some Rakomelo (I love this drink by the way, Christmas markets in Austria better sell this once I get back!). Yesterday I finally did some touristy stuff and went to the Acropolis. To be honest the 12 Euro admission fee seems a bit much, but the stunning views over the city make up for it. After that I bumped into an Italian guy who seems to be a pretty well known scammer in the area. He is trying to lure tourists into a somewhat dodgy place called “Love Pub”. Although my ingenious plan to use his own weapons against him so he would pay for my drink didn’t work out, a good Ouzo and his disappointed face when I left without buying any drinks for him and the prosti…girls we “met” at this bar were definitely worth the 45 minutes I invested. There’s another CS meeting tomorrow and I guess it will become a late night out again. I’m glad my flight to Istanbul isn’t before 7pm on Saturday!
Anyway, Athens is a kickass place, with good nightlife, awesome food (go eat the Tandoori chicken wraps with freshly baked bread the Indian guy in Exarcheia sells!) and attractive people in every possible demographic group you might be interested in! I’ve only been here for a week, but I already know that I’m going to miss this place…